Indian Pond Herons (Ardeola grayii)

Another page from the 1st India Sketchbook. Pond Herons are ubiquitous in Southern India and so they should be. I love the heron and egret family, to me they are the very embodiment of foreign places. They add real visible form to any landscape. These two were skulking around a paddyfield just up from the beach huts at Varkala, Kerala. There were some broken palms obscuring the view and they add a wonderful geometry that I hope compliments the sharp mandibles of the herons.