Three more to go in the longlist! Announcing the Nature India photo contest 2016 finalist number eight:

Nakul Raj, Bathinda, Punjab, India.

Photo caption: ‘Colour-coded winter’

To Nakul, the picture represents the following:

“Summer is long gone and winter is approaching in northern India. This tree is dressing up for the harsh winter ahead by shedding all its leaves, leaving behind the yellow berries and shiny brown twigs. The tree seems to have drawn its inspiration from one of its most frequent visitors — the common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) — who proudly wears similar colours. It may not be the case here but many times, living beings adapt to colours around them giving rise to some spectacular colour-coded phenomena in Nature, such as camouflage.”

The photograph was taken in November 2016 at the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab.

As the contest comes close to its finale, the Nature India editorial and design team is having a tough time selecting just three winners, who stand a chance of seeing their entries grace the cover page of one of our forthcoming print publications. The winner and two runners-up will receive a copy of the just released Nature India Special Annual Volume and a bag of goodies from Springer Nature.

As a run up to the final announcement, we are rolling out the top 10 finalists of the photo competition (in no particular order of merit) on the Indigenus blog as well as our social media platforms (Twitter and Facebook). The final results will be announced in late December 2016.

Nature India’s final decision to chose the winner will be partly influenced by the engagement and reception he/she receives here at the Indigenus blog, on Twitter and on Facebook. To give all finalists a fair chance, we will take into consideration the social media engagement of each picture only during the first seven days of its announcement.

So watch out for our other finalists and feel free to promote, share and like your favourite entries with the hashtag #NatureIndphoto.