Nature’s Layers Unravelled – Encounters with birds, beasts, and relatives
Honorary Ogre Anand Yegnaswami is mystified by the phenomenon of soaring after watching raptors do their thing A Black Eagle on outstretched wings Our recent trip to Dandeli with the Ogres got me acquainted with a majestic flyer. We were walking up the Nagzari trail, which leads to a waterfall of the same…
Two Ogres compare notes about their respective sightings of a fast-flying falcon. Was that a Peregrine or a Shaheen? Sandy: I saw it fly at a height where it looked like a fast-moving orange-and-black speck in the sky. The wing-flapping wasn’t anywhere near furious, but every flap propelled it further ahead…
If you took the city of Tokyo and turned it upside down and shook it you would be amazed at the animals that fall out: badgers, wolves, boa constrictors, crocodiles, ostriches, baboons, capybaras, wild boars, leopards, manatees, ruminants, in untold numbers. There is no doubt in my mind that feral…
Photograph: Sandeep Somasekharan All rights reserved The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Few people know (or care) that this favourite locale of filmmakers is a spectacular mangrove ecosystem throbbing with life The mangrove forests of Pichavaram comprise an intriguing ecosystem Tickets in hand, negotiations with the boatman closed, we should have been on the boat, headed for our first visit to a…
When the local bird guide of two decades vintage turns out to be a shimmering dud, Jennifer Nandi takes control of the rest of her birding trip at Bhitarkanika Early morning at Bhitarkanika – eagles in the trees harry the waterfowl Birding guides are, at the best of times, difficult…
Wherever you go in the world, Mallus can be identified on Vishu’s eve as they strip Golden Shower trees bare of flowers! On that cheery note, Happy Vishu!
The Elliot’s Forest Lizard is common in the Western Ghats, where it is an endemic species occurring up to 6000 feet.
Photograph: Sandeep Somasekharan All rights reserved The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
How to fish in troubled waters. Or how to spice up your dinner with an old pan, a tattered towel and a lump of cooked rice!
Never mix cricket and a jungle adventure, the World Cup’s mascot seemed to tell us! Setting out on the bird trail Lopsided finances can crush a budget birding trip when one member of the party considers opting out. Harder still when the reason for his abandonment of our greater purpose…
Watching a great bird in flight is an experience both meditative and educational A Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis) rises slowly on a thermal — an updraft of warm air rising up from the sun-warmed earth — above the dense forests in a valley in Uttarakhand, northern India. Among the largest species of…
Jennifer Nandi‘s sojourn in Odisha begins with a ride through the Buddhist ruins at Udayagiri and Ratnagiri Some serious packing after dinner leaves the night in tatters – yet, we are ready to leave the hotel at 5.30 in the morning to catch our flight to Bhubaneshwar. Sushanto, the epitome of…
Photograph: Sandeep Somasekharan All rights reserved The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Life is so quiet and still in Madhyamaheshwar that it’s easy to imagine why local people believe that the deity is drunk A wayside shrine en route to Madhyamaheshwar A moss-encrusted tree on the trail “I found myself moved by the simplicity of this shrine. It was a place where…
