Nature’s Layers Unravelled – Encounters with birds, beasts, and relatives
Driving between Chennai and Pondicherry, approximately 30 km before you reach the former French enclave, you cannot but notice a small inlet channel from the sea passing below a narrow bridge and then expanding into a vast lake stretching all the way to the western horizon. This is Kaliveli, the…
The Black-winged Kite alias the Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus) is easily the most handsome and the most distinguishable of kites. The first time I saw this bird was in a photo, shot by my photography guru Prabakar Venkatraman, in which this bird was perched on a steel rod at the…
Antibiotic-addled Jennifer Nandi is awestruck by the avian diversity at Mount Harriet National Park Excitement keeps us on high alert as we leave the hotel at 5.30 am to take a ferry across the bay to visit Mount Harriet National Park. Our car snakes its way toward the seemingly lush hill that…
Photo: Sandeep Somasekharan The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
How long before a koel discovers that it is not a crow? The family of House Crows (Corvus splendens) in my yard is upset. For the past few weeks mother and father have been teaching their youngsters to fly. I have often seen the young crows follow their parents about,…
I always thought only humans queued up, and that too occasionally when they have no choice. Ah… and ants. But on our very eventful tramway trek in Parambikulam, Kerala, we experienced an epiphany. And the evidence of such orderly behaviour came from an unexpected group of insects: Butterflies. Halfway into…
Until five years ago, every bird that soared was an “eagle”. I had just started birding and I don’t know how many times until then I had let pass this intriguing bird as an eagle. And by “eagle” I would have meant the ubiquitous Black Kite or Pariah Kite (Milvus…
Jennifer Nandi’s Andaman dream almost crash-lands before it takes off again, wobbly but steady As a child, I remember a photograph of my father being garlanded by an elephant on the Andaman Islands where he had been surveying using the old plumb-line technology that Indian Naval officers in the hydrographic…
Photo: Sandeep Somasekharan The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Somebody had planted it there — the Scarlet Milkweed. Didn’t give much thought to it. Noticed only when it bloomed with bright yellow-orange flowers, garnished with vividly coloured caterpillars. These were the larvae of the Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus), a species of Danainae (“milkweed butterflies”, which lay their eggs on various…
Though far from unique as coconut palms go, this tree had the character of a pioneer settler, in that it had been planted at a time when the surroundings were overgrazed, fallow and barren. No surprise then, that it announced itself as king of the garden. Growing in stature and…
The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), also known as White Scavenger Vulture and Pharaoh’s Chicken, is easily distinguishable thanks to its unusual plumage. Its large size, creamy white plumage, hook-shaped beak, and yellow face are diagnostic. In flight, the undersides of the wings show a clear demarcation between the black flight feathers…
For 20 years the mango tree that my father planted had stood its ground. It took less than 20 hours to bring it down.
Photo: Sahastrarashmi The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, also known as Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, is located between the branches of the Periyar River in Ernakulam district of Kerala. The great birdman Salim Ali had surveyed Thattekad in 1930 and described it as the richest bird habitat in the peninsula. He later urged the Kerala…
