Nature’s Layers Unravelled – Encounters with birds, beasts, and relatives
Watching one of our most efficient predators in the wild is a treat and a privilege. Most people might be obsessed with cats, but give it up for the Dhole, our very own wild canid Just after I told my wife how endangered the Indian wild dog or Dhole (Cuon alpinus) was,…
The forests of central India shelter deep secrets but they have been mined cheaply or defaced. Still, there is reason to rejoice at the simplicity of life here.
It’s been a high traffic week at The Green Ogre. This week we gave away our first freebie — a wallpaper download that doubles as an August calendar. Got it yet? Snakes have always got the wrong end of the stick. So it was with trepidation (for the snake, of…
The brilliant brick reds, salmon-pink and yellow of Cassias light up avenues even as summer wears out its welcome. Sahastrarashmi presents an intimate encounter with the flowering tree as never experienced before Studio portrait of Red Cassia – the yellow (possibly hybrid) variation Studio portrait of Red Cassia – the brick-red…
Vultures are the most misunderstood of birds despite the fact that Hindu mythology associates them with virtue rather than evil. In the last decade, our callousness has led to a huge decline in their numbers. But it isn’t too late, we think… Vultures are not really everybody’s favourite birds. Traditionally,…
Hidden Pleasures THE GOAN JUNGLE BOOK BY NIRMAL KULKARNI HERPACTIVE PUBLICATIONS INR 300 This book could have used the services of an editor and inept printing has muddied many photographs. That said, it warmed my heart to read it. These illustrated essays on Goa’s wildlife, though by no means styled…
Photo: Sandeep Somasekharan See all Wordless Wednesdays The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Sandy has been mulling over offering free wallpapers for a while and here’s his first gift to all Green Ogre readers. He made it one step better — these wallpapers double as calendars. Go to the link below and download the first one — for August. Spotbill Ducks (Anas poecilorhyncha)…
The snake tried every trick to climb the coconut tree. Failing, it slithered down and risked death. How could I stop it from being killed, I wondered. But the snake had plans of its own… Remember how Kaa of Walt Disney’s Jungle Book hissed seductively from a tree: “Trusssst in…
Alaska, Gaia and birds whose presence is dwarfed by their voices — that’s what The Green Ogre was all about this week It’s the last day of July with the monsoon still in full force over the subcontinent. In the rainforests of Agumbe, the frogs must still be calling, their…
More often heard than seen, the diminutive Coppersmith is a thousand times smaller than its enormous voice Once a while we may be treated to the sight of a coppersmith perched this low I was on my first ever trip to Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary near Mysore, when I had a…
James Lovelock, whose birthday fell on July 26, proposed the compelling but controversial idea of Gaia. Sahastrarashmi offers an appreciation of the man and his work Gaia as metaphor; Gaia as a catalyst for scientific enquiry; Gaia as literal truth; Gaia as Earth Goddess. Whoever she is, let’s keep her.…
Often, the stupidest questions elicit the most enlightening answers. Such was my initiation to the little featherball known as the Rufous-tailed Shrike
Moose, elk, grizzlies and caribou are on Anand Yegnaswami‘s mind as he recalls a trip to Alaska’s Denali National Park Alaska was a part of Russia until 1867 when US Secretary of State William H Seward played a key role in purchasing it for $7.2 million. It is believed that…
Last week the birds returned to The Green Ogre, though we have been feasting on frogs and snakes after our Agumbe conclave and continued to lick our fingers into the week that was The Golden Frog The Golden Frog (right) poses for an ardent admirer Frogs have inspired fable, poetry…
