Nature’s Layers Unravelled – Encounters with birds, beasts, and relatives
These are not just encounters, but close encounters. In these situations I have either touched or been too close for comfort with certain members of the suborder SerpentesI’d never imagined that such a day would dawn. In 2008, I visited the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) with friends PD, Zak…
The next time you hear a chuckle from the treetops or endearing squeaks and musical caws, look out for the Malabar Grey Hornbill. Or maybe a whole flock! What’s so different about the Malabar Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros griseus) compared with the other three hornbills found in the Western Ghats? The…
True to its name the Common Sand Boa spends most of its life under the sand or in loose earth, and its tough skin offers protection while burrowing. I’m glad we didn’t run over this fine snake.
Little did we know that we were being watched by a silent and mysterious presence on a wooden beam behind us
For three days we roamed Agumbe despairing that no snake had slithered across our path. And then we had a stroke of Last Day’s Luck!
With the menacing looks and businesslike patience of an assassin, the Robber Fly captures its prey on the wing
This Wordless Wednesday, Arun Menon captures the leap of a Hanuman Langur in Dandeli
A timber yard in Dandeli, Karnataka offers some of the best views you can have of the threatened Malabar Pied Hornbill When you mention Dandeli, people respond in two ways. “Rafting!” exclaim the majority. The others enthusiastically say: “Hornbills!” On our trip, we (Sahastra, Bijoy, Andy, Satish and I) didn’t…
Ogres Sandy and Arun recollect their encounters with the common but lovable Pied Kingfisher Black, white and eats fish Sandy: The first time I saw the Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) was in Thekkady, Kerala, in my fledgeling days of bird-watching. As a kid I had read that kingfishers were of many…
The Elliot’s Forest Lizard is common in the Western Ghats, where it is an endemic species occurring up to 6000 feet.
While combing the Marakkanam beach in Tamil Nadu, north of Pondicherry, Sahastra, Beej and I came across an object that was pale green and symmetrical, with bands radiating from a central orifice at the top. Five white bands radiating from the centre can be seen Being city-slickers from landlocked Bangalore our…
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…
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…
Off we went, my namesake Arun and I, early Saturday morning on the Diwali weekend. Our destination – Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta, a hill in Kanakapura taluk of Bangalore Rural district. At the top of the hill is a temple but, of course, our visit was a pilgrimage of a different…
Male and female spiders are not exactly lovey-dovey. The female ends up feeding on the male soon after mating or, in some cases, even before he mates with her. Posted by Arun Spiders have always fascinated me. These arachnids, even though they are considered a lesser order of creatures, have…
