Nature’s Layers Unravelled – Encounters with birds, beasts, and relatives
It makes itself scarce. Its call is so enmeshed in the thickets and brambles of forest undergrowth that it is part of the sound you take back with you from the jungle. But few first-time birders I have escorted on their maiden outing have come away after a good look…
Mockingbirds are the true artists of the bird kingdom. Which is to say, although they’re born with a song of their own, an innate riff that happens to be one of the most versatile of all ornithological expressions, mockingbirds aren’t content to merely play the hand that is dealt them.…
Stepping into the shoes that we think Al Gore has now vacated since accepting the Nobel Prize, Sen. John Kerry takes over as the Next Big American Voice Against Global Warming. But despite the big press, the noises he is making are no different. And particularly, coming from another Presidential…
Footloose in Garhwal, my travelogue on our trek to Bedni Bugyal in April-May 2007, is finally available for viewing. It had been privately circulated until now. Here it is: On Yudu (Firefox users may have some Flash 10-related viewing trouble): We’re sorry, your browser doesn’t support IFrames. You can still…
You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird… So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing — that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing…
The Chinkara or Indian Gazelle (Gazella bennettii), more of a newsmaker for its association with a trigger-happy Salman Khan, is a sight to behold in the arid wilderness of Rajasthan and Kutch
The Nature Conservation Foundation‘s EcoLogic blog has been around for some time now and its content is on my reading list. NCF does so well what other eco-research blogs fail to do – present great, relevant scientific information in a thought-provoking and easy-to-read way. Not to mention some high quality…
It’s that day of the year when everyone gets excited about their carbon footprint, only to have nothing to do with it when the day is done. So far, the hubbub was restricted to corporates who chose the occasion of World Environment Day to make a grand pretence of atoning…
The minutes crept by and the objects flying through the air grew steadily larger. Where first there had been only twigs, leaves and branches there were now whirling coconut palms and spinning tree trunks. Piya knew that the gale had reached full force when she saw something that looked like…
Kalyan Varma has relaunched his website, and with it, some very absorbing new features. His photo-essay on the Lion-tailed Macaques (Macaca silenus) of the Western Ghats is beautifully captured and enchantingly told. Ok, ok, I know I’m going wild with the superlatives, but great photography often does that to me.…
The Indian Desert Jird, a diurnal rodent, lives in huge colonies and is a great food source for desert cats, jungle cats, jackals, mongooses and raptors.
IMAGE: SARUS AND NILGAI (FROM K S GOPI SUNDAR’S SARUS SCAPES) My dear friend Gopi Sundar has finally lifted the veil on his stupendous insight into bird behaviour. His blog ‘Sarus Scape’ is now online and abuzz. He tags his blog ‘Random Observations of a Wandering Naturalist’ but that entire…
The first time I brought a snake home I was seven. More ignorant than now, and more innocent. It wasn’t the warmest welcome. I gave the folks full points for maximum vocal decibel capacity. It turned out to be a saw-scaled viper. Didn’t hurt me at all. I like to…
The discovery of a new population of Irrawaddy Dolphins has boosted the hopes of conservationists working to protect them, reports The Observer. Researchers attached to the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society have confirmed that they have found nearly 6,000 Irrawaddy Dolphins in the Sunderbans mangrove habitat of Bangladesh, bordering the…
All right, shoot me. I have never had any luck with the Black Francolin.
