Author: Bijoy Venugopal

Feb. 9-10, 2008 Arun Menon, Sahastrarashmi, Bijoy Jungle Babbler Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker Large Pied Wagtail (White-browed) Indian Rufous Babbler Quaker Tit-Babbler (Brown-cheeked Fulvetta) Tickell’s Flowerpecker Common Tailorbird Purple Sunbird White-headed Babbler Grey Wagtail Common Rosefinch Red Spurfowl (female) Indian Peafowl Rufous Woodpecker Little Scaly-bellied Green Woodpecker (Streak-Throated) Blyth‘s Reed-Warbler Malabar…

Hard to imagine that the near extinction of three species of Gyps vultures has to do with something mammalian. Milk. Medicine to mammals, toxin to vultures, the antibiotic drug Diclofenac was widely administered to livestock. When vultures fed on animal carcasses as they have been doing for millennia, traces of…

Couldn’t take it any more… I have vented my angst over the reportage of the gharial crisis on IBN blogs. Here’s the text: Curious how the stuff of Animal Planet becomes a mainstream media issue and everyone in the animal kingdom a spokesperson for it. First, it was the tiger…

Via Google Reader: Awesome, innit? The Ecopak: Moulded, Printed, Biodegradable Paper-based Packaging via TreeHugger on 2/4/08 We’re big fans of packaging done right, and we really hate packaging done wrong. It’s no wonder then that we were intrigued when Mark Appleford of Varden contacted us about their new Ecopak packaging…

The more I read about the gharial episode in the Indian media, the more I am disgusted with the petty politicking that has driven me away from a career in that industry. And just for that, I am grateful. So it was refreshing to read Janaki Lenin’s opinion piece in…

Campers, don’t crush that soda can. I came across this interesting stove that is made from used Pepsi cans. It takes a little tinkering, if you’re the tinkering type. But sounds like a good idea. If it works for you, please make me one! More here: http://www.pcthiker.com/pages/gear/pepsistove.shtml The Green Ogre…

BBC reports: The Panamanian golden frog communicates with other frogs by semaphore in the form of gentle hand waves. It has evolved the mechanism to signal to rivals and mates above the noise of mountain streams. Shortly after filming for the BBC One series Life In Cold Blood, the frogs…

It’s curious how people who are nothing but voracious consumers for the most part suddenly develop an interest in the environment. Better still, they become experts and spokespeople for ecological issues. Nearly everyone worth their page three partywear is “doing something about the environment” – mostly attending glitterati-infested soirees and…

My mind’s been besieged by ants. I used to watch ants a lot all of the time, but now I’m watching the ground beneath my feet with a new, ever-growing sense of alarm: there just aren’t enough ants. Which is why, last week, when I saw a tattered single file…

One morning at Karanji lake in Mysore, the wife and I took a pedal-boat on a circuit. The birds here let you approach very close. We had intimate encounters with a Grey Heron, a Purple Heron, a Large Cormorant and a Spotbill Duck. These pics taken with our small autofocus…

Last week, I saw a barn owl just outside our apartment complex. It was past 7 and this guy swished by with a ghostly whisper of wings. I waited to see if it would hover, but it just flew up into a dead tree and perched there. In August 2001,…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osb0LuBA1VA] The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.

Just when you thought the spectre of vulture deaths had taken a breather, here’s more shocking news. It’s not gone away, just shifted base.A bit of background: Diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used in the veterinary treatment of livestock, has been found to cause gout and renal failure in…