The First Green Ogre Monsoon Conclave at ARRS, Agumbe

If all goes well, The Green Ogre will hold its first-ever Monsoon Conclave at the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station from Saturday through Monday. Conclave is actually a dignified and rather hyperbolic term that describes the rare opportunity when all four (and now five) of us get together. Weather and luck permitting, Arun, Sahastra, Sandy, Andy and I hope to return with some splendid documentation in words and pictures from southern India’s most well-watered region.  Agumbe, in Shimoga district of Karnataka, receives approximately 301 inches of rainfall annually. The region is well studied by the Rainforest Research Station set up by … Continue reading The First Green Ogre Monsoon Conclave at ARRS, Agumbe

Encounter: The Bronzed Frog

In April 2006, we trekked from the Iruppu waterfalls in Kodagu (Coorg) to the Brahmagiri peak on the Karnataka-Kerala border. After crossing the lower bamboo-dominated patches we crossed a transition zone and reached a nice shola patch at the edge of the high-altitude grassland. That’s where we saw the frog. We found this individual near a small clear-water stream where we had stopped for lunch. In the dappled sunlight of the shola floor, a few individuals were perched on rocks close to the water. It was wet and quite well camouflaged among the rust, brown and maroon leaves sticking to … Continue reading Encounter: The Bronzed Frog