Assassins in the Garden – Part 1
For 20 years the mango tree that my father planted had stood its ground. It took less than 20 hours to bring it down.
Category: Beej
All posts authored by Beej
Balcony Bugwatch – The moron, the lightbulb and the Potter Wasp
You must be familiar with that old joke: How many morons does it take to change a lightbulb? The answer shall be illumined presently to the patient reader of this post. But first, the story of a sting operation. Apart from a long line of little black ants bearing whitish larvae…
Wordless Wednesday – Tawny Coster at Gingee, Tamil Nadu
Tawny Coster (Acraea terpsicore) Photo: Beej The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Wordless Wednesday – Shadow-play
Common Bush-Brown butterfly (Mycalesis perseus) in wet-season form flirting with the shadow of a Tulsi plant (Ocimum sanctum) on my balcony on a sunny afternoon, and eventually perching on it. Enough said. Well, that was almost wordless. Photos: Beej The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from…
Encounter – Hill Swallow
The Hill Swallow – note the rufous throat and face ‘One swallow does not make a summer’ is part of a quote attributed to Aristotle. In truth it represents a very Eurocentric position on swallows, in this case the Barn Swallow that migrates south to India in winter. On my…
Encounter – Royle’s Pika
Half-mouse and half-hare is the Royle’s Pika. One of the most adorable mammals in the Himalaya
Chaukhamba, the four-pronged mountain of Garhwal
I was drawn to the massif gleaming in the horizon as it towered over the lesser ranges in the foreground Chaukhamba (right) from Bedni Bugyal. The peak next to it is Shivling (near Gangotri). Photo: Sahastrarashmi (2002) In September 2009, Sahastra and I took a train from Delhi to Haridwar…
The Green Ogre is four times stronger
Friends call me Beej. I started the Green Ogre in 2006 for the pleasure of writing about nature. Four years down, I felt its scope should extend to featuring talents more diverse than mine. On my 36th birthday in June, I extended an offer to three close friends and fellow-travellers…
When the elephant played peekaboo
I feared the elephant’s shrewd little eyes were fixed on the diminutive human shuffling against my thigh. I don’t think we got the joke then, but when we viewed the pictures up close on our return to Bangalore, the punchline that tickled my daughter was ours to behold. On a…
Snake in the grass and the hiss of life
In childhood, I have watched snakes clubbed to death by people I loved. Possessed by ignorance and fear, perhaps they killed without thinking, because harmless snakes had been at the receiving end of their wrath. I had no say then but I knew it was awfully wrong. Today, by saving…
A BR Hills weekend in pictures
Driving in the beautiful Biligirirangans can be equally exhausting and enchanting! Drove with the family for the first time to my favourite forest in Karnataka last weekend. Wandered desperately for 40 km between Yelandur and Chamarajnagar looking for a fuel station because we forgot to top up at Mysore. We had…
Encounter: White-capped Water Redstart
I woke up at half past five to a clear dawn sky. There was a cold edge to the happy laughter of the brook. Ambling down on creaky knees to wash, I heard an excited chirruping and saw two lovely white-capped water redstarts (Chaimarrornis leucocephalus) chasing each other up and down the length of the brook.
In the arms of Shiva – a trek to Tungnath
Our destination is Tungnath, the third Kedar, and my purpose is religious only in a pagan sense. To walk the wild Himalayas, breathe their bounteous air, encounter their wildlife, their trees and wildflowers, rivers and springs, and to be at the mercy of their elements is pilgrimage enough for us.
Encounter: Russet Sparrow
Like thousands of coins jingling in hundreds of fists, the chirruping of sparrows heralds dusk. Trees quiver as roosting flocks fuss like train passengers arguing over berths. The din dies down with the fading light and all is quiet again. Until the morning, when breakfast squabbles are made public and…
Encounter – The Himalayan Monal
Even a peacock must bow to this unchallenged monarch of mountain fowls, the majestic Himalayan Monal