Nature’s Layers Unravelled – Encounters with birds, beasts, and relatives
Mangalajodi in Odisha is not just a winter birding hotspot. To the passionate birder, this is a place of pilgrimage. Besides the opportunity to watch a number of species at extremely close quarters with minimum intrusion, it offers something else — serenity
The ebb of winter is a fine time for birders. At Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, a nature photographer has a field day. Here’s a page from his diary
A White-bellied Sea Eagle won’t make that astronomical push without a gastronomical pull and this one had no apparent interest in playing the avian Sisyphus.
You have probably seen the Grey Plover on a sandy beach in Kerala and not paid it any attention. Up close, its grace and beauty are alluring
It is indeed a majestic sight, and you can’t but stand there with your jaw hanging open, watching this glorious common kestrel (falco tinnunculus) hover overhead. You obviously can’t afford to gape at this site if you are a tiny rodent, or a small bird, or the garden lizard, because…
A lucky and rewarding encounter with the Bald Eagle, one of the enduring symbols of America, in Maryland’s Conowingo Dam
An attractive raptor even while perched, the Black-shouldered Kite is hard to forget once spotted hovering For a long time after I learned to identify this bird, also called the Black-winged Kite to differentiate it from the Australian Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris), I did not witness its flight. During the winter dusk near…
The spectacle of a Racket-tailed Drongo in flight can make an air-show look like a cheap circus The Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) is quite a character. The funky hairdo over the beak, the long-flowing tail and its ability to mimic scores of other birds makes it one very interesting…
Ever wondered why some birds never fly? And we are talking of little birds, not ostriches and emus… Flit: v. To move lightly and swiftly. I have always been amazed as to how some birds never seem to fly — they always flit. Whenever I have come across a flock…
Watching a great bird in flight is an experience both meditative and educational A Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis) rises slowly on a thermal — an updraft of warm air rising up from the sun-warmed earth — above the dense forests in a valley in Uttarakhand, northern India. Among the largest species of…
