Nature’s Layers Unravelled – Encounters with birds, beasts, and relatives
Birds are probably the gateway drug for many people into the fascinating world of nature. Because they are ubiquitous, birds arouse curiosity. Birdwatching is also among the most accessible of hobbies. Soar with birds in their world as you read these posts that celebrate birds and draw us into their world of marvels.
Burning out during the lockdown looked like a very real possibility for Sandy. Until he began watching birds for a few minutes every day. Over the year, he documented more than 40 species in his North Carolina backyard
Starting in 2016, Praveen Tangirala has kept a close eye on Doddanekundi Lake, the large wetland in his neighbourhood that hosts a wealth of bird life. Besides the obvious delights that birding at the lake brings, he is also wary of the environmental threats that endanger its fragile but resilient ecology.
Ravens, choughs, blackbirds… the stars of the snow-white alpine playground of the Swiss Alps are mostly black. A birding diary from the fabled Jungfrau region
Teakettle… teakettle. The Carolina Wren, though diminutive, makes its presence felt with its big, loud voice.
In the Banni grasslands of Kutch, raptors hold sway, holding sway over sky, scrub and tree-line
Lockdown birding gets a boost with the arrival of a nesting family of Northern Cardinals at a North Carolina home feeder. Here’s the first post of an absorbing pictorial series
While the lockdown brings birds and beasts out into the cities, clandestine moves are underway to destroy the pristine forests in which they live. Praveen Tangirala recounts a birdwatching trip to the beautiful Kali Tiger Reserve in Dandeli, great stretches of which are threatened to be swallowed up by the proposed Hubbali-Ankola railway line
Continuing the Kutch Diaries, with close encounters with three different species of sandgrouse in Banni grasslands
On a wintry morning in Kutch, we waited among the dense Salvadora bushes for a glimpse of a rare winter visitor from West Asia – the Grey Hypocolius
One hundred days of birding. And the last lap in the midst of a lockdown!
The Oriental Magpie-Robin is an accomplished songster. But its powers of mimicry are often underrated.
A run in with a rat snake prompts a question about conservation and ethics while setting up nest-boxes for Eastern Bluebirds
In the Netherlands, flowers are blooming, waterfowl are cackling. The days are growing longer. Spring is here and a new cycle of seasons has begun
That’s the way a wetland dies. It desiccates and seeps into memory, and then awaits a rain of retrospective wisdom that may never come.
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
