Nature’s Layers Unravelled – Encounters with birds, beasts, and relatives
There’s always a first time. The Green Ogre’s ‘Encounter’ series describes memorable first meetings with birds, beasts, places, natural monuments and natural phenomena.
There are enough roadkills, but why are vultures absent from our skies? An independent filmmaker explores the reasons Himalayan Griffons engage in a scuffle Several animals are killed in road accidents but we hardly see any vultures hovering above and swooping down for a cleanup operation. Ever wondered why? Neloy…
In flower the Cannonball Tree is lovely. But, by Toutatis, beware the skull-crushing quality of its menacing fruits
Why call it a chestnut-tailed whatever when no one notices the colour of the tail? Bar-throated Siva? Ah, that’s another story.
A chance meeting with this charming sunbird kept our spirits high through the unpredictable Himalayan weather In September 2010, on our way to the shrine of Madhyamaheshwar, we spent a night at the beautifully situated GMVN guest house at Ukhimath. It had been a year of catastrophic rains – an…
Though dirt-common, the Brahminy Kite is both gorgeous and majestic if you care to give it a second glance An adult Brahminy Kite surveys the landscape beneath overcast skies To quote my good friend Nikhil: “The only mistake the Brahminy Kite ever committed that made him a non-celebrity among birders…
It had given me the slip in Kutch, but in Oman I caught up with the Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin.
With the menacing looks and businesslike patience of an assassin, the Robber Fly captures its prey on the wing
Meeting the Bar-headed Goose, arguably the world’s highest flier, in its breeding grounds at 15,000 feet is a rare and humbling privilege
A day of tired wandering in a forest ends with an intimate rendezvous with a stunning damselfly – the Stream Glory. It’s often the little things in life that give you the biggest highs
May is just behind us, but the familiar trees that lend their signature flush to this month are still in riotous flower One reason I look forward to May, despite the sweltering heat it brings, is the blooming of Gulmohar (Delonix regia), often called ‘Mayflower’ locally. The tree is also…
Is that a drongo? Or a cuckoo? Or a bit of both? Meet the Fork-tailed Drongo-cuckoo
Though not as grandly picturesque as the Golden Shower or the Flame of the Forest, the Copper Pod tree makes its yellow-crowned presence felt all over the flower-carpeted ground It’s a humid May forenoon and even in the shade there is no respite from sweat. The sea, a mere 100…
A timber yard in Dandeli, Karnataka offers some of the best views you can have of the threatened Malabar Pied Hornbill When you mention Dandeli, people respond in two ways. “Rafting!” exclaim the majority. The others enthusiastically say: “Hornbills!” On our trip, we (Sahastra, Bijoy, Andy, Satish and I) didn’t…
At first they looked like coconuts bobbing in the water. The next second we were gaping with wide-eyed delight at a family of Smooth-coated Otters! Champion Swimmer’s Rule #1: Keep your nose above the water My first brush with the Smooth-coated Otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) was back in 2008 when I…
Ladakh’s bleak and bare landscape springs to joyous life when Himalayan Marmots, these oversized ground squirrels, come out to play.
