Small World – A macro photographer zooms in on the big picture
Most visitors to Bangalore’s Kaikondrahalli and Kasavanahalli lakes celebrate their avian life, but Vedant Sapra takes a closer peek at the biodiversity that often goes unnoticed
Category: Invertebrates
Bewitched by butterflies on a Sunday morning in Bangalore
Sunlight and butterflies are a potent combination to chase away the blues
Watching Butterflies – Field Lessons from Rishi Valley
In Rishi Valley, where trees and rocks are teachers, watching butterflies is a highly enjoyable part of the education. Here are field notes from wandering around the school grounds spotting butterflies on the last morning of 2017.
Monsoon, gone so soon
Gayatri Hazarika wrote this ode to the monsoon during the peak of the rains, but we lazybones are sharing it with you now so that you cherish the last gasp of the season, the final raindrops before winter desiccates the subcontinent. Enjoy this photo essay
Onathumbi: Onam with the Picture Wing Dragonfly!
What is Onam without its leitmotif — the Onathumbi or Picture Wing Dragonfly?
Arachnography: A photo essay from Dandeli
As a child they were the stuff of nightmares. My spider sense still tingles, but no longer in fear I remember having always kept my distance from Arachnids as a…
Balcony Bugwatch – Love song of the Carpenter Bee
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov might have feted the Bumblebee in music but it is the domestic life of the Carpenter Bee that inspires a fitting paean. How about one by the Carpenters?…
No teeth, no claws, but very much a Tiger!
Not the cuddliest tiger around but certainly the safest to introduce your kids to, this one is best chased with a camera on a sunny spring morning. If your intentions…
Meeting Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in the rainforest
The two faces of a forest stream are so unlike each other
We don’t need no thought control!
Anand Yegnaswami witnesses a bizarre encounter between a spider and a wasp and stumbles into a freakish discovery of manipulation in animals Mind manipulation is not new to many of…
Encounter: The Dung Beetle’s Crappy Life
For the dung beetle, crap doesn’t just happen. It’s very happening!
Monsoon Mating Mania
Monsoon in top gear is a season for an unabashed green orgy, and we voyeuristic Green Ogres clicked away shamelessly. So much for the birds and bees…
Encounter: The Malaysian Moon Moth
Bright yellow, almost 12 inches long and half a foot across, it seemed almost artificial among the bright green leaves where I found it. I wondered first if it was a life-like miniature kite that was stuck in the leaves. I called out to the Green Ogres and exclaimed “Butterfly!” and got a curt rap on the knuckles. “Moth!” Well, most of the moths I had come across hardly had the vivid patterns I was looking at, so I knew this one was special. We were looking at the Malaysian Moon Moth (Actias maenas)
The Cicada’s Night Out
Cicadas are diurnal, so what was this one doing up late at night?
Encounter: Robber Fly, raptor of the insect world
With the menacing looks and businesslike patience of an assassin, the Robber Fly captures its prey on the wing