Arun Menon has been intrigued by nature and wildlife since childhood. His day job keeps him crunching numbers but weekends are for nature getaways. He lives in Bangalore and was an enthusiastic volunteer with the Kenneth Anderson Nature Society, named for the author and hunter (later conservationist) who is considered the Jim Corbett of southern India. Terrified of snakes since childhood, he overcame his fear and now handles them with impunity.
Read Arun’s latest posts
Savannah Sprinter – A day at the office with the cheetah
You’ve seen it all before in television documentaries, but watching a cheetah stalk and hunt its prey in the epic theatre of the African savannah is a whole other trip!
Mangalajodi – birds and serenity in a winter wetland
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
Let the sleeping tiger lie – on meeting the big cat on foot
What might happen when you chance upon a sleeping tiger in the heat of the forest? Especially when you are almost within kissing distance of it? Read on!
Three days in Corbett
Three days in Corbett National Park and Arun Menon returns with a bushel full of lifers… and the sighting of his life leaves us burning bright – with envy!
Rancho La Brea – a time machine in asphalt
The George C Page Museum of Tar Pit Discoveries in Rancho La Brea, Los Angeles, California features some stunningly well-preserved mammal fossils from the Pleistocene. It’s a journey back in time but — shudder! — those Sabertooth canines are unnerving!
Osman Sagar – A Flamingo Oasis in Hyderabad
On a hot summer morning we went looking for the famed flamingo flock of Osman Sagar. And came across a treasure trove of birds
Americana – a birding diary from the United States
On the rarest of rare occasions, your boring desk job can get really interesting. If it takes you on short trips to lands unseen. July 2012 was one such, for it took me the United States and kept me there for four months. I was mostly busy with work but the weekends were left to me. So what does a bored birder do on weekends? That one’s a sitter.
Encounter: The Bald Eagle, America’s most majestic raptor
A lucky and rewarding encounter with the Bald Eagle, one of the enduring symbols of America, in Maryland’s Conowingo Dam
Hurricane Sandy, Landscape Redesigner
From New Castle, Delaware, an eerie ‘watercolour’ of Hurricane Sandy the landscape artist with a sense of humour. Exclusive Photos.
Encounter: Shortwing, Blue Robin, or Sholakili?
Shortwing or Blue Robin? When you see eye to eye with a bird for the first time and don’t know what to call it, just watch. Taxonomy be damned!