Encounter: The Black-and-Orange Flycatcher
In a Nilgiri forest cloaked with moss, the adorable and confiding Black-and-Orange Flycatcher sets the woods — and your imagination — aflame.
Encounter – Yellow-billed Blue Magpie
After every birding trip there is always one bird that occupies our thoughts after we return. For me, it was the Yellow-billed Blue Magpie As a voracious reader of Tintin, my first impression of a magpie was a rather plain, pied bird with a needle-like beak (thanks to the illustrations).…
Encounter – Common Kingfisher
It was early days when I still hadn’t started birding seriously. A fun trip with some friends to Edamuri falls, near Mysore, more of a ‘get your feet wet’ trip. As we stood along the shore of the irrigation channel, taking off our footwear to drench our feet, I heard a…
Download the June calendar wallpaper!
It’s already June, eh? We’re pretty hung-over, having just returned from the Great Himalayan National Park, where we spent most of the last week of May observing The Green Ogre Spring-Summer Conclave. It’s hard to erase that ache in the heart when we look back at our pictures. Those glorious…
Le Question: What did God do?
When a mundane classroom question raises questions about God and the universe Shashwat : The early crustaceans gave way to archosaurs and then to Dinosaurs. Me : Yes, I guess so. Shashwat : They in turn gave way to reptiles and mammals. Me : Yes, seems to be the case…
The Green Ogre Calendar Wallpaper for May!
To download this file, just enter your email address and you will receive the download link by email. [download file=”http://greenogreindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/MayWallpaper.jpg”] If you have trouble receiving the download link, first check your Junk or Spam folder for the email. If it isn’t there, contact us and we’ll fix your problem. Enjoy!
Nature’s palette at Birdpur
Winter’s officially out the door, but we still entertain memories of a January morning in Bharatpur amid winged angels and wicked vandals Accompanied by the creaking of the cycle rickshaw’s suspension, the eerie silhouettes created by the dense fog eclipsing the post meridian sun presented a negative portent right out…
Indian Licorice – Black-eyed beads of death
The red-and-black seeds frequently used in the indoor games of my childhood, I learned recently, are deadly poisonous. Introducing the pretty and dangerous Rosary Pea or Indian Licorice. Now chew on that! Back when I was a kid visiting my grandparents, dinner would generally be over by 7 pm. The…
Download the April Wallpaper – Spotbills on a Stump
Sorry, we missed the March wallpaper thanks to too much work, too many appraisals, too few pay hikes and suchlike end-of-the-financial-year blues. But April, to mangle Eliot, is the coolest month. So, here’s Sandeep Somasekharan’s contribution to the splendor of your desktop. Let these two spotbills make April special. Download…
Burning Bright – In praise of the Flame of the Forest
Devoid of flower through the year it is like any other tree pale of trunk and green of leaf. But come March, when the Flame of the Forest burns up the landscape for far furlongs, its incendiary sight you can neither ignore nor forget I remember Beej telling me about…
What Little Grebes learn at Sunday School
Family entertainment for this family of Little Grebes might be, in all seriousness, a training session for the future. Notes from a morning well spent… Early one Sunday morning, a fortnight after I got my new lens, I headed out to Madiwala Lake. Roaming around, I encountered a family of…
Encounter: God, Darwin, Ali and the Blue-capped Rock Thrush
In the foggy ruins of time, most memories can get blurred, or muddied entirely. But not a birder’s remembrance of a cherished bird. Every time I see the Blue-capped Rock Thrush, I am reminded of myself at twelve, a scruffy, itchy pilgrim gazing in rapture at a sprite, a vision, a gift of the forest. It’s a story that involves God, Darwin and Salim Ali — all playing significant bit-parts.
Two hoots in a deserted quarry
My love of owls has made me peer into abandoned quarries, tree hollows, rafters of old barns, and dilapidated houses. Last year, I watched three Indian Eagle Owl chicks grow from featherballs to subadults. We waited a whole year to publish this report, assured that they are now relatively safe…
The February wallpaper — Enter the Dragon!
Make this picture your desktop wallpaper-calendar for February 2012. To download, click the link below or the picture above. file storage online Garden Lizard (Calotes versicolor) Photograph: Sandeep Somasekharan The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
What’s cooking in Khichan?
Journeying in another Green Ogre’s footsteps, this wild crane chase off the beaten track culminated in an immensely rewarding avian spectacle. The Demoiselles of Khichan are alive and well, and numerous and beautiful as ever! The Demoiselles of Khichan Heading from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer we took the road less travelled…