The Bicoloured Frog’s Wedding Suit
Here was the Bicoloured Frog again, dressed for its wedding party.
Odyssey to Bedni Bugyal – Slow Deterioration
We arrive at Bedni Bugyal, but only barely. Food, shelter and rest are in pitifully short supply. Add to that the prospect of two long, cold, terrifying nights at 11,000 feet. An hour later, Bijoy comes up to us to beg a sip of water. I point wordlessly to the…
The Green Ogre Autumn Conclave – Dandeli, October 2011
From left to right: Arun Menon, Sahastrarashmi, Sandeep Somasekharan, Bijoy Venugopal, Jennifer Nandi, Anand Yegnaswami and Jagadeesh Seshadri
Encounter: Indian Silverbill
If coochicooable was a word, it would fit the Indian Silverbill My first memories of fellow Ogre Sahastra are tied to a photograph he posted in the Infosys photography club. The first was of a group of tiny, brown birds with beautiful conical beaks shining like metal, perched on a…
Ramble through Alaska – the Arctic Circle
Leaving Mt Denali behind we left with optimism for the Arctic Circle, into the ragged latitude of the midnight sun Disappointed with the weather at Denali National Park that denied us a view of Mt Denali on the first day of our trip to Alaska, we looked for an suitable…
Nominate a warrior for the Kumble Foundation – Jumbo Wildlife Awards
It takes more than eco-tourism or tokenism to save the tiger. Improving the lot of conservation’s foot-soldiers can be a good start. Forest officer Prabhu Swamy at one of the best-maintained anti-poaching camps in Bandipur, supported by the Jumbo Foundation. It is a permanent masonry structure equipped with solar panels…
Download the October Calendar Wallpaper
Raptor on the road. DOWNLOAD THIS IMAGE AND SET IT AS YOUR CALENDAR WALLPAPER
Odyssey to Bedni Bugyal – Didana to Ali Bugyal
Pressed to ascend an indefinite distance to the alpine meadow of Ali Bugyal, Jennifer Nandi’s mind fastens to thoughts of self-preservation and meditations on the Zen of climbing Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we set off from Didana the next day on what we’ve been told is roughly an “eight-kilometre easy trek”…
Review: Carl Safina’s pursuit of the Leatherback Turtle
Carl Safina’s mellifluous prose evokes the beauty and mystery of the sea and its ancient denizen, the Leatherback turtle Voyage Of The Turtle: In Pursuit Of The Earth’s Last Dinosaur by Carl Safina Published by Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (May 30, 2006) Rs 689 on Flipkart Carl Safina is a…
Le Question: What colour is the eye of the Sarus?
Seeing eye to eye with the Sarus Crane evokes a host of questions and the answers aren’t exactly simpleShashwat and I were driving along a small arterial road in Rae Bareli, checking out the pairs of Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) among the paddy fields on either side. It was the…
Odyssey to Bedni Bugyal – A Day at Didana
To derive joy from the simple act of birdwatching, all you need to do is wait, watch and listen. Jennifer Nandi reveals the Birding 101 in the third episode of her travelogue on Bedni Bugyal A Blue Whistling Thrush, ever the skulker, trails us as we walk its wooded paths…
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? My wife and I had seen the Carpenter Bee buzz past us as we stole a furtive smoke on the…
Heard the laugh track of the Nilgiris?
While walking in the Nilgiris, listen closely for the guffaw of the Nilgiri Laughingthrush. And treasure it, for you’ll hear it nowhere else on earth When I had first laid my hands on a Sony prosumer camera I found I could photograph birds within reach, and the target of one…
Odyssey to Bedni Bugyal – Loharjung to Didana
Walking in the Himalaya offers the pleasure of a constant flirtation with epiphany, learns Jennifer Nandi A stream en route to Didana from Loharjung A morning of magic greets us. Arrogant blue skies goad us onwards. The rugged hill road from the village leads us past an anarchy of rampant…
Life notes from a sea of green
A bad day of birding need not be a bad day with nature, not when you have a lush green paddy field to adore Another routine morning trip to see if I could catch some birds on the wing took me to a remote corner of Mandya, along a paddy…