Wordless Wednesday – Two for Joy
Photograph: Sandeep Somasekharan View Wordless Wednesday archives The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Odisha Diary: In the court of the Sun God
After chasing down the Mangrove Whistler in Bhitarkanika, Jennifer Nandi journeys to the temple towns of Konarak and Puri, where a technicality stops her from washing away her sins A pair of Yali, fearsome mythical beasts, guard the temple gates True to his word, the boatman is already at the…
Osama is dead, but will the cranes fly again?
Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, will America allow Afghanistan to lick its wounds and restore its natural heritage? In India, the wintering Siberian Crane has been missing in action for nearly a decade Afghanistan has always suffered for its place on the map. For millennia, before traders discovered…
Tree-hugging for beginners
When you can’t hug the whole tree, start with a new leaf Photograph: Beej The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
On the wing – Whiskered Tern unloads excess baggage
Pooping on the fly — a tern for the worse, or the ideal weight-loss solution? In flight, a Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybridus) unloads extra baggage by leaving a trail of guano. Defecation in flight probably helps optimise body mass for energy-efficient flight, especially after a bird has recently fed. Whiskered…
From Madurai to Mount Kailas, a pilgrim’s puzzling progress
A chance find in a Pondicherry flea market points to an unknown Tamil Nadu pilgrim party’s mysterious journey to the base of Mount Kailas in 1948, only two years after Heinrich Harrer arrived in Lhasa Last Sunday, as I am prone to do on weekends, I paid a visit to…
Wordless Wednesday – Don’t shoe me away!
Photograph: Sandeep Somasekharan All rights reserved View all Wordless Wednesday posts at The Green Ogre View Sandeep’s Flickr photostream The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Audubon’s birds – poetry on canvas
In Audubon’s time the Passenger Pigeon and the Carolina Parakeet had not yet become America’s most celebrated (and lamented) extinctions… Audubon’s painting of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, which was considered extinct until 2006 when it was reportedly rediscovered (source: Wikimedia Commons) As Google has already informed you, today is the 226th…
Where eagles dare… to soar!
Honorary Ogre Anand Yegnaswami is mystified by the phenomenon of soaring after watching raptors do their thing A Black Eagle on outstretched wings Our recent trip to Dandeli with the Ogres got me acquainted with a majestic flyer. We were walking up the Nagzari trail, which leads to a waterfall of the same…
Raptor Friday: The Shaheen Falcon
Two Ogres compare notes about their respective sightings of a fast-flying falcon. Was that a Peregrine or a Shaheen? Sandy: I saw it fly at a height where it looked like a fast-moving orange-and-black speck in the sky. The wing-flapping wasn’t anywhere near furious, but every flap propelled it further ahead…
The next time you see a leopard in your town…
If you took the city of Tokyo and turned it upside down and shook it you would be amazed at the animals that fall out: badgers, wolves, boa constrictors, crocodiles, ostriches, baboons, capybaras, wild boars, leopards, manatees, ruminants, in untold numbers. There is no doubt in my mind that feral…
Wordless Wednesday – Look before you leap
Photograph: Sandeep Somasekharan All rights reserved The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Pichavaram – the great mangrove forest of Tamil Nadu
Few people know (or care) that this favourite locale of filmmakers is a spectacular mangrove ecosystem throbbing with life The mangrove forests of Pichavaram comprise an intriguing ecosystem Tickets in hand, negotiations with the boatman closed, we should have been on the boat, headed for our first visit to a…
Odisha Diary: Guideless and guileless in Bhitarkanika
When the local bird guide of two decades vintage turns out to be a shimmering dud, Jennifer Nandi takes control of the rest of her birding trip at Bhitarkanika Early morning at Bhitarkanika – eagles in the trees harry the waterfowl Birding guides are, at the best of times, difficult…
Indian Laburnum – the Vishu tree
Wherever you go in the world, Mallus can be identified on Vishu’s eve as they strip Golden Shower trees bare of flowers! On that cheery note, Happy Vishu!