Nature’s Layers Unravelled – Encounters with birds, beasts, and relatives
Jennifer Nandi’s Andaman dream almost crash-lands before it takes off again, wobbly but steady As a child, I remember a photograph of my father being garlanded by an elephant on the Andaman Islands where he had been surveying using the old plumb-line technology that Indian Naval officers in the hydrographic…
Photo: Sandeep Somasekharan The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Somebody had planted it there — the Scarlet Milkweed. Didn’t give much thought to it. Noticed only when it bloomed with bright yellow-orange flowers, garnished with vividly coloured caterpillars. These were the larvae of the Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus), a species of Danainae (“milkweed butterflies”, which lay their eggs on various…
Though far from unique as coconut palms go, this tree had the character of a pioneer settler, in that it had been planted at a time when the surroundings were overgrazed, fallow and barren. No surprise then, that it announced itself as king of the garden. Growing in stature and…
The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), also known as White Scavenger Vulture and Pharaoh’s Chicken, is easily distinguishable thanks to its unusual plumage. Its large size, creamy white plumage, hook-shaped beak, and yellow face are diagnostic. In flight, the undersides of the wings show a clear demarcation between the black flight feathers…
For 20 years the mango tree that my father planted had stood its ground. It took less than 20 hours to bring it down.
Photo: Sahastrarashmi The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, also known as Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, is located between the branches of the Periyar River in Ernakulam district of Kerala. The great birdman Salim Ali had surveyed Thattekad in 1930 and described it as the richest bird habitat in the peninsula. He later urged the Kerala…
Jennifer Nandi bids goodbye to the Sundarbans and acclimates to civilisation as she traipses the streets of crowded Kolkata The famous bridge over the Hooghly River in Kolkata January 12 – Leaving for Kolkata During the three-hour-cruise to the jetty, from where we will be transferred by car to Kolkata,…
Hunters 1 Freeloaders 0, at least that was the score when I left a Crested Goshawk to eat its meal in peace. The crows had to be content with looking I was at Sim’s Park, Coonoor, after a casual day-drive with my wife and a couple of friends. As I…
Demoiselles, like other cranes, suffer on account of habitat loss and degradation throughout their breeding and wintering ranges. With the spread of agriculture in the Eurasian steppes a large swath of the species’ breeding territory is threatened on account of disturbance, grazing and hunting. In India, where the cranes winter,…
In 2002, while in Chopta (part of Kedarnath Musk Deer Sanctuary), we had tried to visit the Musk Deer Breeding Centre but were denied access. They behaved as if it were a nuclear installation, a friend who was with me then had observed. Later in August 2006 I was in…
As I enter the village children greet me. They are a cheerful lot, waving and smiling at the visitor with a camera. I notice that they are playing with a dead snake and want me to see it up close. For an armchair explorer like me, fed on a regular…
You must be familiar with that old joke: How many morons does it take to change a lightbulb? The answer shall be illumined presently to the patient reader of this post. But first, the story of a sting operation. Apart from a long line of little black ants bearing whitish larvae…
Birds of the scrubland, harriers are unmistakable for their flight – close to the ground, with the wings held in a high-upstroke V, and the eyes directed downward looking intently for prey. A male Montague’s Harrier on the hunt I have seen Montague’s Harriers (Circus pygargus) frequently in and around Mysore but…
