Nature’s Layers Unravelled – Encounters with birds, beasts, and relatives
It’s that day of the year when everyone gets excited about their carbon footprint, only to have nothing to do with it when the day is done. So far, the hubbub was restricted to corporates who chose the occasion of World Environment Day to make a grand pretence of atoning…
The minutes crept by and the objects flying through the air grew steadily larger. Where first there had been only twigs, leaves and branches there were now whirling coconut palms and spinning tree trunks. Piya knew that the gale had reached full force when she saw something that looked like…
Kalyan Varma has relaunched his website, and with it, some very absorbing new features. His photo-essay on the Lion-tailed Macaques (Macaca silenus) of the Western Ghats is beautifully captured and enchantingly told. Ok, ok, I know I’m going wild with the superlatives, but great photography often does that to me.…
The Indian Desert Jird, a diurnal rodent, lives in huge colonies and is a great food source for desert cats, jungle cats, jackals, mongooses and raptors.
IMAGE: SARUS AND NILGAI (FROM K S GOPI SUNDAR’S SARUS SCAPES) My dear friend Gopi Sundar has finally lifted the veil on his stupendous insight into bird behaviour. His blog ‘Sarus Scape’ is now online and abuzz. He tags his blog ‘Random Observations of a Wandering Naturalist’ but that entire…
The first time I brought a snake home I was seven. More ignorant than now, and more innocent. It wasn’t the warmest welcome. I gave the folks full points for maximum vocal decibel capacity. It turned out to be a saw-scaled viper. Didn’t hurt me at all. I like to…
The discovery of a new population of Irrawaddy Dolphins has boosted the hopes of conservationists working to protect them, reports The Observer. Researchers attached to the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society have confirmed that they have found nearly 6,000 Irrawaddy Dolphins in the Sunderbans mangrove habitat of Bangladesh, bordering the…
All right, shoot me. I have never had any luck with the Black Francolin.
Meet a shy and secretive felid of the Indian deserts In January, the Banni grassland of Kutch rustles like a tinderbox. The tussocks of grass are dry, the soil is powdery and fine, and mirages turn the horizon into a kaleidoscope of illusions. You can, therefore, be forgiven for…
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of one of the world’s great ecological catastrophes – the Exxon Valdez oil spill – The New York Times has carried a telling editorial. Excerpt: More than $2 billion has been spent on cleanup and recovery. Exxon has paid at least $1 billion…
The winter of 08-09 has now packed away its woollies and headed off into the southern hemisphere to cool things off. But while we argued about the patterns of bird migration, the late arrival of migrants (some entirely absent) and blamed global warming for our frustrations, a biologist I know…
Light, especially of the artificial kind, is a no-no for nesting Olive Ridley turtles. In fact, artificial light distracts young hatchlings, which make their way to the sea at night, and attracts predators. However, metaphorically speaking, the turtles need a guiding light. Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra, a non-governmental organisation based…
A study among North American birds shows that more and more species are moving their winter migration grounds further north as a possible outcome of global warming. The Audubon Society has published a report (download) that clearly shows that species such as the Purple Finch (top), Wild Turkey, Marbled Murrelet,…
To the Soliga people, the Indian Black Eagle is known by the evocative name of kaanana katthalu – the darkness of the forest The Mighty Black. For most of my birding career, this majestic forest raptor has been elusive. My first sighting of the Indian Black Eagle (Ictinaetus malayensis) was…
I have just returned from a 7-day birding tour of the Great Rann of Kutch. Seven days, in truth, are hardly enough to explore this vast and varied landscape. The Rann, a salt marsh that is inundated for a few months every year during the monsoon, dries up completely around…
