Nature’s Layers Unravelled – Encounters with birds, beasts, and relatives
It’s curious how people who are nothing but voracious consumers for the most part suddenly develop an interest in the environment. Better still, they become experts and spokespeople for ecological issues. Nearly everyone worth their page three partywear is “doing something about the environment” – mostly attending glitterati-infested soirees and…
My mind’s been besieged by ants. I used to watch ants a lot all of the time, but now I’m watching the ground beneath my feet with a new, ever-growing sense of alarm: there just aren’t enough ants. Which is why, last week, when I saw a tattered single file…
One morning at Karanji lake in Mysore, the wife and I took a pedal-boat on a circuit. The birds here let you approach very close. We had intimate encounters with a Grey Heron, a Purple Heron, a Large Cormorant and a Spotbill Duck. These pics taken with our small autofocus…
Last week, I saw a barn owl just outside our apartment complex. It was past 7 and this guy swished by with a ghostly whisper of wings. I waited to see if it would hover, but it just flew up into a dead tree and perched there. In August 2001,…
A fascinating story of bird migration has come to light, involving a Bar-Headed Goose (Anser indicus), which was recently photographed near Somnathpur in Karnataka. On December 26, 2007, Niranjan M. posted a picture of a flock of bar-headed geese at a lake near Somnathpur. One individual in the flock bore…
Via Google Reader: Join Brian May against whaling via Madame Arcati by Madame Arcati on 11/30/07 One of the better celebrity blogs is Brian May’s. The Queen star posts regularly and actually interacts with his audience – and I’m impressed by his recent outspoken attack on the resumption of whaling…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osb0LuBA1VA] The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Just when you thought the spectre of vulture deaths had taken a breather, here’s more shocking news. It’s not gone away, just shifted base.A bit of background: Diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used in the veterinary treatment of livestock, has been found to cause gout and renal failure in…
If my piece on the Bedni Bugyal trek was a one-week breeze, here comes the hurricane. My good friend Jennifer Nandi, whose reading has ingrained in her the poesy of Thoreau and the acidity of Dame Dorothy Parker, has written what I believe to be a heartfelt and insightful account…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iGvD-Tteiw] The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
Sept. 30 – Oct. 2, 2008 Alpine Swift (Tachymarptis melba) Ashy Woodswallow (Artamus fuscus) Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike (Hemipus picatus) Black Eagle (Ictinaetus malayensis) Black-crested Bulbul (Ruby Throated) – (Pycnonotus melanicterus gularis) Black-headed Cuckooshrike (Coracina melanoptera) Black-lored Tit (Parus xanthogenys) Blue-bearded Bee Eater (Nyctyornis athertoni) Bronzed Drongo (Dicrurus aeneus) Chestnut-headed Bee…
On our 10-day trek in Garhwal, we experienced the majesty, beauty, ferocity and the sagacity of the Himalayas. Over a hundred species of birds, hailstorms every afternoon, mountain sickness at 12,000 feet and tearing down roofs to build a fire, our adventure had a bit of everything. If you want…
The man whose breath is the breathing of small white butterflies… – Erica Jong, The Man Under the Bed It’s not often that we see the Page Three element in the life of a biologist elbowing into the foreground. But more people are likely to remember Charles Lee Remington for…
It was in March last year that I stole a trip to Sultanpur, a few minutes by road past Gurgaon, Haryana. It seemed every bit like the wetlands of my dreams. It was the end of a prolonged winter, and the last stragglers — shovellers and gadwalls — were rehearsing…
