Mixed emotions

Sadness at what we have lost.
And gladness that there was a time when India had leaders like this....



His house.


A few hours in Ahmedabad and a hurried visit to Sabarmati.
No, I would not make an ashramite thats for sure, failing heavily on aswad, aparigraha and brahmacharya for sure... !

But why have we moved so far from ahimsa and sarvadharma samabhav?

For my son, niece and nephew - three children growing up in modern India, to remind them of a successful crusade without senseless violence.

May the new year bring more peace, world over.

Ballerinas in pink and spotted bills

More great photos from Mr Ramanan!

Click on the photos for an enlarged view.

Leggy ballerinas from Pulicat.

Getting ready for a performance?

Look straight ahead girls, nice and graceful now!

Oh, dash it, I lost my slipper!

(Well actually, they are feeding...but we could build a nice story around them!)

The spot-billed pelican at Nelapattu.

Oh leave me alone, I have a lot on my mind!

Lets get ready for the party!

Mummy, do my back feathers, please!

Not now, I'm busy.

Egyptian Vultures in Madras?!

Egyptian Vulture - India sc(1)-48
Originally uploaded by fveronesi1

There was a recent interesting exchange of emails on the MNS group regarding the Egyptian Vulture. I for one thought that a bird so named would be found in Egypt. I mean its logical isn't it?!

I discovered that these were (and the emphasis is on were) local common residents of my city. The email that started it off:

Hi,
The Bird List of Chennai, available at the MNS website lists Egyptian Vultures. Could someone please give information of when and where were the vultures seen in/around Chennai?
Thanks,
Kailash

And the interesting replies:

Egyptian vultures were seen in the city and outskirts until fairly recently. The Madras Museum has specimens taken from Kodambakkam and Douglas Dewar reports seeing them in Chennai in early 1900. I have seen them at Tirusulam (opposite the Airport) in the 1970's and suspect they were nesting there on the quarried hillside. even in late 1980's. I have seen these birds on the Chennai-Kancheepuram road, near Siriperumbudur or so. In the 1980's these birds were so common at Kanchipuram and every temple tower there would have a pair. I need to dig into my notes to get more details on other sightings. But I guess
this would suffice for the moment.
Best wishes,
Santharam

I have vivid recollections of seeing these vultures in the 70s and 80s on the road in and around Ranipet. They were a common sight and were reluctant to move even when approached by a vehicle. I also remember that skins of slaughtered animals used to be dried on the road side. Nobody could have imagined in those days that vultures would become so scarce that seeing one would be reported in the press.I wish I had thought of photographing them. I could have made full frame pictures without
difficulty!
With regards,
K V Sudhakar

I have seen these vultures on the road to Padappai from Vandalur in 1998. Dr.Gift Siromoney has written about these birds, after watching them for a number of days closely in Thirukalukkunram. Theodore Baskaran

The late Dr Gift Siromoney seems to be rather gifted! I recently read about him in Kamini's Tales of South India where his work on The Science of Kolams is highlighted. (Never mind that I did not comprehend most of the math!!)
And now I discover that he has written on a variety of bird-related topics as well.

About the Egyptian Vulture

I have not seen this bird, and have used this lovely photo from Fransesco Veronesi.  Please see his photo set on Birds of India - lovely collection of photos from his trips to our national parks, and includes the Khalij pheasant as well.  (His latest photos are from a trip to Kenya, so he gets around a bit, it would seem!)

Let me quote some Salim Ali:  

Called Manjal thirudi in Tamil.  Around two feet in size. All domestic duties shared, says Salim Ali.  Not bad for a bird that feeds on excrement and offal, I thought.

Has a "high-stepping, waddling gait".  Now this I have to see!

Maybe in Bharatpur?

Fingers crossed!

Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, southern India. 04 Dec 2008

Charlie of 10,000birds was at Vedanthangal a fortnight ago, and here's a link to his interesting and amusing trip report

Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, southern India. 04 Dec 2008

I have a personal jinx with that place.  I can count upto five opportunities over the last two years that I've had to visit, and have had to cancel in the last minute.

Its only worth visiting at this time of the year.   This is also the happening time for me in Madras, what with exams, kutcheris, NRI visitors, weddings, reunions ...and of course work deadlines.  Excuses, excuses, you say, and I have to agree.

Sigh!  Anyways, until I visit Charlie's report should more than suffice!

PS: There's another great post on Pond Herons as well from Charlie.  He describes the confusion between the flying white bird and the sitting brown bird rather well!!

Update:  Some photos from the MNS trip

Picasa Web Albums - Sharky - Vedanthangal Trip

Chance encounters

Spotted on the road at Neelangarai.
What could it be?
Preston to the rescue!

The critter you have is a painted grasshopper. You find them in large numbers at certain times of the year, feeding on the leaves of the giant milkweed plant (Calatropis sp.) They ingest the toxins of the plant which makes them distasteful to birds and their bright colours is to warn birds of this bad taste (and possible toxic nature of their tissues).

And pray, what may this be?!
I thought it was a Praying Mantis, though preying mantis may be more appropriate! (Well, the ladies get very excited and eat up the gents!)
This one was on our lift gate, how it came up there, I know not.

However, it is a mantis. but not a praying one. Its the wandering violin mantis, Gongylus gongylodes!!

My son first decided to take it to school and show his friends and teachers, releasing it into the gardens there. But when we put it inot a bottle, it panicked, and looked so uncomfortable, that he changed his mind.
Released it in our garden..he reports that it hopped out of the bottle in a great hurry!

The postman knocked twice

They picked me up today, from the gloom of the events of this last week.
And I hope they do the same for all of you.

Remember the Red-capped postman, who came knocking this April?
Well, they visited again,
via email.
Courtesy Mr Ramanan, who sent them a few weeks ago...

Coppersmith barbet at Vedanthangal, enjoying the ficus fruit.

Corvus splendid Indeed!

The Beautiful Bird called the Crow. Sequence.....
Originally uploaded by Sripadshoots

Please check out the link... Sripad has "shot" the crow with much affection!

More talented than Mr Ripley!

Thats what I thought while reading about butterfly mimicry.  The "talented" Mr Ripley. pops off his friend, and takes on his persona.  While butterflies mimic other butterflies so that they dont get popped off.

It all gets a bit confusing, but I discovered that this butterfly mimicry is a serious area of scientific research, and scientists have found the gene responsible for butterfly mimicry!!

So, if what I've understood is right, a nice tasty, colourful butterfly pretends to be a toxic, colourful butterfly, and fools the birds and reptiles to leave it alone.  Now for all of this to work, there should be enough of the original toxic butterflies around, so the pretenders can get away with their disguise.

The scientist who discovered this was somebody called Bates, and so, it seems, this whole behaviour is referred to as Batesian mimicry.

What I cant figure out is, how do we know then that it is actually butterfly A and not butterfly B which it is disguised as?!

I saw loads of these two butterflies flitting around on the meadows a couple of days ago.  I was filled with childish delight and wonder as they flitted from one little purple meadow flower to another,  alighting on a tall grass flower, and swaying with the breeze.

I had my binocs (for once!) and so had my heart's fill of  following them around.  But for a camera, I only had my 'phone.  Oh well, I shouldn't complain.  

So I came back home referred to my books, and said to myself,"Aha, an eggfly (the black, polka-dotted one), and a plain tiger (the yellow one).  Feeling very pleased at my idying abilities, I was about to move on, when my eye caught sight of an article/picture that said, "An eggfly pretending to be a plain tiger".  What?!  I took a look - several times - between the supposed difference between a plain tiger and an eggfly pretending to be a tiger, but I couldn't see the differences, in spots, border patterns, etc etc that i was supposed to look for.

So it turns out, that this pair are a male and female of the same Danaid eggfly.  Or so I think, anyway.  
As I ambled to the banks of the estuary, I saw these lovely candle bushes, all abloom and buzzing with bees, as also some Cassia.

And these purple wonders, which I cannot identify,

As also this blue tiger.  Parakeets screeched overhead, while the clouds seem to have driven away the Kites, which I usually would see circling here.

On the water, were a whole bunch of egrets, black-winged stilts and some other waders that were too far away for me to see.

But what I liked most were those barn swallows.  These birds, I believe are only winter visitors to Madras, spending the rest of the year somewhere in the Himalayas!  Their flight paths and speed are quite astonishing and I spent so much time watching them fly, dive bomb, turn on their tails....puts any fighter plane to shame!

Check out these lovely pictures from another MNS member Sripad.  He saw them at Adyar Poonga.

Swallow 1
Originally uploaded by Sripadshoots

Barn Swallow In Flight Close up
Originally uploaded by Sripadshoots

Swallow pair hunting
Originally uploaded by Sripadshoots

The Arte Y Pico award

Early November, I received an "award".  Yes, yes strange things do happen in this world!  Here, I was rambling away, and I get an award for creativity and art!!

Raji ruled that she would bestow me with the Arte Y Pico award.  Thank you Raji!  

Like any good award winner, I shall now proceed to thank my friends, "fans" and of course my family!!  

Much of the content on this blog revolves around the photos taken by my husband, as well as some spectacular ones by Mr Ramanan, so my sincere thanks to them.  To my son for being the most critical reader of this blog, and for whom I actually started jotting down these ramblings.  And to Kamini, my most encouraging reader, who always has something nice, positive and relevant to say about my posts.

To MNS for introducing me to some great people, opening my eyes to the wonders of Nature, and bringing a joie de vivre and camaraderie to our outings!

Here are the Arte Y Pico Award rules :

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award through creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.
   
2. Each award should have the name of the author with a link to their blog.
   
3. Award winners have to post the award with the name and link to the blog of the person who gave them the award.
   
4. Please include a link to the “Arte Y Pico” blog so that everyone will know where the award came from.

So now I have this most enjoyable job of passing on this award, so here goes:

Kamini, whose Tales of South India, are so wonderfully imaginative, heartwarming and gripping.
Maiji, who recounts her Memories of Life in Pondicherry with such clarity, affection and humour
Amila Salgado, from across the Palk Straits for such great photos of the little creatures that we tend to ignore at Gallicissa
Keith Stanley whose creative and beautiful Ikebana I can look at over and over again, at the Sogetsu Atelier
Jyotsna for her World of Words, recounting and sharing the special joys that her child brings to her.

Another great peacock picture

Mr Ramanan sent along another peacock picture, and I have updated the post Peacock - What a bird.

Check it out!

Why Do Fall Leaves Change Colour?

That's the question that intrigued me recently, when Chitrakka sent me an album of fall colours in New England. In a strange moment of serendipity, just yesterday I saw a cartoon in the newspaper about a little boy asking his mum about whether she knew why leaves change colour in the fall. In the cartoon, the mom launches into a romantic explanation involving God, Nature and Beauty. The next frame shows the boy drily saying isnt it because there's less sunlight and the plants are producing less chlorophyll?!

There's so much beauty in fall colours that I just gawp at pictures, and have never found out why. (And if they did teach me in school, I've long since forgotten!) So, deciding to re-educate myself, I googled away.

National Geographic had this nice essay, where I was informed that the lower levels of light means lower levels of chlorophhyll and the caroteinoids (which were always there) begin to show themselves.

It got a bit more complicated as I read further - there is also anthocyanin produced in the cooler months (the flaming red colour-giver), though from what I read, its role is a bit of a mystery. Hmmm... Scientists are doing extensive research as to why some turn golden and some turn red. And both seem successful at keeping the tree alive!!

Well, couldn't it just be that the maple thinks red is cool and the aspen loves yellow?! I mean imagine if a Martian were trying to research why some human females chose pink dresses, others black and still others yellow, green and blue!! They will be kept busy for a long time!!

Update:

Kamini sent me these aboslutely gorgeous photos of fall colours in Westchester, USA this year.

See, some like it yellow, others red!

Lovely photos, Kamini, and thanks for sending them along!

E7's record bested

E7 was a bar-tailed godwit which was recorded as flying some 11,570 kms non-stop from Alaska to new Zealand! If you thought that was a lot, then the record has been beaten this year!

11,655 kms is this years' record for non-stop flying. Same route. Same species.

Birds Fly More Than 7,000 Miles Nonstop, Study Shows - washingtonpost.com

Gill and his colleagues outfitted 23 bar-tailed godwits with satellite transmitters that periodically sent a signal detected by a satellite.

Female godwits are substantially larger than males. A one-ounce, battery-powered device was surgically implanted in them, with the antennas exiting their bodies just beneath the tail. The smaller males got a solar-powered device weighing less than half an ounce strapped to their backs.

Nine of the transmitters functioned well enough on the southward flight to provide evidence of sustained, nonstop flight.

One female flew directly from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta of Alaska to New Zealand in eight days. Other birds either landed short of their destination in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, or the signal was lost near those places. Four were later identified in New Zealand by leg bands.

The birds weigh no more than 1.5 pounds when they leave. Half of that is fat, which they burn off completely during the flight. Some of the males may have lost their transmitters in flight as their bodies shrank.

The starting and stopping places are not chosen by chance. The Kuskokwim Delta is rich in food supply, which the birds must consume in prodigious quantities before leaving. The wintering site in New Zealand is largely free of predators. When the birds arrive in early October, they molt almost immediately.

The birds leave from late August to late September, departing only with favorable tail winds. How much of their journey is wind-aided is something the researchers hope to determine by overlaying the birds' routes with day-by-day meteorological data.

A major mystery is how high the birds fly. Gill said that since word of his research has spread, researchers on boats in the Pacific have told him of seeing godwits 3,000 feet high and "smoking by at deck level."

PS: If you do read the Washington Post article, check out the comments as well - some are intsructional, and some are pretty funny - lots of Palin jokes, what with the Alaska connection.

Butterflies

If you spot a butterfly and dont know what it is, these are two great reference points I found.  

Ryan Brookes and Naseer Ommer have each got a wonderful set of photos, which they have labelled as well.

I saw a red and black butterfly yesterday in our garden, and checked out these two sets.  Aha, there it is, I thought, a Common Mormon! Only to be informed by the detail that what I saw may be a Crimson Rose which is what the Mormon likes to pretend to be?!!  All very confusing!

Why are there so many kites in Bangalore?

Just back from a quick trip to Bangalore. The reason-to-go was a wedding in the family. What I did a lot was spend time in a car - a nice, comfy black car actually, much better than any cab I could have taken - as I went from one part of the city to another. So, an hour from the station to Indira Nagar, almost two hours from there to Banashankari, getting lost from there to Jayanagar, before I headed back to the station.

Okay, okay, it was not all on the same day, and in the middle of that I did have my auto rides in the city as well, but you get the point. You dont? What I'm trying to say was that I was on the streets a lot of the time, and as we were stuck in traffic with nothing to do, it gave me more than enough time to stare at the skies, trees and buildings all around!

And as a result, I saw kites in the air, kites roosting on the cell station towers, kites sitting on water tanks, coconut trees and the advertising hoardings, you know I think I saw more kites than crows in Bangalore this time! Black kites, Brahminy kites and I think a black-shouldered one as well. I cursed since I had not taken my binocs (what kind of a bad birder am I?) and neither did I have a camera. I did have some silk sarees though, not that it helped.

So, why are there so many of these raptors in Baangalore? I wonder if it is to do with the stony nature of the terrain, lots of building activity, and vermin being displaced from their hidey holes. Or is it the garbage?

Its not only me, even the recent cricket match saw Spectators of a different kind

And Charlie, the better birder that he is, had his camera on the ready to click this feeding black kite

Shall pack that binocs the next time, I promise.

The great horned owl at Nanmangalam

My first encounter with the Great Horned Owl, GHO or Bubo bubo was not so long ago at Nanmangalam.

Mr Ramanan, a veteran of many a GHO encounter, was there again recently, and captured this magnificent picture above.  These large birds are quite something else.   They breed post-monsoon, so maybe another set of chicks we shall soon see?  We had seen some chicks during the bird race, earlier this year.  Quite grown they were by then.  Read about it here.  

Recounting an interesting story, Mr Ramanan narrated how, in the early days there were no roads around Nanmangalam, and the Velachery roads were all full of potholes, and in some places a mud track as well.  The Nanmangalam scrub was not that thick either, and the planted eucalytus was also still young.

Not familiar with the ways of the Bubo bubo, learning was by experience, which included getting his ear clipped by this large owl!  Using the help of a shepherd boy, Mr Ramanan would scramble up to the nest of the GHO, to check and record the growth of the chicks.  

While inspecting the nest for recording the growth of the chick, the adult GHO clipped my ear! From that day onwards I used to wear a helmet whenever I approached the nest!  May be my regular presence and the fact that I was not a threat to the chick, the adult bird became some what friendly.  When ever I was alone or with MNS members or with lot of birds enthusiasts from abroad, the bird immediately with loud calls of "bubo bubo" approached us."

The adult that clipped his ear!

Through his numerous visits, he has seen the "broken wing" and the threat displays of the GHO.  Hopefully, one day I will see this fascinating behaviour.

What the owl does when it feels that its nest is under threat is that it lands on the ground some distance from the threat, acts as if its wing is broken and scurries along the ground, leading the threat away from the nest.  When it feels that the prey/stranger is far enough away from the nest, it takes off and flies back to the nest.

Amazing isnt it!

A broken wing display

Then there is the "threat" display, where the GHO would call its mate and then the two birds would puff their feathers out spread their wings, and look as menacing as possible, making threatening sounds, and swaying back and forth on their legs.

The threat display

Mr Ramanan recalls that he has seen three consecutive broods of the same pair of GHOs, over the span of a few years, and once also saw two pairs breeding together!

I sincerely hope the GHOs continue to survive and thrive in the Nanmangalam quarries.

The black buck and the tortoise - another GNP tale

One is fleet of foot, full of grace and with horns to kill for (or so it seems).

The other is endearingly slow, moves clumsily and deliberately and makes good soup(?)

Both are typical to this part of the world, endangered now, done in by our greed, and both are found in the Guindy National Park.  The GNP site claims there are 400 blackbucks in the sanctuary.  But there are rumblings among the naturalists that this number is far exaggerated.

Sorry, but I just cannot fathom how anyone could go around killing the black buck, or any protected animal for that matter, for sport.  What can be so sporty about hunting?  How can so uneven a contest be called a sport?  And did anybody ask the black buck whether it wanted to "play" in the first place?  

And the star tortoise has its own problems of being too endearing.  May I have one as a pet?  Every few months I read an article about how a hundred of them were seized by customs in Patna, another 1,000 on a Singapore-bound flight, another 600 at Kuppam railway station...

They dont do well as pets, most die from over feeding or wrong feeding, too much water, too little water, but still there are websites that persist in their trade, giving you tips on how you can care for them!  I came across a blog that giggles about her dad having bought these two start tortoises and then fed it Panadol?!  There are photos as well.

Yes, we will be in conflict with the animal world, as we try to survive and improve our lives.  But this is not survival, this is greed dont you think?  And selfishness.

The peacock - what a bird!

Enjoy!

Great pictures of our national bird, from Mr Ramanan, taken at Kanha.  Pavo cristatus.

I just read the peahen weighs about 4 kgs and the peacock in breeding plumage weighs six.  So, those feathers probably weigh 2 kgs?!

I cant decide which is my favourite picture - the train of feathers or the fan of feathers!  Tell me what you think!

Update - 11th November 2008

Here's one more picture that Mr Ramanan sent along, in order to complete the trilogy in a manner of speaking!

He comments wryly that when the photo-op comes along, its usually when the lighting is far from ideal.  But this picture below is quite spectacular, is it not?  Do click on the photo and enjoy a full-screen view.

Of crows and tigers - a tale from GNP

October 5th 2008:

Morning Guindy National park with MNS.

Through the southern entrance, rather than the western entrance which we used last time.

And we see tigers - hundreds of them, blue ones!  

Well that's what some one in their infinite wisdom named these butterflies - Blue Tigers.  Why? There's nothing tiger looking about them.  Strange.

There were also Glassy Tigers in plenty, and GNP for me was transformed by these lovely butterflies flitting from branch to branch and tree to tree, all over the park.

The Common India Crow is what this lovely brown butterfly is called.  Common, I can understand, but crow?!

I learnt that its the butterfly season, and I just soaked in the sight of all these butterflies, and the fragrance of the Divi divi flowers, which they all seemed to love.

There were little Pierrots (those small white butterflies) and the Common Grass yellow (little yellow ones) as well.  And though the white-browed bulbuls called noisily, the koels sang and the parakeets screeched, it was a butterfly morning for me.

Sekar found these lovely blooms of the Sickle Bush. Dichrostachys cinerea - a small tree with these interesting yellow and pink flowers.  Strangely, these vivid colours did not seem to attract the butterflies, or was I just imagining? 
And the Pink Cassia blooms filled the tree.  There are so many Cassia types aren't there?  

The weaver ants were busy as well...  Check out the Wikipedia entry on Weaver Ants - their nest building, or should I stay stitching, is quite fascinating.  I remember we saw one of these at close quarters at Penchalakona, and the ants themselves are large and menacingly red.

A weaver ant nest I think
Bhanu was very excited on seeing these yellow flowers - and muttered (more to herself I think) that this was Gmelina asiatica, a herb with lots of uses I think.  Some googling revealed that this was also called the Asian Bushbeech and mulkumizh in Tamil.  I hope I'm right!

More tigers!  As is evident, I coudn't get enough of them!

The tree is called Inky maram - because the make a dye/ink from it!