tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46733548122943535792024-03-19T12:52:39.874+05:30Madras RamblingsBirding, nature and history - my diaryflowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13583733876810341137noreply@blogger.comBlogger806125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-66567570474405957822024-03-19T10:57:00.003+05:302024-03-19T11:07:38.662+05:30Day 3 Andaman - The road to Rangat <p> Feb 12th 2024</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxcBUks_tQ_9z1yiSesiknHKbyS0mRgfeFWdkO5GaX8HqPaE_xfeyZKFd2QTqTYQ4fRvTu_gaMmTQ6VtrW22wZj4ZHIJqcXG8lG-GO-lkftLtMF8Q91ZYCwonuHIcifCrvIW5yKR3_v7TAhS8LqtwoAVDvl41dG0Mb1RKsQEvY75yYbvxOziz1q2Onybj9" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1156" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxcBUks_tQ_9z1yiSesiknHKbyS0mRgfeFWdkO5GaX8HqPaE_xfeyZKFd2QTqTYQ4fRvTu_gaMmTQ6VtrW22wZj4ZHIJqcXG8lG-GO-lkftLtMF8Q91ZYCwonuHIcifCrvIW5yKR3_v7TAhS8LqtwoAVDvl41dG0Mb1RKsQEvY75yYbvxOziz1q2Onybj9" width="213" /></a></div><a href="https://madraswanderer.blogspot.com/2024/03/andamans-day-2-garacharma-wetland-waders.html">Continued from here.</a><div><br /></div><div>A strange day it was, with so many new experiences, some amazing, some frustrating, some bewildering and of course some hilarious! The plan - travel to Rangat in Middle Andamans on The Andaman Trunk Road - ATR - now rechristened as NH4. This required us to go in a convoy through the Jarawa reserve, then ferry across the Middle Straits, and then continue again, though some more Reserve before coming to the settler town of Rangat.<p></p><p><br />In the debriefing, it was stressed to us that we had to get to the head of the convoy, or else the cars wouldn't make it quickly on the ferry across and then that would delay us.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj5y7TjdG0R9mOJ-X3krAGlYXTzE3uimTHTtz8SX1dBYYUbV2q0zIsBVe5WSh5A7PZOhE-gCJ9g98e8R4agfBd3uCg1lBMJzmgj5lC2XpSYLOThBw9WoPxqrTnBxsL7QfgM9yEgHy01PuKWu7iJXU4rcVuwrFvoJERuMOP_0qS2KrLqeyVoyuANeK1G5mA3" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj5y7TjdG0R9mOJ-X3krAGlYXTzE3uimTHTtz8SX1dBYYUbV2q0zIsBVe5WSh5A7PZOhE-gCJ9g98e8R4agfBd3uCg1lBMJzmgj5lC2XpSYLOThBw9WoPxqrTnBxsL7QfgM9yEgHy01PuKWu7iJXU4rcVuwrFvoJERuMOP_0qS2KrLqeyVoyuANeK1G5mA3" width="180" /></a></div><div>And so, we woke up at 3am to leave at 4am! The 8 of us were down and ready, and bundled into our respective cars by 4 am. It was still dark, but there was a bit of activity on the streets - visits to other islands also have early departures, so the tourism business is an early-to-rise affair in the Andamans.</div><div><br /></div><div>We were to pick up Jabili- and went to her lane at 415 or so - and there was no sign of her. I wonder if she thought we would not be ready or she overslept. We hung around her place on the road for a good half hour before she showed up. Since we were driving in the dark and then through the Reserve where we could not stop, Jabili was consigned to the rear - and she slept all through. Clever girl.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhI8LGSx-WOdisFJ0JFSSkRHNpWPXT42X2cbAoP07EzM8WyNw6PhYi5xS1FN2pf5IofMJ8HSjwwj2cwn0GX2pyqSi8mnPvOuM8Y3AO-g6eKUgexmXrLGM8NGPEF7TCZn5VfcBJ22MlGVRFXlopQgZn8Lj0dbLxhasjApn7TsdtzQ_sM00c4Pl2UCr40Szz" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhI8LGSx-WOdisFJ0JFSSkRHNpWPXT42X2cbAoP07EzM8WyNw6PhYi5xS1FN2pf5IofMJ8HSjwwj2cwn0GX2pyqSi8mnPvOuM8Y3AO-g6eKUgexmXrLGM8NGPEF7TCZn5VfcBJ22MlGVRFXlopQgZn8Lj0dbLxhasjApn7TsdtzQ_sM00c4Pl2UCr40Szz=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Anyways, we reached Jirkatang - the convoy starting point at 530 instead of 5, and so we didn’t make it to the head of the convoy and we were waaaay back</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTCpvQw4y5vm6GDCIK2YXaBnHA8GOtIZNQNQScINUcPlS-6k4Wy4ImWuKFZ7e1bFLCm9GZjaBhzeYa1gFz1o8xlspQsYJS8Lug7EJGMAsQbQGsN-Cf2LLZJjMsbJXhUKH9ouy3qz9kDNkVE__jW59e1w-E27tLmJyOSgUhCwpbb4o7PkZe1Dpa5WuzHgdu" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTCpvQw4y5vm6GDCIK2YXaBnHA8GOtIZNQNQScINUcPlS-6k4Wy4ImWuKFZ7e1bFLCm9GZjaBhzeYa1gFz1o8xlspQsYJS8Lug7EJGMAsQbQGsN-Cf2LLZJjMsbJXhUKH9ouy3qz9kDNkVE__jW59e1w-E27tLmJyOSgUhCwpbb4o7PkZe1Dpa5WuzHgdu=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Dawn was breaking, and I was dazed at the long and orderly line of cars, lined up on the left of the road.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcLM8Baw-8py0hHcrQ1PvbFwmcfqTPSMRiI-C1jTBYo3JXkf_of6N1ykyPhQxT7nC8Biq8sYNmxT6ekdc7z9zfhjng9EFvYSq7ZKAalRVNpn6FQhsXNKV3YaVVLKYThs6vIEBb0Fw0aRd7qjBpUueJS6YOPRYZNOtu3p60AWZKY9mpNiji97BenXv1kNSq" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcLM8Baw-8py0hHcrQ1PvbFwmcfqTPSMRiI-C1jTBYo3JXkf_of6N1ykyPhQxT7nC8Biq8sYNmxT6ekdc7z9zfhjng9EFvYSq7ZKAalRVNpn6FQhsXNKV3YaVVLKYThs6vIEBb0Fw0aRd7qjBpUueJS6YOPRYZNOtu3p60AWZKY9mpNiji97BenXv1kNSq=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">The Islander is more orderly than the Mainlander for sure. There was no traffic jam, no honking. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnLEJq5zFFMyplu1b7rGWrx3zKx3lfxe9jiGXXqkD_d6KV1c2tBdQR2G7LpM5Cv8QZXkPQxTd1PKyR8-w8OACggQc1yAT0a4q2os5leI-irskqZn6SWAEL0zeVxpRkl7vwVkj01gwW2wDLKnBzcMakeDKNE6QbaFl73tM57TkB9YSCCm5_irDg64PMCM_x" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnLEJq5zFFMyplu1b7rGWrx3zKx3lfxe9jiGXXqkD_d6KV1c2tBdQR2G7LpM5Cv8QZXkPQxTd1PKyR8-w8OACggQc1yAT0a4q2os5leI-irskqZn6SWAEL0zeVxpRkl7vwVkj01gwW2wDLKnBzcMakeDKNE6QbaFl73tM57TkB9YSCCm5_irDg64PMCM_x=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Drivers were going off to submit the necessary papers - we had to fill a form with the usual bureaucratic details of where we were coming from, whether we had murdered anybody etc. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">We were all told to go eat something, find a toilet etc etc. Each of the little shacks had a bunch of 2-3 pay and use toilets, all were clean, and there was no smell of pee on the roadsides! What happened to the Indian male in Andaman? Most mercifully and thankfully, the world was not their toilet here, it appeared. </span></div></div><p>Of course our gang gravitated to a lady selling idlies - she was a feisty no-nonsense sort - must have seen people like us by the dozens. She was most affronted that we were not demanding her "poo-poley" (flower-like) idlies, but were falling on all the fried food instead. I desisted and refrained from putting anything into my stomach - a very wise decision in hindsight.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9pldkVZO8HBAZdFYTLL6tF2TiwpmOmrzj1Gm7wCWxxBGKMWHyaOm8EYyLKPi_TEs30m0hpbsL4ZzM8DlVGe0afLWT572Jh4sR3UIrOxcQyCF5rNjMS_-cypcNNlUBFzgDvNkxaRmtotZ4ICdyahaZGxZcXmIAVmAuECAsr2CcC0ARe-z2APNnRDmmDPpD" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9pldkVZO8HBAZdFYTLL6tF2TiwpmOmrzj1Gm7wCWxxBGKMWHyaOm8EYyLKPi_TEs30m0hpbsL4ZzM8DlVGe0afLWT572Jh4sR3UIrOxcQyCF5rNjMS_-cypcNNlUBFzgDvNkxaRmtotZ4ICdyahaZGxZcXmIAVmAuECAsr2CcC0ARe-z2APNnRDmmDPpD" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><b>Travelling through the Jarawa reserve and the convoys</b></p><p><a href="https://www.himalmag.com/reportage/damned-road-andamans">From: The damned road of Andamans</a></p><p></p><blockquote><p>Every morning at 6 am, the gates to the Jarawa Tribal Reserve, located in the Middle Straits of the Andamans, are thrown open with a loud pre-recorded voice reading out instructions of social conduct to be followed inside the forests. Following this, a convoy of cars and buses cross into the forests from the hamlet of Jirkatang, the last housing settlement towards Baratang Island, a less popular attraction for tourists. En route the convoy crosses another that approaches Jirkatang from Baratang. Throughout the day, six more convoys enter the reservation from either side at three hour intervals.</p><p>In the beginning of the 18th century, the Jarawas inhabited the South Andamans while being at war with the Aka-Bea-da tribe. The Jangils, who bore some relation to the Jarawa, were situated further south on Rutland Island. The first colonisers of the land, the British East India Company, built their townships around Chatham and Ross Island, cleared the forests starting with southeast Andamans and managed to push the tribal demographic towards the north. They frequently attempted to make contact and engaged in the practice of 'gift-giving' with Jarawas, efforts which were sometimes reciprocated with hostility. As the number of colonial villages and forestry expeditions increased, small battles between the tribe and the police or bandits became common. While the other two tribes perished into extinction, the Jarawas survived the exodus. In 1957, their habitation area from the southwestern forests of Constance Bay through the Middle Straits into the Middle Andamans and the marina around it was declared a tribal reserve under the Andaman and Nicobar (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation Act, 1956.</p><p>The settlers who came to the North and Middle Andamans with the establishment of penal colonies and later the refugees of Partition lived in a mortal fear of the sea. The development of the Andaman Trunk Road through the tribal reserve was sanctioned in the early 1970s as a result of their nautical discomfort. The Jarawas have resisted the building of the road since then. In fact, the convoy system was initiated as a way to protect the Public Works Department workers constructing the road from arrows shot by the natives. Existing folklores even account for a number of Jarawa deaths as a result of electric wires laid down by the state. Out of fear, no official complaint of such deaths were ever made, but the tribal elders have recorded them in their oral history. The construction of the road was completed two decades later while the convoys continued to protect the intruding travellers.</p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote>Today, the upkeep of this road faces no opposition from the Jarawas. In a reversal of history, the convoy system is now in place to prevent tourist intrusion into tribal lives. The police bikes that tail the convoys keep all passengers from straying off the road and establishing any contact with the tribe. </blockquote><p></p><p></p><p>(The SC has asked for the road to be closed, then the other Islanders appealed, and it seems the decision was reversed.)</p><p>For the next couple of hours, we drove through a super smooth road (for the most part), with our cameras tucked away (no photography allowed, as also no stopping, speeding, honking), looking at the green forests, the valleys dropping off behind the tree cover, the streams glinting in the sun, flashes in between trees. I tried to consign to memory the green, the clean streams, the ravines. Every now and then there would be tree logging - a cell tower was being installed. </p><p>Conversation ebbed and flowed in between napping - the quiet was causing everyone to drop off, nodding heads all around. Our driver told us about how the Jarawas received rice and sugar from the government, how they get health checks, how many know and understand Hindi now. There is a legendary story of a little Jarawa boy breaking a bone and being healed in one of the district hospital, making friends, learning to communicate with the settlers, and being the bridge that reduced hostilities between the Jarawas and the settlers. </p><p><b>Middle Straits and Baratang</b></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNIIx5hJAEGYQxSYgoQG5rvY8bX8LhLGbMzwP6QAFwF5Mh7eoeuy_3Xkl8A0Cd75Trm3oqF4G1x-COx1MLHx5ICeBFtS0996mBzVRb24Nyl2B8hZwon9UvjD6rwuqaiIb5SLf0cUibVyDpN57INkUC5ak-DMWWfTbohEkEd1SszO2UF7-9lb8a-kQFQ7tN" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNIIx5hJAEGYQxSYgoQG5rvY8bX8LhLGbMzwP6QAFwF5Mh7eoeuy_3Xkl8A0Cd75Trm3oqF4G1x-COx1MLHx5ICeBFtS0996mBzVRb24Nyl2B8hZwon9UvjD6rwuqaiIb5SLf0cUibVyDpN57INkUC5ak-DMWWfTbohEkEd1SszO2UF7-9lb8a-kQFQ7tN=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left;">Around 8am and we were at the other side of the reserve, at Middle Strait jetty. The original plan was to board the ferries in the cars and go off to the other side - Baratang.</p><div><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjO2PDhZOmC4BMaqBW3OgNxPedqHq87K49fBYuLDfW6hQz5LjK5EJQ100-EV4QPDnlehsr2060Vm_ao72YG3EOkimUV556RPWuilvTqJhTxe8MgDu3bIbelyz3z3gpHFc3PUlbefEhR38vP3heiF_xucmAStcH_fIZxCdGZckNbF16CuNFGXiXcnXsmrGZ6" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjO2PDhZOmC4BMaqBW3OgNxPedqHq87K49fBYuLDfW6hQz5LjK5EJQ100-EV4QPDnlehsr2060Vm_ao72YG3EOkimUV556RPWuilvTqJhTxe8MgDu3bIbelyz3z3gpHFc3PUlbefEhR38vP3heiF_xucmAStcH_fIZxCdGZckNbF16CuNFGXiXcnXsmrGZ6=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Middle Strait - from the ferry</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wd8lOLhJX4Q?si=hEGclDmaphGd-iHT" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </div>
<div><br /></div><div>However, the drivers told Jabili to take us across in the first ferry on foot - it seems all the tourists going to Baratang to the mud volcanoes etc, do this, and jump into waiting cabs on the other side. And so we walked over and joined the tourists who were from everywhere. Next to me was a young Telegu couple who had lived and worked for a few years in Chennai on OMR!<br /><p>A short ride later we were at Baratang and walked in to the only eating establishment of repute there.</p><p>The little place delivered dosais and other such fast food, shared tables, no loitering, eat and move. Once again there was a Tamil-speaking "boss" who kept the flow. I had one plate dosai - there were two - I think Gasper was more adventurous - he had parottas and puris as well.</p><p style="text-align: center;">
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</p><p>And now, we waited for our cars to come over in the ferry. We waited. I watched in fascination as a bus disembarked. (The buses had a roller attached behind the end of their vehicles so their bottoms wouldn't get scraped off every time they came off the ferry.)</p><p>We watched the Pacific Swallows. Others watched us watching the swallows. Doggies slept. Tourists came and went. And still we waited.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgYmFlbUJH9iz6JdO--MwLNOntZwfCd2Apu4-kE6hQu6rUoKcpghFoZvGHEWoy15j_gWvQvc9LGse-0N6xnYdKnTfoB2T-kQo1bVJ0wbZ9rWQe5z_meSMXD3DbrOlJ7Yuvr1y0TiU82mWROjMP7JHSqDIT9qE9dNPHfzJZmK046CkPicAZYRnHnHXzAUwm" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgYmFlbUJH9iz6JdO--MwLNOntZwfCd2Apu4-kE6hQu6rUoKcpghFoZvGHEWoy15j_gWvQvc9LGse-0N6xnYdKnTfoB2T-kQo1bVJ0wbZ9rWQe5z_meSMXD3DbrOlJ7Yuvr1y0TiU82mWROjMP7JHSqDIT9qE9dNPHfzJZmK046CkPicAZYRnHnHXzAUwm=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4cTjDNexksw?si=7pf4lX2F07Xui26Q" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p><br /></p><p>It was 1130 or so, by the time our cars came across, after the buses and the oil tankers.</p><p>We are all a bit tired and bored by now - and Jabili moved to the front to supposedly show us birding wonders - which meant that Sekar went back to the third row, and the import of this hit us later.</p><p><b>NH4 rock and roll, bump and groan.</b></p><p>"Ab road thoda karaab hoga", said our driver after we crossed Nilambur, which was the understatement of the year for sure. There was no road!! No road, only holes. What bird, what sights, we each tried to hold onto something to prevent being tossed around like potatoes - the Mahindra Xylo's soft suspension adding to the feeling of being on a choppy sea rather than on terra firma.</p><p style="text-align: center;">When we spoke we warbled into <i>gamakams</i> that would have made any Carnatic singer proud, as our vocal chords followed the laws of inertia within our throats.
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</p><p>Do listen to the interesting conversations in the car.</p><p>And then suddenly, we came upon this first class bridge - Humphrey bridge across <b>Humphrey Creek</b>. How exciting, smooth tar, no rolling, and what a lovely view! Of course we stopped and enjoyed the creek. The bridge is 1.5 kms long and crosses between Gandhi Ghat and Uttara jetty.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/arU5FW5l758?si=AF5oXXFPX6iLNwDq" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
</p><p>Stretched our legs, straightened our backs and greeted the members of the other car as well. Desigan had this most vivid description of the nodding heads in the other car, and being stuck in the middle - he was awestruck and in absolute wonderment as to how trough all that roll and bump, Gasper, Suresh and Ravi slept. His visualisations of their sleeping rolls along with the car's rocks kept me in splits. The said seniors smiled benignly and said he would learn these skills when he reached their age!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVMtEDeoitv9zT62bW1eae9RDqW_evF-SVhwNin24xJhAPTPpqbgWoTQ1AeVVhy6FtPyRUZbUCW7OFTZb8X2chIl0f38HCK-oGyOmjE0wSVM2D2lAwpen8yg9fa5WzD6VH6WGfKrU-f-knvXsJcT5Xu8jeoWqzpmWUK3bqnnNVgAdDjTSEz1-wAYa_rV17" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVMtEDeoitv9zT62bW1eae9RDqW_evF-SVhwNin24xJhAPTPpqbgWoTQ1AeVVhy6FtPyRUZbUCW7OFTZb8X2chIl0f38HCK-oGyOmjE0wSVM2D2lAwpen8yg9fa5WzD6VH6WGfKrU-f-knvXsJcT5Xu8jeoWqzpmWUK3bqnnNVgAdDjTSEz1-wAYa_rV17=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Humphrey Creek</td></tr></tbody></table> </div><div>And then we looked at the signposts which said another 50kms more to Rangat! The drivers were in good cheer - oh to be young and chilled.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMusSrXBnWcLJyMlCDPQw-GjiWtNBhQ2L8p41NLz-B4zUdtZTKrf2X_HgPzYFKRzQM16qgIZdlMMHA2B_VLOHfC_o432gQiNHOhHrrn1Oyty8Wh9avFhfM2XyyDYmKn_4eYRtCiipt7rcq6nO5azBxzpCc4aQVhOkNu5IHKm8DmPJDCDZoFrPkDmrXpyG9" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMusSrXBnWcLJyMlCDPQw-GjiWtNBhQ2L8p41NLz-B4zUdtZTKrf2X_HgPzYFKRzQM16qgIZdlMMHA2B_VLOHfC_o432gQiNHOhHrrn1Oyty8Wh9avFhfM2XyyDYmKn_4eYRtCiipt7rcq6nO5azBxzpCc4aQVhOkNu5IHKm8DmPJDCDZoFrPkDmrXpyG9=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br />We crossed Kadamtala, and then immediately after the road again became non existent once again. This was the second Reserve section. At the moment, these roads do not see much traffic and this is a blessing. <br /><p>I understood why Madhuri of ANET said that the sea route was preferable.</p><p>It was 2pm by the time we reached Rangat, every km being ticked off inch by inch.</p><p><b>Further hilarities ensued at the Hotel Eden’s Garden</b></p><p>We arrived at Hotel Eden’s Garden and find not a single staff inside. Reception deserted, restaurant locked and two hotel guests sitting patiently in the lobby saying they were also wondering what happened. We were hungry and tired and not in the best of moods anyways. </p><p>Then a housekeeping staff came marching down the stairs, banged firmly on a door which said 101. No response. Inderjeet, she called loudly and sternly. "Guests have come." That seems to have got Inderjeet’s attention. ‘Aa gaye?!’ He asked in a shocked voice from behind that door. After 5 minutes, he emerged in sleeveless banian and drawer shorts and behaved as if it was the most normal thing to be dressed like that. He was in the ‘washroom’ he explained. </p><p>Jabili the guide who is small made tried speaking to him. He spoke over her head and said ‘ek madam aana tha, woh kahaan hai?’ We all chorused - this is her and he then looks down and says in a shocked voice - oh yeh ladki! </p><p>Then he announced that our rooms were ready and said cheerily there is no restaurant though. The chef had not been appointed! 🫢 All this in banian and drawers, he bounced around, busily, calling loudly to the drivers, and I was filled with trepidation as to how the room in this garden of eden will be - what poisonous snake would emerge? We clomped up the stairs and I turned to see Sekar with a Cheshire grin saying - I could never have imagined and written that reception incident! Such is the joys and amusements of a writer and thankfully the room was real and actually quite nice and neat. </p><p>The housekeeping lady was leaving for the day. And Mr Inderjeet was our SPOC - very efficient. So he took us next door for lunch to a ‘Bengali restaurant first class’ sir and we got what’s called a thali. Of course our group members are never fazed and were ever optimistic asking for various delicacies - fish fry? fish curry? chicken mein kya hai? At which point carnivorous Umesh bhai was so vexed he had a veg thali. Can you believe that?! Food was decent, but nothing Bengali about it, please note - Sagarika - it had sambar, Bengali sambar. </p><p>After an afternoon snooze, Ravi, Sekar and me went to Raman beach, Gasper stayed and rested, and the others went birding with Jabili.</p><p><b>Raman bageecha beach</b></p><p>We went to Raman bageecha beach. It was just beautiful, just the balm my body and soul needed. Cool breeze, blue waters, clean sands and the green tidal forests. This is Andamans. I needed to see this vast expanse after a day spent in a car. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEid-_o3GPvehw3OjYYoVQl0FVxlYDHzzeSQz4SJufiI7qTgLzZwhNoMjEqYKEFhruDAI9F7-Var94aJg_zbeAS74W3B3CMSc6Lzhe-8_F7Dw-cCBynguLNbm4e94IzEPabkhuGlkIV-R07iBDT02buIGU9KidORPcylMnDuX2NUA_7EdIdbC-WG77hI7jNF" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEid-_o3GPvehw3OjYYoVQl0FVxlYDHzzeSQz4SJufiI7qTgLzZwhNoMjEqYKEFhruDAI9F7-Var94aJg_zbeAS74W3B3CMSc6Lzhe-8_F7Dw-cCBynguLNbm4e94IzEPabkhuGlkIV-R07iBDT02buIGU9KidORPcylMnDuX2NUA_7EdIdbC-WG77hI7jNF=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiq6fACxYQDEAwrSB4g-zt0jNSEk2VVBnsyClflJMb_RZVAhqePmx7IEOkvwJASjS9vfrBfSjesMtFaPz07xBmbnxq-5oDpaJ4jrNrWDHyoEJLYRsvwI-ugNod1PYj-GloCh6Ycd5MsV4jTRqbzpnYzKMK_TIYMt35UpQ2wlMgFg6_1_QaMyJcRwLfbOVLh" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiq6fACxYQDEAwrSB4g-zt0jNSEk2VVBnsyClflJMb_RZVAhqePmx7IEOkvwJASjS9vfrBfSjesMtFaPz07xBmbnxq-5oDpaJ4jrNrWDHyoEJLYRsvwI-ugNod1PYj-GloCh6Ycd5MsV4jTRqbzpnYzKMK_TIYMt35UpQ2wlMgFg6_1_QaMyJcRwLfbOVLh=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTqf_OJIIZuHx2PzKcYu6ubvN5DvSCM8MUdJbtWPGSXEqnA3gL4Cjtp5COWMNyN7oVxOKch5piFDM7KRk9A9EdDwgLziqpLum1NdppdlUaqEcpR4AYZYDPwQl2Pq4UVlSGATd7J-941IAwNWgVsLUBrUfM5h5ty_D474mtI044f_9mykE5qptrBTLJOitD" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTqf_OJIIZuHx2PzKcYu6ubvN5DvSCM8MUdJbtWPGSXEqnA3gL4Cjtp5COWMNyN7oVxOKch5piFDM7KRk9A9EdDwgLziqpLum1NdppdlUaqEcpR4AYZYDPwQl2Pq4UVlSGATd7J-941IAwNWgVsLUBrUfM5h5ty_D474mtI044f_9mykE5qptrBTLJOitD=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was low tide and the rocks were exposed. A Collared kingfisher meditated close by. In the distance were the, by now, familiar Reef Herons. A WBSE circled in the distance.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicDkYIrX4o-xyRd37c8N2Be1lw6MrdYZU767rV-atNmzaRsnOwsywjXhKHZnTeIN_UcClul_K3kH7I-rTtlvcxyf6ZBVOCZGx7hAblBHp_DUo8mpVApZB2YJuRGO7nPKxKy8fuPU9bwMlC-iI5YkV8cdTTLl7-qj_Sg5rnHmuMSifAgjrVcbDcdTvOMAyl" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicDkYIrX4o-xyRd37c8N2Be1lw6MrdYZU767rV-atNmzaRsnOwsywjXhKHZnTeIN_UcClul_K3kH7I-rTtlvcxyf6ZBVOCZGx7hAblBHp_DUo8mpVApZB2YJuRGO7nPKxKy8fuPU9bwMlC-iI5YkV8cdTTLl7-qj_Sg5rnHmuMSifAgjrVcbDcdTvOMAyl=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiodS_21Cn8LD0dxZJuBZoCsmaLbeLbm4yQoVJphe1AuuQtZk6HgGcqL3xMblF36QYaADqSL_FdKcafutU5-YbYEjZu5YUGx1pOSlOiqyrRqKenBCDpl8-Fya9UWshSlHRt1rNy6aT2YfDSLqmIZf_HSn-MTBVGz3EDtcxdlmsZRtTTzN5csQTryvxld_ly" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiodS_21Cn8LD0dxZJuBZoCsmaLbeLbm4yQoVJphe1AuuQtZk6HgGcqL3xMblF36QYaADqSL_FdKcafutU5-YbYEjZu5YUGx1pOSlOiqyrRqKenBCDpl8-Fya9UWshSlHRt1rNy6aT2YfDSLqmIZf_HSn-MTBVGz3EDtcxdlmsZRtTTzN5csQTryvxld_ly=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKbrmOiGAZZQ7Ax7KMnUZWdShlG-yevlTmCzANRYk-nbzmIYWC-SonTjpVS3FcrtxoSHpEVeKWk-19UBpx6qNMstT8pi82wuF6A9pDw7VhARhL5OadRE3fztN-57E33jnT31WJeDkpFBKyWB78xbsQo1nop1Eh6AqCzHyQbRap9QDisRLswT0Y6JxRKmHf" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKbrmOiGAZZQ7Ax7KMnUZWdShlG-yevlTmCzANRYk-nbzmIYWC-SonTjpVS3FcrtxoSHpEVeKWk-19UBpx6qNMstT8pi82wuF6A9pDw7VhARhL5OadRE3fztN-57E33jnT31WJeDkpFBKyWB78xbsQo1nop1Eh6AqCzHyQbRap9QDisRLswT0Y6JxRKmHf=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our younger driver Ojas was busy marking a moss stone with the heart symbol of his love.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdy7Qmne-zXBVB1uzwvX2vLW0X8cT-jsxoswlW2MaDqrGLAU9TCCU_dl7hWlbOq2RzOw5TQi5iJRo6Ki_tzkM2S2zQ07TynJk3DRSRjXziSdKb8bFkpNhMOqpCrD9kWYD-DpP-kKeVzCajTW8poba6e6BZxOIR6vo_h7p80s5yLgRqAa02plU23H4w8S0Z" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdy7Qmne-zXBVB1uzwvX2vLW0X8cT-jsxoswlW2MaDqrGLAU9TCCU_dl7hWlbOq2RzOw5TQi5iJRo6Ki_tzkM2S2zQ07TynJk3DRSRjXziSdKb8bFkpNhMOqpCrD9kWYD-DpP-kKeVzCajTW8poba6e6BZxOIR6vo_h7p80s5yLgRqAa02plU23H4w8S0Z=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pandanus grew at the water's edge.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhwaS6CFLkYYZLpgjOu_aOwyT7EET-2Rm-zKMJ5i28JmpkVRgI_hLEskb51Sia8MhK4Nf98pfLZXqpbVATDmgCQBZH-rhAQPxp0evv0sxzTyFRJ1jHnyRGPwPya8zRFbbauE9dfPcZZTJ9Wr5lmCC1J8EjV7bFOeoshydPbuRhAvMsKqM8ff0ICGMqIPRMD" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1362" data-original-width="5400" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhwaS6CFLkYYZLpgjOu_aOwyT7EET-2Rm-zKMJ5i28JmpkVRgI_hLEskb51Sia8MhK4Nf98pfLZXqpbVATDmgCQBZH-rhAQPxp0evv0sxzTyFRJ1jHnyRGPwPya8zRFbbauE9dfPcZZTJ9Wr5lmCC1J8EjV7bFOeoshydPbuRhAvMsKqM8ff0ICGMqIPRMD=w640-h162" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8eRI4qy1LbNelSeZ6zU5SmeB7O2aRxfFjnpsXC6EYRkAAP8p8qeFv8l0AAkWyBmYZRQfca7_8fdH3Q291L-pZ2GgwsUBPomUqoh-cmNzoukz_sMA1E3tgak5LTR9IFwybJE0QuarNjLBHvo-Js9fK1Qzog0gk_Wt2iToWvCqWfD4XYSvLHVqO8AKjSTwd" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8eRI4qy1LbNelSeZ6zU5SmeB7O2aRxfFjnpsXC6EYRkAAP8p8qeFv8l0AAkWyBmYZRQfca7_8fdH3Q291L-pZ2GgwsUBPomUqoh-cmNzoukz_sMA1E3tgak5LTR9IFwybJE0QuarNjLBHvo-Js9fK1Qzog0gk_Wt2iToWvCqWfD4XYSvLHVqO8AKjSTwd=w150-h200" width="150" /></a></div>We went back to the hotel, the others were back too - orders were placed for some spiritual refreshments, and Inderjeet came back looking ragged - there were 71 people ahead of him in there queue he said! What?? Further "research" revealed that there is one TASMAC-equivalent for the whole of Rangat (ANIDCO), and since these refreshments come from the mainland, supply is scarce and rationed! <p></p><p>That night, Mr Inderjeet got the restaurant opened and stocked with dosais and parottas!! Sambar and salad. I think the owner dropped in and helped and we ended with some lovely Tetrapak buttermilk of Milky Mist - coming all the way from Chennai for sure. </p><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwlXPSLo-vMt_7Jdy12Aq440DH3m1rBoGO9ZyzxqXY9wdObZIM5jw4tJTKoSx9X-oRSM78H9-A1y0xrtdV1T4zFD4JTu9qonX51wJqkRlPnhmycRo06fhNzVdyEaJ16m3n-ExjutX-5oetqzIRgvbktPdqNxMY5YfU6N3sg0XFp_kjGgDe2DmtmTRtbqkH" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwlXPSLo-vMt_7Jdy12Aq440DH3m1rBoGO9ZyzxqXY9wdObZIM5jw4tJTKoSx9X-oRSM78H9-A1y0xrtdV1T4zFD4JTu9qonX51wJqkRlPnhmycRo06fhNzVdyEaJ16m3n-ExjutX-5oetqzIRgvbktPdqNxMY5YfU6N3sg0XFp_kjGgDe2DmtmTRtbqkH" width="180" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmo6XK21pxWSCKyS2Fcfl4IKqzzSgSnZDa3dOtMgUlBXawg0nJD8XhWm0fyfE6ZuhS6l1RLHyayAKcMUt5JHECasmDfLHd35XSY-hD7Q19b8F-8T7BwXrY_IkBkx_IW4oQwKxZmgs6lJJQ-up82vb9nKzx2nfHuZDKMCc6VyjX2GmfFfqVe7EkpdmTf0d-" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmo6XK21pxWSCKyS2Fcfl4IKqzzSgSnZDa3dOtMgUlBXawg0nJD8XhWm0fyfE6ZuhS6l1RLHyayAKcMUt5JHECasmDfLHd35XSY-hD7Q19b8F-8T7BwXrY_IkBkx_IW4oQwKxZmgs6lJJQ-up82vb9nKzx2nfHuZDKMCc6VyjX2GmfFfqVe7EkpdmTf0d-" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p><br /><br /><p></p></div></div>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-41309797795539088972024-03-15T23:34:00.001+05:302024-03-15T23:35:28.395+05:30Assam Day 8 and 9 - Pobitora, adjutant storks and the civet cat <p>Pobitora - has been in the news lately. Denotified as a sanctuary by the Assam govt, a decision then thankfully stayed by the Supreme Court. I remember the sanctuary from our 2020 MNS trip, and realised I had not updated my trip notes here.</p><p><b>January 18th 2020 </b></p><p><b><a href="https://madraswanderer.blogspot.com/2024/03/assam-day-6-7-wonderland-that-is.html">Continued from here.</a></b></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>Beginning with Lesser Adjutants</b></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;">We departed in the morning for Pobitara, a 200 km westwards drive, staying to the south of the river.<br />Around 10 in the morning, and the Innovas all suddenly pulled up to the side of the road. Tubelight me, always last to see things - wondering what all the excitement was about, and then I saw them - Adjutant stork nests. A silk cotton tree full of them!! These are probably the most morose-looking birds I have seen. Wetlands birds have a serious look generally, but these ones are in another league - they really looked grumpy and very unhappy with their state of affairs.</div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzbFKQ_KVG1PQ1Evx7-dVR-JpHRwgx2HpVCeZKJPnI-YAW8--F9nhLT2iAUv5PbyxyIJvHWkN6rAcqQA8S8TR1NJVW_qHmLoodNlHd1D8GL4BfMF1TuK4E3zBXHNmJcT2w96IpYRLQkOI0nNI02_8-Z_ZR1TXSkIC79vJQSWWoOMSB7pyhK6tYGlK13qTC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzbFKQ_KVG1PQ1Evx7-dVR-JpHRwgx2HpVCeZKJPnI-YAW8--F9nhLT2iAUv5PbyxyIJvHWkN6rAcqQA8S8TR1NJVW_qHmLoodNlHd1D8GL4BfMF1TuK4E3zBXHNmJcT2w96IpYRLQkOI0nNI02_8-Z_ZR1TXSkIC79vJQSWWoOMSB7pyhK6tYGlK13qTC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1cb-QsPH60-glvUrDxN2f4GoVGyYF9amCPtinM80arxPEV3wANZK3zUcL8qlCzOcoj1SaLWLSv6LVjvoovZZ9cXTEAuy1giJPfY9ZaGd-JkanyQli190pWt1vRdXA75I7Xfe64wOiFqVNvZ_XlU_7olTC0WxbtcPlNK-wd4ONQOFnMIPgPZr69nkogdOY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1cb-QsPH60-glvUrDxN2f4GoVGyYF9amCPtinM80arxPEV3wANZK3zUcL8qlCzOcoj1SaLWLSv6LVjvoovZZ9cXTEAuy1giJPfY9ZaGd-JkanyQli190pWt1vRdXA75I7Xfe64wOiFqVNvZ_XlU_7olTC0WxbtcPlNK-wd4ONQOFnMIPgPZr69nkogdOY" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMCxLy57ScHehzCf60x28TFWdy4kDYzuzFn-rwmGRo-M--tkyjXzxLZnZuX6xbrqPFy3sHBrNakco4fS7mqSBa_spXm7hTbi109Y57bxpr76LHZHPK6f1Z029ykBzsh6tjOrDjnEXdplH0TJfUu8E6aTWwrWSxXShMqPprsJbkb3HBdaqv0pXwmZ7qkEik" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMCxLy57ScHehzCf60x28TFWdy4kDYzuzFn-rwmGRo-M--tkyjXzxLZnZuX6xbrqPFy3sHBrNakco4fS7mqSBa_spXm7hTbi109Y57bxpr76LHZHPK6f1Z029ykBzsh6tjOrDjnEXdplH0TJfUu8E6aTWwrWSxXShMqPprsJbkb3HBdaqv0pXwmZ7qkEik" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQIspM3JujAOqUEjT_WRuu4YBSHvPQlqimMAeZDivRxYWw37qsSpvpk6ygwUztwRJuCcwa1ItHKOYVpsqwkgyLmPdDZeihvX2KxynYRtDa6TrNcRRLxCQNcFD2rWPzUq4uJWp4r4xWaJOwXelNeb5NJ161Bdi7m5_Yg4Hc9svmAU3TSs9980is0ELDvc_F" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQIspM3JujAOqUEjT_WRuu4YBSHvPQlqimMAeZDivRxYWw37qsSpvpk6ygwUztwRJuCcwa1ItHKOYVpsqwkgyLmPdDZeihvX2KxynYRtDa6TrNcRRLxCQNcFD2rWPzUq4uJWp4r4xWaJOwXelNeb5NJ161Bdi7m5_Yg4Hc9svmAU3TSs9980is0ELDvc_F" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Lesser Adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus) is less of a scavenger than the Greater. And found around wetlands, and November to January is there breeding season in Assam. A rather messy mass of sticks formed the nest. In many we saw little scrawny, unkempt heads poking out. Since we were watching from below, it was difficult to see them, as the nests looked deep. (I came back and read that they could be as much as a metre deep, oh my goodness!). There were 10 nests - a few had been abandoned, done with.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMJ9d1smkP7svwn8Q6eaJQIfPdmUZdLNEax89ovr7Q4at5i5-st9kw212uCeAgNBCf6pOQoycm_9pZJtzZvcViLPQc1uRq58FdocDUICbEhj7YWicFWhIKbjxUryEruVNbksIavHRA7aUIRwr6R0QapQYKiaQL6ix5RXI-fEq9Qd2wrR1mXGDdGk5Mukc2" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMJ9d1smkP7svwn8Q6eaJQIfPdmUZdLNEax89ovr7Q4at5i5-st9kw212uCeAgNBCf6pOQoycm_9pZJtzZvcViLPQc1uRq58FdocDUICbEhj7YWicFWhIKbjxUryEruVNbksIavHRA7aUIRwr6R0QapQYKiaQL6ix5RXI-fEq9Qd2wrR1mXGDdGk5Mukc2=w200-h150" width="200" /></a></div>Of course this called for a tea break, and we stopped at a place called Sugandhi, which took forever to produce the said tea. The only advantage of this stop was that I saw a Nepali bridegroom and had a Skype call with some Chennai friends!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlOvSXeuYSrKAMqVzpWSj7RhbifRNFbZuct5zY4CzNeo8jSCBMKdAxbXKDAMfr0gc5arpBx7KLIG3iWO8ATr9-U58rNxIkWbskffbG9I084lMLhnP1LOAz2ajsxJPe30r9mpHQ6MoQy3D9qC06e6fw3mr0GExdEbm3IAN0IbWEjrvoPTLaeu4ckPB6klfV" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlOvSXeuYSrKAMqVzpWSj7RhbifRNFbZuct5zY4CzNeo8jSCBMKdAxbXKDAMfr0gc5arpBx7KLIG3iWO8ATr9-U58rNxIkWbskffbG9I084lMLhnP1LOAz2ajsxJPe30r9mpHQ6MoQy3D9qC06e6fw3mr0GExdEbm3IAN0IbWEjrvoPTLaeu4ckPB6klfV=w200-h150" width="200" /></a></div>We moved along, making good time, and were at Jagi Road, (Whats with Assam calling places “road”, remember Barpeta Road?) just probably half hour from our destination when we ran into the Jonbeel mela crowds and road blocks. It was the last day of the Bihu mela, which operates on a barter system, and is a BIG event for the indigenous communities. We saw one side of the bund was allocated to parking - taxis, lorries, people carriers of all sorts, and on the other side was the fair. So we were sternly told to do a U turn and use another route, as the road was blocked. I was quite intrigued and wanted to return to see this mela - only to be told it would be disbanded that evening.<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEij6d343fJlixUy0xKrckYBGQqNjt_d1g4zVAqCzXGRNfKQbCRLkgsCSkXYmrOEG_VEeV-aecMgf9nKa2uFbPvC87EtYxVa4AsI2ErzLx30axtLk-Ho7LRrWo57XRq0ttjyLn5gJ9Vrv5cfCVnAA4pSECrlimBIR5H0hAfzPIt5oQ90xWcDs0bANWYUFyua" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2189" data-original-width="2365" height="592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEij6d343fJlixUy0xKrckYBGQqNjt_d1g4zVAqCzXGRNfKQbCRLkgsCSkXYmrOEG_VEeV-aecMgf9nKa2uFbPvC87EtYxVa4AsI2ErzLx30axtLk-Ho7LRrWo57XRq0ttjyLn5gJ9Vrv5cfCVnAA4pSECrlimBIR5H0hAfzPIt5oQ90xWcDs0bANWYUFyua=w640-h592" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiH1bgsn2bnvrM3bg1k7aO7T73RkiME9DuqVGjOK_JfFz7e9mdnLKJVV0kccWH8XUxXouYMNyd49jgrnINO6VRdIUEhx7gVZ8pI_B0uztw5RCeqQrIBxjuewGeDLDlUasYV5dmlXFZY2MF6KYBLW7X1NHAy6pPVNtX-GKcrxZGgjTNkTttRFnJVxL7V90GB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiH1bgsn2bnvrM3bg1k7aO7T73RkiME9DuqVGjOK_JfFz7e9mdnLKJVV0kccWH8XUxXouYMNyd49jgrnINO6VRdIUEhx7gVZ8pI_B0uztw5RCeqQrIBxjuewGeDLDlUasYV5dmlXFZY2MF6KYBLW7X1NHAy6pPVNtX-GKcrxZGgjTNkTttRFnJVxL7V90GB=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicpye2FImTUoNQ9kstKEM9V_ppdsF4EAzYgGsQ6nUbuUvXmdlawPdEatUtS3Zr1YTqht3Hvex-Hm3n9brkMxQqwKkCmLCCAJAYPSvYRKwO8W1v98rqa5TEkE_UjGuYswRdChQtTRTpL9qkAO_4aTi_gaAQ1_Y597JAUegYIk620vVtRwPPqM9ZEkyvkw15" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicpye2FImTUoNQ9kstKEM9V_ppdsF4EAzYgGsQ6nUbuUvXmdlawPdEatUtS3Zr1YTqht3Hvex-Hm3n9brkMxQqwKkCmLCCAJAYPSvYRKwO8W1v98rqa5TEkE_UjGuYswRdChQtTRTpL9qkAO_4aTi_gaAQ1_Y597JAUegYIk620vVtRwPPqM9ZEkyvkw15=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Detoured and all, and we crossed a river, with scores of brick kilns on either side, so I suppose the clay of that area makes for good bricks. We came to the huge “Jheel”, which is outside Pobitara, and was full of birds! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We reached <b><a href="https://maibongecoresort.in/?page_id=600">Maibong Eco Resort</a></b>, which is off in a little lane, and has rooms on either side of the lane. Devika and I took a room in the main building - these rooms were compact with easier access to the food and reception - better for her as she wouldn’t need to walk much, given her hurt toe. The rooms on the other side were more spacious and around a central open garden space. To one side, the resort had created a “hide” where they promised sightings of the hornbill, for a mere sum of Rs 500 - I thought this was a bit rich, and as it turned out those staying that side got to see the hornbills even without going to the hide.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We had a hot lunch of puris and dal, overlooking a little pond - all very scenic. The manager told us that the pond saws some interesting bird action in the mornings. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEij6VqMpM69bToR6MI-34GX_d03yJTpQmkBgjC-B3o9JtaGiPZhGlrP-KztLllx7-NzXqcAM_tkhsNK9ke6AdWN8IoYtQ8B-DdcyeybnodO_kKlqxwHf-zZTjb0aIsJ3n-VUyqIMfHQzkwMME6cn94Cwk52YK9KPs5IcIKDssO1cr7lQrgrEZyUwzRlddpk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEij6VqMpM69bToR6MI-34GX_d03yJTpQmkBgjC-B3o9JtaGiPZhGlrP-KztLllx7-NzXqcAM_tkhsNK9ke6AdWN8IoYtQ8B-DdcyeybnodO_kKlqxwHf-zZTjb0aIsJ3n-VUyqIMfHQzkwMME6cn94Cwk52YK9KPs5IcIKDssO1cr7lQrgrEZyUwzRlddpk=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And then we set off for Pobitora. Mainly grasslands and good rhino territory, I for one was appalled at the extent of cattle inside the sanctuary. Being close to Guwahati, this sanctuary is well visited, so why this neglect? It is also relatively new and small - 38sqkm. There has been some translocation of rhinos from here to Manas, due to overpopulation.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMkjm4d2zd-uxYognV2kzId32YE_pkq1a2COY_eoCKEqg5YQtG8D59BtQMRQ2cAEF57zhJDKieyh3_J4FdR8bLHtwlg5YnAee5uLvT2P90PFRlvf-_XnXkvaMKttWq6FhVN3CNC5vS2a1onVmk2IoaD_6zNpYW9MnFI0N3c8Hj3YEtbIj8Z9RZqVJHfsiZ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMkjm4d2zd-uxYognV2kzId32YE_pkq1a2COY_eoCKEqg5YQtG8D59BtQMRQ2cAEF57zhJDKieyh3_J4FdR8bLHtwlg5YnAee5uLvT2P90PFRlvf-_XnXkvaMKttWq6FhVN3CNC5vS2a1onVmk2IoaD_6zNpYW9MnFI0N3c8Hj3YEtbIj8Z9RZqVJHfsiZ=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />In the new context of COVID, it doesn’t seem like a great idea having cattle and rhinos and water buffaloes in such close proximity to each other one would think.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Anyway, there was all sorts of grass, short tall, in water, dry. We saw yellow-footed pigeons, starlings, a tree full of ber was a great sight, a parakeet looked annoyed at having its peace disturbed by the noisy jeep. I apologised.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe4FmqRr3_FKi4ZTwKm43Of0ARQ0aksa1xF7nE6WrVmKWmhSlB2fxoSlXooubf_6P3W27GwCB86FU_B_kHTu0VfCHha2OEBHuZstMcgPzFt_DcPU8vKmZ7h6ui-yFl4caD29ARZ_HdYhh04KOQoT6B_NOFLoEQk5ifLAWKSjcT7-UhDQjArecSshCwF0w3" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe4FmqRr3_FKi4ZTwKm43Of0ARQ0aksa1xF7nE6WrVmKWmhSlB2fxoSlXooubf_6P3W27GwCB86FU_B_kHTu0VfCHha2OEBHuZstMcgPzFt_DcPU8vKmZ7h6ui-yFl4caD29ARZ_HdYhh04KOQoT6B_NOFLoEQk5ifLAWKSjcT7-UhDQjArecSshCwF0w3=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow-footed green pigeons</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXDDZRS5YjoQlbtrYUA3Ls2YW2nOJaKRQCUP8aNgcdJ7obvHQLvDiftiKk11gz1d8W5Li0WSDZNPJl9AUSLSLurMgRv7xvmhNt76ksKX7LvYIpirzG-DOUb-y9z26hJqjt9u56AzJyzBXg9baFkFNTEM0XwMVp14bw09AN4Yf8gLnpSr8NYNnXuSb7Y_v6" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXDDZRS5YjoQlbtrYUA3Ls2YW2nOJaKRQCUP8aNgcdJ7obvHQLvDiftiKk11gz1d8W5Li0WSDZNPJl9AUSLSLurMgRv7xvmhNt76ksKX7LvYIpirzG-DOUb-y9z26hJqjt9u56AzJyzBXg9baFkFNTEM0XwMVp14bw09AN4Yf8gLnpSr8NYNnXuSb7Y_v6=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bar-filled tree</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhShcZvvZONvtCB8u74JfeVeZNh80vv4oOWv8PWhpyKmh5uXoe_eEKd2lcScFKi-lLNXMK1IJhDPdficfJyY1Uf2ckL26Vb9alSQnRfah0cfuNwUtvIBwi3Mn_MoLPfwTLN1OLRjpPBkJHyUDs_npozCjUq8PH1H0ldYkJw5nYCdIJNNQ_NdiheYF8cQpLE" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhShcZvvZONvtCB8u74JfeVeZNh80vv4oOWv8PWhpyKmh5uXoe_eEKd2lcScFKi-lLNXMK1IJhDPdficfJyY1Uf2ckL26Vb9alSQnRfah0cfuNwUtvIBwi3Mn_MoLPfwTLN1OLRjpPBkJHyUDs_npozCjUq8PH1H0ldYkJw5nYCdIJNNQ_NdiheYF8cQpLE=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A parakeet - staring at us rather annoyed.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />As the sun descended in the sky, we stopped close to one of the jheels. On one side water buffalo and cattle, on the far horizon an eagle on a tree, to the left were a pair of Greater Adjutants. In between some wild boar and egrets. And a lone black stork.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqsJTrhJhJG4S5xZ2kr76YXJELAGwR1pK7NIX7KFKH1fAU51aLL8Ds5CMc7GlzgYyEbL6j0JXkJsLywgT4ClGNd0wk8cq5RBlxmNGAysa30mG2OlqMuBsTJOR3L7MHrEOFrC9wkgINwblziY9lwKh6679AdeiElyN6JwWCBekm35UWebt8Tl3-xaGuX68r" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqsJTrhJhJG4S5xZ2kr76YXJELAGwR1pK7NIX7KFKH1fAU51aLL8Ds5CMc7GlzgYyEbL6j0JXkJsLywgT4ClGNd0wk8cq5RBlxmNGAysa30mG2OlqMuBsTJOR3L7MHrEOFrC9wkgINwblziY9lwKh6679AdeiElyN6JwWCBekm35UWebt8Tl3-xaGuX68r=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsTbZ6-NPleiOUjU45sh7cvcNP5lp_9PhiHAIy1-eSrzxdBs2fO5nvqlx8in6dNGa8AFDQXxxiaTFpJBteywz8yoHVGbhsGDsJtdt8Z1ZDtBobyYthkEHLf1J44Pl5II9iMB_sNc7tDdpfcvs8hNoP20TVknmLH4EO5dgD0d-ancEmpifkg0-g96B-MpOG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsTbZ6-NPleiOUjU45sh7cvcNP5lp_9PhiHAIy1-eSrzxdBs2fO5nvqlx8in6dNGa8AFDQXxxiaTFpJBteywz8yoHVGbhsGDsJtdt8Z1ZDtBobyYthkEHLf1J44Pl5II9iMB_sNc7tDdpfcvs8hNoP20TVknmLH4EO5dgD0d-ancEmpifkg0-g96B-MpOG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMHmgaF8s40aS2_1nwQobQx6ax0JiSYB3F2iSFcaU4zzGdqJXczIL0uMxqH4YtNb8WP2DTa5Gvvgd8my21u24CRiGR32vY1lUKlduZsLpM_WcXyudc-bn0lruba_18jTmrm-RQrt3lrCe9VuyZv1MoXwZ7O5Mvyk-EefAj06moGQVbK5uQm8eY0FkApKrz" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhMHmgaF8s40aS2_1nwQobQx6ax0JiSYB3F2iSFcaU4zzGdqJXczIL0uMxqH4YtNb8WP2DTa5Gvvgd8my21u24CRiGR32vY1lUKlduZsLpM_WcXyudc-bn0lruba_18jTmrm-RQrt3lrCe9VuyZv1MoXwZ7O5Mvyk-EefAj06moGQVbK5uQm8eY0FkApKrz=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>The incidence of the civet cat </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Back to Maibong then, and a nice hot bath. We were told to come to the reception at 7pm - civet cats would show up! This we were all very intrigued by. So we passed time until then, on the grass patch in front of the rooms on the other side - I learnt about the latest squash players from Nayantara and Nethra, and then the manager came and told us it was time for the civet show.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Then we all went to the reception area, and were told to be very quiet, no flash photography, no movements, and the lights were dimmed. Chairs were adjusted, so second row also had a view. We waited. And waited. And waited. Some wild variety of banana was thrown onto the tin roof. We spoke in hushed voices. We were told not to take our eyes off. </div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; text-align: left;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSPNZN3mWqGhnF4zj33eGfr_XyUo5EogzD3hlftZCLWbCR21zJgXiWdoqiRG2egT6PieMR6bjKD5Lx4cnR7aQyaXkN8XQlm86WqB_0yG9ozAvze5AGnKi6LCqcxtbnSXnDpfPirikyr5oOxEtUoljsqYi7s3_X_l9E187INOumnkMQ6yfgtZZHUgaav3A0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSPNZN3mWqGhnF4zj33eGfr_XyUo5EogzD3hlftZCLWbCR21zJgXiWdoqiRG2egT6PieMR6bjKD5Lx4cnR7aQyaXkN8XQlm86WqB_0yG9ozAvze5AGnKi6LCqcxtbnSXnDpfPirikyr5oOxEtUoljsqYi7s3_X_l9E187INOumnkMQ6yfgtZZHUgaav3A0=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting for the civet</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">After a while, there was a scuffle, a black shadow passed on the tin roof and one piece of banana was gone! The manager looked pleased with a I-told-you-so look. MNS members looked bemused. Did you see it? I saw the tail I think, it went up the pipe, no it went down the roof. It was at the edge. No see it too banana from here. Clearly very few had actually seen anything - such was the disparity between sighting accounts. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />There was still much banana left. It will be back we were told. More waiting. Pritam looked unamused and disbelieving. Backbenchers made their way out…only the believers were left behind. And were rewarded with five more visits by the scurrying shadow, whose presence was marked by the disappearing bananas.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />And so ended the amusing episode of the palm civet of Maibong. It was clearly there, living under the roof - because the souvenir shop had a strange smell about it. I thought it was some native fragrance. Pritam calmly said it was civet pee and poop!</div><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; text-align: left;"><br /></p><div><br /><b><span style="color: #dca10d; direction: ltr; text-decoration: underline; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="x-apple-data-detectors://18">19 January</a></span><span style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"> – Day </span><span style="direction: ltr; text-decoration: underline; unicode-bidi: embed;">9</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>Our last day in Assam!</div><div><br />By common consent, we decided to leave for Guwahati slowly, lingering at Maibong, doing birding on the lake front. Only Kumar and family went off to Guwahati early to do some sightseeing.</div><div><br /></div><div><br />The pond revealed water hens, a kingfisher, a flameback, and then there was the curious case of the flycatcher that only Bhuvanya and I could see, and poor Sudar could not spot, much to the ire of his wife. Try as we may we could not get him to look at the “right” tree at the far end of the pond. And when it finally flew in disgust is when he saw it, and then was most annoyed that we were pointing to the wrong tree!</div><div><br />This was during morning tea.</div><div><br />7am with some light and we set off for some walking and birding. It was a foggy morning, and the members were struggling along the bund at different speeds. Ducks and cormorants in the water, doves, starlings and bee eaters in the wires above. On the other side of the road, farmers were busy with paddy cultivation. At some point, stomachs began to growl, and so we headed back for breakfast, bath and packing. </div><div><br />I went to the souvenir shop and picked up some t shirts, tea and caps for family and friends, and hurried to pack them and load the bags in the car. We finally left closer to noon.<br /><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEio8-qMi7uG3XAC6US-iGY5XyAb-K5t74tiWK78eKjcN6ignY200Cu1zqGZOvp0RZZwk76444GxNctpe4XHX9v4wTfttwRg_ZnjqezLaX8CXe32krfnloM0Jmxkm_USG8tSrBPRrnh4_1N2tgecltY8pIUe_ra1KNikDX6M_r6HpryxRfYlIGuCzZcpDmqN" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEio8-qMi7uG3XAC6US-iGY5XyAb-K5t74tiWK78eKjcN6ignY200Cu1zqGZOvp0RZZwk76444GxNctpe4XHX9v4wTfttwRg_ZnjqezLaX8CXe32krfnloM0Jmxkm_USG8tSrBPRrnh4_1N2tgecltY8pIUe_ra1KNikDX6M_r6HpryxRfYlIGuCzZcpDmqN=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anti CAA march in Guwahati</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnbbXN8M_R1DvrDyigOVmrXT6824z7n3BT_nT0ibzSArcyXOFbxjpR8TwdEMJnxmyZfTgwob5zknXp0gZHt2-Q4ArzpzhZsGoKErrefwNwn84bRT2CH1M48KZvnOcVY4NK-BGF5_OwiGX91yB3s5waRpw4ytikEcV9ayoWZ8t2dMBSv5W9f9FjI5GETwql" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnbbXN8M_R1DvrDyigOVmrXT6824z7n3BT_nT0ibzSArcyXOFbxjpR8TwdEMJnxmyZfTgwob5zknXp0gZHt2-Q4ArzpzhZsGoKErrefwNwn84bRT2CH1M48KZvnOcVY4NK-BGF5_OwiGX91yB3s5waRpw4ytikEcV9ayoWZ8t2dMBSv5W9f9FjI5GETwql=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our final Assamese lunch</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div>Stopped at Guwahati for a massive lunch, saw an anti CAA protest, reached the airport, bumped into a cousin of mine, and then it was a long ride back via Kolkata to Chennai airport. Met by Vish at the airport, and home after dropping off Pritam and Shuba.</div><div><br />And so ended my Assam odyssey…..though I did end up with a rasping cough, thankfully it was in pre-covid days, or rather when the virus was still rampant only in China, or so I believed. </div><div><br /></div><div>My mother was convinced that I had picked up the Covid virus from Assam, and it might well be the case, I would never know.</div><div><br /></div></div>flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13583733876810341137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-2545751362048261672024-03-15T22:22:00.001+05:302024-03-15T23:34:22.724+05:30Assam Day 6 & 7 - The wonderland that is Kaziranga <p>16th January 2020</p><p><a href="https://madraswanderer.blogspot.com/2023/02/assam-day-5-first-glimpses-of-kaziranga.html">Continued from here.</a></p><p>Kaziranga! A dream visit for me, for the last fifteen years, and I was actually here. Wishing Sekar was here, and of course Raji, my dear friend, how I missed her on the trip. </p><p>It is a <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/337/">UNESCO world heritage site.</a></p><p></p><blockquote><p>“Criterion (ix): River fluctuations by the Brahmaputra river system result in spectacular examples of riverine and fluvial processes. River bank erosion, sedimentation and formation of new lands as well as new water-bodies, plus succession between grasslands and woodlands represents outstanding examples of significant and ongoing, dynamic ecological and biological processes. Wet alluvial grasslands occupy nearly two-thirds of the park area and are maintained by annual flooding and burning. These natural processes create complexes of habitats which are also responsible for a diverse range of predator/prey relationships.</p><p>Criterion (x): Kaziranga was inscribed for being the world’s major stronghold of the Indian one-horned rhino, having the single largest population of this species, currently estimated at over 2,000 animals. The property also provides habitat for a number of globally threatened species including tiger, Asian elephant, wild water buffalo, gaur, eastern swamp deer, Sambar deer, hog deer, capped langur, hoolock gibbon and sloth bear. The park has recorded one of the highest density of tiger in the country and has been declared a Tiger Reserve since 2007. The park’s location at the junction of the Australasia and Indo-Asian flyway means that the park’s wetlands play a crucial role for the conservation of globally threatened migratory bird species. The Endangered Ganges dolphin is also found in some of the closed oxbow lakes.”</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Highway 37 cuts through and the Karbi Anglong hills are the highlands needed during the high monsoon floods as highlands for the animals from the Bramhaputra flood plains. Now this migration land is cut by the highway.</p><p>A lot happened on the road even before we entered the sanctuary gates. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcmA30K8uqt1leQ3Xtc8gGdnCWi7Ks8UiFyUKo2EKd2R0fgbiAhWukEpDPXyZP6-qzKlJLRdU1E4VVxchLFke86O9s0z7KUxRCDxy9Ik5T6MA724kPzPJJd7RsNzhTK89hueG33q46lwcGxqv3l17bFJArs17bzzxBAZRlij7tvJ9JlSu9is6X9p2faMT3" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2345" data-original-width="3432" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcmA30K8uqt1leQ3Xtc8gGdnCWi7Ks8UiFyUKo2EKd2R0fgbiAhWukEpDPXyZP6-qzKlJLRdU1E4VVxchLFke86O9s0z7KUxRCDxy9Ik5T6MA724kPzPJJd7RsNzhTK89hueG33q46lwcGxqv3l17bFJArs17bzzxBAZRlij7tvJ9JlSu9is6X9p2faMT3=w640-h438" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">We started our Kaziranga exploration at the eastern gate - Agaratoli. These Owlets were at the gate, as we registered to enter the Gates.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiT7bruYVnRxaQob32wQgtmFvXl5qWwnbzMWRO65bhAm8oqH5UVTP3dwUJKLKQ9upgSYDjPIQMXkBupMkfR67IbrGHU__Wxxtp6uqosBJFhyhJ0LGvxFuU6Y9JXnE6z3tUdU4Ove5xt4CbQ7ro_l6DOQRJNmLYT0cSTpLRJQ6K72M7YFxeAmgENCi77xebu" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1714" data-original-width="2675" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiT7bruYVnRxaQob32wQgtmFvXl5qWwnbzMWRO65bhAm8oqH5UVTP3dwUJKLKQ9upgSYDjPIQMXkBupMkfR67IbrGHU__Wxxtp6uqosBJFhyhJ0LGvxFuU6Y9JXnE6z3tUdU4Ove5xt4CbQ7ro_l6DOQRJNmLYT0cSTpLRJQ6K72M7YFxeAmgENCi77xebu=w640-h410" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A grey-headed fishing eagle surveyed the plains, sitting harmoniously with the parakeets!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div></b><b><br /></b>.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiANZHw8GY3uUKhh98TKXixfC8_pK9AvB8moNB7APvO8PPhjCwczHyP7Upis8X5OjLd5j7PEzKlIasF5Xgm_jKc-sznBjyigkVzdCb6bGsiZAOLFcIK5ti0qm4LRDHFfO1iBpNQNVe7QPADUykSDr-0e8cf-li-syIu44q_Hu6V7ozuLZu1RjyACu2q8ElN" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2424" data-original-width="4024" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiANZHw8GY3uUKhh98TKXixfC8_pK9AvB8moNB7APvO8PPhjCwczHyP7Upis8X5OjLd5j7PEzKlIasF5Xgm_jKc-sznBjyigkVzdCb6bGsiZAOLFcIK5ti0qm4LRDHFfO1iBpNQNVe7QPADUykSDr-0e8cf-li-syIu44q_Hu6V7ozuLZu1RjyACu2q8ElN=w640-h386" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wild buffaloes eyed us.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv9Xbl02QJ3TmlCrFRSV-e86GrPelPGaVcEuYhjJTbV86XCwVzaSJx_6piAWdSvsK582ccF1gs-X3jDEyU8-vkHYZS9HyPYJabMjfbztkqfOKdJCaOu9w3giuVU2NsUSyk8CqUMbMWawm1Jz8ILhtMAWbD0929TbkYMmxzvVIx30FVg_MPQkaPxRxZT12h" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv9Xbl02QJ3TmlCrFRSV-e86GrPelPGaVcEuYhjJTbV86XCwVzaSJx_6piAWdSvsK582ccF1gs-X3jDEyU8-vkHYZS9HyPYJabMjfbztkqfOKdJCaOu9w3giuVU2NsUSyk8CqUMbMWawm1Jz8ILhtMAWbD0929TbkYMmxzvVIx30FVg_MPQkaPxRxZT12h=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I would never tire of the river, the grasslands and the swamp deer.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBgkeosxrDH42Pi-_Z944G-DRE85AiVRfYBc_O4Lgl_JLzEAk31wqHpzw_Ue1YrPGAO2TxxixWWFazCX6OKTzB41kAfBnBq1g9cpKeClO55SJF7QbojlMXr-jfAgb_dYrcRVTRNw1qqc8ECYgvHyzma38XJgyjMFtAzeN-7YZ6k9u_iRmrDcPXbQvPH1ug" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1889" data-original-width="3369" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBgkeosxrDH42Pi-_Z944G-DRE85AiVRfYBc_O4Lgl_JLzEAk31wqHpzw_Ue1YrPGAO2TxxixWWFazCX6OKTzB41kAfBnBq1g9cpKeClO55SJF7QbojlMXr-jfAgb_dYrcRVTRNw1qqc8ECYgvHyzma38XJgyjMFtAzeN-7YZ6k9u_iRmrDcPXbQvPH1ug=w640-h358" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rhinos were there everywhere.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhCGLjYhEqAOJiIn-9cwGDZHcB0GKqmfqQBrPp3sRDU2GG5GtOS00-2HORiuhZSfwEKZwXeM01SyMF3z1xwnJ33yxGAFmyZma7YMwYQp3MJyojKvIQOxzk6y1Vr1qR374n32WlHylJhjK3GSx31pPEtl5PLNrcoLTKJK5m9tCipg33bKaKcT2vxNikLAzaU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1549" data-original-width="2422" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhCGLjYhEqAOJiIn-9cwGDZHcB0GKqmfqQBrPp3sRDU2GG5GtOS00-2HORiuhZSfwEKZwXeM01SyMF3z1xwnJ33yxGAFmyZma7YMwYQp3MJyojKvIQOxzk6y1Vr1qR374n32WlHylJhjK3GSx31pPEtl5PLNrcoLTKJK5m9tCipg33bKaKcT2vxNikLAzaU=w640-h410" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi97BmfOkfHe_k5-fls693mKSxS02aElFliyrHnLXix1rAqPTbGrc99reNvlz0-UFBR-rdzaH3x5DrhDRb7YMEtNps1cs11ltoN56JoMpG6EzY3zDKdbQxLAXkTyJcb5iQHjhSujx32dTuZPppv2lYFwxhlW76sxRT2yFqQ8HkcjyvK0JYFiUYvjRcEUuW0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1490" data-original-width="2086" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi97BmfOkfHe_k5-fls693mKSxS02aElFliyrHnLXix1rAqPTbGrc99reNvlz0-UFBR-rdzaH3x5DrhDRb7YMEtNps1cs11ltoN56JoMpG6EzY3zDKdbQxLAXkTyJcb5iQHjhSujx32dTuZPppv2lYFwxhlW76sxRT2yFqQ8HkcjyvK0JYFiUYvjRcEUuW0=w640-h458" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">What a lovely sight of the northern lapwing.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>The news of Kaziranga was that a “lesser white fronted goose had been spotted! And Gudung knew exactly where to take us - to see this “foreigner”, who was hanging around with the bar-headed geese, who didn’t seem to mind its presence, and all continued to forage in an amicable fashion. Its white face and barred chest made it stand out among the bar-headed geese.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaYUx26bgcNBjal6acEqJUrUl9ZAvfv_DrHVpGB38cX8SbXWK6UC9z2-w-ZTnk6kRLWv__holDpApJuFcTJwsDEJY9UB94FXuQU1yyM5xQMr1gkyHTJ7rlPjy2gSYPY0gQMjVKKE2I2TMbplmx5nLyFmEEhCBW8zCGRkObnvHcqImajMKFFv1nEcN8myss" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2380" data-original-width="4247" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaYUx26bgcNBjal6acEqJUrUl9ZAvfv_DrHVpGB38cX8SbXWK6UC9z2-w-ZTnk6kRLWv__holDpApJuFcTJwsDEJY9UB94FXuQU1yyM5xQMr1gkyHTJ7rlPjy2gSYPY0gQMjVKKE2I2TMbplmx5nLyFmEEhCBW8zCGRkObnvHcqImajMKFFv1nEcN8myss=w640-h358" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">The LWFG (Anser erythropus)was most unbothered at this paparazzi status, as the shutter bugs clicked away. What was it doing here? In 1968, an Englishman McKenzie had recorded it in Kaziranga in a different range. The bird is a native of Scandinavia and Siberia. It was a vagrant. And endangered vagrant. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjONJgyde4gl-xqzy5YsbDSRFTpwYlL91lNV5cR0byHUjjFZZVCIvYsKL3MmgdGp5Few3vgTwc3GlOww_msNSKW2sjcq3f7ZJgThN8Kj3ZR8gvDWuLM21rNM-VX2rMoAajgohi9W6pkdkBZq2wCGVyeIhIi0T1C58HogHTJcyzZwEB-t66UXUvh7xd5KzAv" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1238" data-original-width="1788" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjONJgyde4gl-xqzy5YsbDSRFTpwYlL91lNV5cR0byHUjjFZZVCIvYsKL3MmgdGp5Few3vgTwc3GlOww_msNSKW2sjcq3f7ZJgThN8Kj3ZR8gvDWuLM21rNM-VX2rMoAajgohi9W6pkdkBZq2wCGVyeIhIi0T1C58HogHTJcyzZwEB-t66UXUvh7xd5KzAv=w640-h444" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Gudung was excited at having showed us this rare sighting.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGZAmX06y-u4nFSQiH30mKE5vU5D_quG1w_JGXl85ieXRSDlRhrbNmLfs5t7g30S7oAnVUIHtnTB4qN5jGpo9gTIEVFCiuepLKz7EM6HfeSJ9FzVCmYXX_ip-RU3XcLWSL2pF9VMM8JsSGaRSjS-gJ8zW1FIikTS-AB4OYRS07WiGkXh1dntgUUQr5y76_" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2478" data-original-width="1880" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGZAmX06y-u4nFSQiH30mKE5vU5D_quG1w_JGXl85ieXRSDlRhrbNmLfs5t7g30S7oAnVUIHtnTB4qN5jGpo9gTIEVFCiuepLKz7EM6HfeSJ9FzVCmYXX_ip-RU3XcLWSL2pF9VMM8JsSGaRSjS-gJ8zW1FIikTS-AB4OYRS07WiGkXh1dntgUUQr5y76_=w485-h640" width="485" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">He took us to the house of his mentor Manoj Gogoi. These are the experiences on MNS trips that are amazing, humbling and something that has opened my mind time and again.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg921vX-aE7lKQ01jPDufDkHH_QICE85VYmR2PHSXrnBD8no-2b0_MaUnvOvqASWhiJA21OBRizD2xi33rXBeLxNK0JLBK_LvH08S2lnuLfJtUxozJcZRL_jsVJvDddVU9zGRf5mmMlfkbTV39a51IeUw-3OHfji3E8D7X2DDvQTCvXPimMPS5IQ6x6Nnxx" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg921vX-aE7lKQ01jPDufDkHH_QICE85VYmR2PHSXrnBD8no-2b0_MaUnvOvqASWhiJA21OBRizD2xi33rXBeLxNK0JLBK_LvH08S2lnuLfJtUxozJcZRL_jsVJvDddVU9zGRf5mmMlfkbTV39a51IeUw-3OHfji3E8D7X2DDvQTCvXPimMPS5IQ6x6Nnxx=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">He narrated the story of his meeting with a man from BNHS and then growing and rescuing snakes and birds, and now working in tandem with the forest dept. Recounting stories of Kaziranga then and now, over a feast of local delicacies.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjIA8jW8vi_4_ED8t3HDrzkMcj0LCA5vfrl2msS2SqsFJV1il6895R9RrhswQJbUVGdi9BjUpR3ydMdcTc4IWrmUjZW55hWcGyRHe-XKuAtUqblnWLJN3QdugpdDLJJYnbwK1f3BTGgiUdKtwk40_Zt5SZeyAB6YkbEEmKIEBh3fN5-a14RPujH4U0xaUf" style="font-weight: 700; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="817" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjIA8jW8vi_4_ED8t3HDrzkMcj0LCA5vfrl2msS2SqsFJV1il6895R9RrhswQJbUVGdi9BjUpR3ydMdcTc4IWrmUjZW55hWcGyRHe-XKuAtUqblnWLJN3QdugpdDLJJYnbwK1f3BTGgiUdKtwk40_Zt5SZeyAB6YkbEEmKIEBh3fN5-a14RPujH4U0xaUf=w640-h474" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">A quick lunch stop at Dubori, wash, battery charge and it was off to the western range with Gudung. <b>Bagori</b>.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><b>Hornbill sightings</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0TyxGWEMZiNXPaH-4kiwXaHcRXASApXiWKgksGSdrHMu9u3mtXsYPotmdgrQhwe3uVCi_LbBTuDhManVPcisYAAn-Ila7sf7skbqxxo0MpWVl2ddj66qSGeOgdIoIBe2_mncbh6-V5qFe_plL7z5TgeppuMMqanUN3iTpGGINoR6xy_6rMd44CaNUcwhk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1739" data-original-width="2232" height="499" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0TyxGWEMZiNXPaH-4kiwXaHcRXASApXiWKgksGSdrHMu9u3mtXsYPotmdgrQhwe3uVCi_LbBTuDhManVPcisYAAn-Ila7sf7skbqxxo0MpWVl2ddj66qSGeOgdIoIBe2_mncbh6-V5qFe_plL7z5TgeppuMMqanUN3iTpGGINoR6xy_6rMd44CaNUcwhk=w640-h499" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjD4oKVryZSLmcuf33Wten0GDd3COYISt2LOL_M-ZjDUhOVd6ZNTFxH0FYwmUUNacl6yZKuE5XFkRmZKRYOjvo45fAc8u09rRrSWqc0F1c6cSmAqErmCaDF0atoW-I-0LptZyqpM4oXjrS_GAx-p2CkXP7NC2erk4to9igJ6ApmPJrLbqvgliuY5FU5pNgG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1305" data-original-width="2383" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjD4oKVryZSLmcuf33Wten0GDd3COYISt2LOL_M-ZjDUhOVd6ZNTFxH0FYwmUUNacl6yZKuE5XFkRmZKRYOjvo45fAc8u09rRrSWqc0F1c6cSmAqErmCaDF0atoW-I-0LptZyqpM4oXjrS_GAx-p2CkXP7NC2erk4to9igJ6ApmPJrLbqvgliuY5FU5pNgG=w640-h350" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhp2kQDCQyN9nM6euX7WeRDS9ALqG9PRXJile3UpWsfOR4GMLww76k9oOSyLUIFbqqqkS8r1_uRz9v0pO1vyLrowffX8BQh2Czm8URv9YL1-TfFHx8GZxDs8vFgFaYkrz7rAC2afUYGmFFEv5putaNMXmKbxCP59A6ZenagsxoUzEVCtohHgYPPnAg058mb" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhp2kQDCQyN9nM6euX7WeRDS9ALqG9PRXJile3UpWsfOR4GMLww76k9oOSyLUIFbqqqkS8r1_uRz9v0pO1vyLrowffX8BQh2Czm8URv9YL1-TfFHx8GZxDs8vFgFaYkrz7rAC2afUYGmFFEv5putaNMXmKbxCP59A6ZenagsxoUzEVCtohHgYPPnAg058mb=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjx_xWUPTtAHRqdbFM4CsOCxHmiOkOuDcpYwlSW_yF_eg64DKS4Tx9ouyKGGBx9ylNEFxdyVFkar0KAo3W6uKS_Lk1qfEgrRvrl9p2bj75EI_Qx1IQgBdkKXFp3WZ4lI03M6ZcGz0tUOx1lWILtKpzaG_eFoLH4QW8Q6pevqnJniNCh86Y84cvItGKWy_yt" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjx_xWUPTtAHRqdbFM4CsOCxHmiOkOuDcpYwlSW_yF_eg64DKS4Tx9ouyKGGBx9ylNEFxdyVFkar0KAo3W6uKS_Lk1qfEgrRvrl9p2bj75EI_Qx1IQgBdkKXFp3WZ4lI03M6ZcGz0tUOx1lWILtKpzaG_eFoLH4QW8Q6pevqnJniNCh86Y84cvItGKWy_yt=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>A satisfied soul inside a tired body, as we headed back. Dinner and chatter - always fun - sitting with Yuvan trying to make a list - jaggery ginger candy from Mr NS. A throat thats feeling super raspy and painful.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">So much to learn still, so little do I know. </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><b>17th January 2020. Off to the Bura Pahad range - Hoolock Gibbon morning it was.</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcgCRHjGMTAomfuSlqq4vxFCVe3POL4APjZUaylEiELZ1yBi3vonZHYDiOkNt892TGM8Fy9luxiDh-PA-XkgxtcbwsHKhwKIFo3mm7WQKhTQ6PbEMMzN7y5KH-Oqv327aXw1DvCUONikN3q2_Wylr_TX5W8Yl_wsHpFt1BB9eUbsNrl50Dpv_kGiWw0Tn5" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2710" data-original-width="3178" height="547" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcgCRHjGMTAomfuSlqq4vxFCVe3POL4APjZUaylEiELZ1yBi3vonZHYDiOkNt892TGM8Fy9luxiDh-PA-XkgxtcbwsHKhwKIFo3mm7WQKhTQ6PbEMMzN7y5KH-Oqv327aXw1DvCUONikN3q2_Wylr_TX5W8Yl_wsHpFt1BB9eUbsNrl50Dpv_kGiWw0Tn5=w640-h547" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the road, even before entering the Bura Pahad range, we stopped by some fig trees as Gudung spotted the gibbons, and this was my first sight! <span style="text-align: left;">What lovely eyebrows!</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8ccchJ433WnYaAwvB8PpIbl3EHe_aW8G-4m5eL75tgZxy_-J4adAXgX4azYcWEfjEB5SvTH9BgYQfnCNJ8KIyxxIXNXyNvYndcAtl1Xe44txnAKrww4FnWGe0TMT-_OnoNtvcqBR6KeqI8ECtwzg3jq3JD0GmohCkamrLnb4NDn69dMRdMBsi3EgW__pJ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2464" data-original-width="4128" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8ccchJ433WnYaAwvB8PpIbl3EHe_aW8G-4m5eL75tgZxy_-J4adAXgX4azYcWEfjEB5SvTH9BgYQfnCNJ8KIyxxIXNXyNvYndcAtl1Xe44txnAKrww4FnWGe0TMT-_OnoNtvcqBR6KeqI8ECtwzg3jq3JD0GmohCkamrLnb4NDn69dMRdMBsi3EgW__pJ=w640-h382" width="640" /></a></div><br />There was something so contented and peaceful about the way the gibbon took a fruit at a time, and ate with deliberation and “mindfulness”? <p></p><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgC0U3sy7vHZ4bGggvq8D1cOsPmcnjOxUW6wgM27Gz7a2-JacknoZtxnVwps0_B-yhYKVtSqAfzh_XaqUz_xQMCGWGWUQpkJGFXst_xEapoAZAcoX0H-n04az00XDUZQscUjYYJUUoVRyrrpxvCoY4FIbGVkDBNT0Lb_tJ6loHYf3JD3r89MxOaD07hXuS3" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgC0U3sy7vHZ4bGggvq8D1cOsPmcnjOxUW6wgM27Gz7a2-JacknoZtxnVwps0_B-yhYKVtSqAfzh_XaqUz_xQMCGWGWUQpkJGFXst_xEapoAZAcoX0H-n04az00XDUZQscUjYYJUUoVRyrrpxvCoY4FIbGVkDBNT0Lb_tJ6loHYf3JD3r89MxOaD07hXuS3=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">One of Kaziranga’s signature primate, India’s only ape. As I watched the male’s long arm go out and pick a fruit, I learnt that they can brachiate at high speeds - close to 50kmph, and in one swing, something like 6m! </span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />They live in small family groups and are monogamous <a href="http://www.gibbons.de/main/sound/07hool.html">we heard their calls within the forest later as well</a>. Their calls - haunting and amazing and a lifetime experience as it echoes through the forests. </div><p>For a creature that never comes down to the forest floor, the need for a contiguous canopy is so crucial. How would it cross a road, if the canopy was broken for more than 6m?</p><p></p><blockquote>“Populations of western hoolock gibbons have declined by almost 90% over the last 30 years, and it is now considered to be one of the most endangered 25 primate species in the world. In India, it is listed on Schedule 1 of the Indian (Wildlife) Protection Act 1972. Enhancing protection for the species, the Government of Assam upgraded the status of the Hoollongapar Reserve Forest in the Jorhat District of Assam to a Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary in 1997, making this the first Protected Area ever named after a primate species.” (WWF)</blockquote><p></p><p></p><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjp0ocdJ05Say7U1z2gHDGPGVqOMbMIlIN-JhDHFj8NM4JR46MenOTY7aTkl11XVk1B9gP206Q9zWIh_jk_1H9kog6xXKR7mI0wVNnb-Ki5E_Dq9SDskh-UxoNf4Ha6NH5oO5OWUuAomFrZBL1A09thrSiIXL5axD5Js3JP7TmyGRfKOhLA7do7aNjqOEhu" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1112" data-original-width="1666" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjp0ocdJ05Say7U1z2gHDGPGVqOMbMIlIN-JhDHFj8NM4JR46MenOTY7aTkl11XVk1B9gP206Q9zWIh_jk_1H9kog6xXKR7mI0wVNnb-Ki5E_Dq9SDskh-UxoNf4Ha6NH5oO5OWUuAomFrZBL1A09thrSiIXL5axD5Js3JP7TmyGRfKOhLA7do7aNjqOEhu=w640-h428" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">A skirmish and movement in the tree and we thought it was another family, but no it was a Giant Malayan S</span><span style="text-align: left;">quirrel also feeding and going up and down the tree. What a tail! And it did one spectacular jump from one tree to the next. (Ratufa bicolor). I thought the malabar squirrel is more good looking, but this one is just large and dramatic. (Suresh's photo)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgaywUEOOviZvI4vHAvVDedGcVgAn0rLz48WxZzmUnO5gpY5b2tB3ZN7OkMJnP_-dAQXgbwUwEp091-aOBzpFR4vaYF7UOEmJ215Lt7x8q0uO7OX4IBNnXWKL9rRmJ9lhesqeVV-J7dqsVbftAVmHhoAfYoMpR2Szy-vN-e7y5y1vFEcZnXn0oMPWj3tHVt" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgaywUEOOviZvI4vHAvVDedGcVgAn0rLz48WxZzmUnO5gpY5b2tB3ZN7OkMJnP_-dAQXgbwUwEp091-aOBzpFR4vaYF7UOEmJ215Lt7x8q0uO7OX4IBNnXWKL9rRmJ9lhesqeVV-J7dqsVbftAVmHhoAfYoMpR2Szy-vN-e7y5y1vFEcZnXn0oMPWj3tHVt=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Lovely drive in the forest. Beautiful trees, lianas, a water monitor lizard and whistling ducks in flight. A group of black capped monkeys above.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A patch of water, and we saw more bar-headed geese. There were egrets, cormorants, OBS all cheek by jowl, minding their own business. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaBZ_m6Z9RVhmMuSq8pEBqjcT7FyhrBOOChnSD9xhbulKjuJKiqNZ4B8j35IF4qLvVbzRBPN2fmA9dL2B_ktAckRk0aH6e2NIEwpHRTODj28KlHIIwrG1XhIZhmed0-dKjUNOkaSPcDoENxX9XUoKjhWKL2LVVo6q0DSyjuiIBALkGo-hJ39YB79bc-iyP" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaBZ_m6Z9RVhmMuSq8pEBqjcT7FyhrBOOChnSD9xhbulKjuJKiqNZ4B8j35IF4qLvVbzRBPN2fmA9dL2B_ktAckRk0aH6e2NIEwpHRTODj28KlHIIwrG1XhIZhmed0-dKjUNOkaSPcDoENxX9XUoKjhWKL2LVVo6q0DSyjuiIBALkGo-hJ39YB79bc-iyP=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">A watchtower close to the river. We got off the vehicles and took a walk along the river Diphlu. The stories that silting would tell. Many feet deep. There were a couple of ruddy shelducks on the bank. that caught the sun so beautifully, they were like burnished copper..</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>The squelchy mud revealed tiger pug marks! It was a long and hot walk, and we came back quite hungry. Dried fruits and kakhra to the rescue in our backpacks - and Suresh discovered a love for kakhra hitherto unknown. Pritam had some interesting fruit bars - mango and guava…I preferred the guava I remember.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMf-7IrRbB_z-Y_yNwlNHNJd_63fblFzH_3SK6UPrULBh7y9iwG0j1B-rsouO7iru0b7pEvLgZAFYJjRbvDa45Lno4AVVJZ-a70eoKl2zd4TiBbMKSnEIMqMhpQWEskvbxzGy2y1XXhoeYZQe1hv3rlQhgsWIbjhFaCQNNWMyEJJN3vPl8XcJ-MnqgxK71" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMf-7IrRbB_z-Y_yNwlNHNJd_63fblFzH_3SK6UPrULBh7y9iwG0j1B-rsouO7iru0b7pEvLgZAFYJjRbvDa45Lno4AVVJZ-a70eoKl2zd4TiBbMKSnEIMqMhpQWEskvbxzGy2y1XXhoeYZQe1hv3rlQhgsWIbjhFaCQNNWMyEJJN3vPl8XcJ-MnqgxK71=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">As we drove back and out of the sanctuary, we saw swamp deer - unique to Kaziranga. Eastern swamp deer. </span><span style="text-align: left;"> Rucervus duvaucelii ranjitsinhi. Dolhorina in Assamese</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tuk0IHlbL5U?si=ZarMOlC74Gtd6Dy3" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"> Even better was the sunbathing otters we saw! What a delightful sight that was. We were the lone jeep on that path - and in a blink of an eye, they were all off the bank and into the water. Showing how easy it us to disturb wildlife, how sensitive to human activity. Shantharam got a great picture, I remember.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">An adjutant flew overhead, stiff and stern. And suddenly there was a rhino eyeballing us from behind the grass. And vultures overhead!</span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgETJ1rVfmQDfE_5Y1fgI4o8QSaP5KdkXm1rbcz-mT7CGJyV6ikFF7ylcSBRZOaWV5T2da7YmGOSuS3mwrBkcudZL1lodB4Y68OlTPzD4dq29yE22z3iK3_htj83-4gp9x4Rd4ZNjn8y34naBzc0qtq-G3GWsvKcPoBruiKr0FKFEhkTHtNggdOpyj2TbuY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgETJ1rVfmQDfE_5Y1fgI4o8QSaP5KdkXm1rbcz-mT7CGJyV6ikFF7ylcSBRZOaWV5T2da7YmGOSuS3mwrBkcudZL1lodB4Y68OlTPzD4dq29yE22z3iK3_htj83-4gp9x4Rd4ZNjn8y34naBzc0qtq-G3GWsvKcPoBruiKr0FKFEhkTHtNggdOpyj2TbuY=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><p></p><p>Back for lunch and a short rest</p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUrRi48k3yh6QXFeGZZPCgFfJD_MkMQKB7s5lgKnmTT-AvKKC48YgI9Jec9odTRCOylDwvlu5lRn-FkjX9HFQIv6CLlDTZ-kh4fihXWaJf8rHBMpToGj1_Qdzzohjl3YcfZSCO_y9kO2_HAu1WKgdkY71JikUASZ3VRZTQULdN5LHF7I640p6AM7sDVG5f" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1353" data-original-width="2048" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUrRi48k3yh6QXFeGZZPCgFfJD_MkMQKB7s5lgKnmTT-AvKKC48YgI9Jec9odTRCOylDwvlu5lRn-FkjX9HFQIv6CLlDTZ-kh4fihXWaJf8rHBMpToGj1_Qdzzohjl3YcfZSCO_y9kO2_HAu1WKgdkY71JikUASZ3VRZTQULdN5LHF7I640p6AM7sDVG5f=w640-h422" width="640" /></a></div><br />Afternoon ride was to Kohora - the gate closest to us. We were in the last jeep. Sudar and his camera seemed to be magnets for the unexpected. A whole host of wagtails later, we saw a fishing eagle and most importantly a night jar. Spotted by Sudar. Even our jeep driver was awestruck at the spotting!<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfW5oWeap6hEOoBv7SEOP6Lnz5twNDY2Bi88J4BGMazkkgMvrEfTb6ePMjoBJ0qd4YQQiNsH_k4f7KKT28pKuYvcyiqKbtSGUCEQH6Zq3ps1qiI8aBZpr2B4piKYUr38wj7H2jrLW9pMav7OWcGTJCx7784-opnPpjxCeZzYAsdJPlRagQfJjMQBkps3RR" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfW5oWeap6hEOoBv7SEOP6Lnz5twNDY2Bi88J4BGMazkkgMvrEfTb6ePMjoBJ0qd4YQQiNsH_k4f7KKT28pKuYvcyiqKbtSGUCEQH6Zq3ps1qiI8aBZpr2B4piKYUr38wj7H2jrLW9pMav7OWcGTJCx7784-opnPpjxCeZzYAsdJPlRagQfJjMQBkps3RR=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">We went over this bridge I don’t think was meant for jeeps - it protested loudly. But the driver was cheery and confident.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>And that evening, we waited for the tiger, whom the guides and driver felt were in the vicinity. I didn't mind. It was such a beautiful magic spot.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEqGXFTPAjyV1NpHB6dRrKbwQtZz2LE5qaJKV_29ZXIIjSqT2Hh7Wqo-mDcbUh-UX5kHhQQhnuhSyTDA9JSzM7hroooFcJ_SASfyK22_xnESgcxnLUBmmiRYJOjX7_Ua-yF6nKq5g88Ozra-_jA6sezMd3uaopwvtB4kNdVf6UKg7jYGzvhL-vhqRAyXQj" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEqGXFTPAjyV1NpHB6dRrKbwQtZz2LE5qaJKV_29ZXIIjSqT2Hh7Wqo-mDcbUh-UX5kHhQQhnuhSyTDA9JSzM7hroooFcJ_SASfyK22_xnESgcxnLUBmmiRYJOjX7_Ua-yF6nKq5g88Ozra-_jA6sezMd3uaopwvtB4kNdVf6UKg7jYGzvhL-vhqRAyXQj=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Instead we saw a baby elephants in the swamp - it waddled across, stumbling and moving quite clumsily and endearingly - the mother gently nudging him/her with her trunk.<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>As we watched, the rains stuck to a path they make. We saw a rhino midden as well.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgqJowny58qMxH26xTp0mWQDBwiJyaouUw1esWyAUYJhiUoUwjNkvaqvylPGtEYwY5T2R9IUX9z2uNdQ6xTvcbQONJrxEpLlcLuP4Ejqev7t-tdrR4LkPDjC9QC5bYuBJCtl5nZducK6r_3Q8lUNILT9tHmyFbSxe52JqoCam8b2wsODrdTdLOkIA5pLLAj" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgqJowny58qMxH26xTp0mWQDBwiJyaouUw1esWyAUYJhiUoUwjNkvaqvylPGtEYwY5T2R9IUX9z2uNdQ6xTvcbQONJrxEpLlcLuP4Ejqev7t-tdrR4LkPDjC9QC5bYuBJCtl5nZducK6r_3Q8lUNILT9tHmyFbSxe52JqoCam8b2wsODrdTdLOkIA5pLLAj=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another beautiful Kaziranga sunset.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>That evening, we went into the markets. I picked up two wooden rhinos as souvenirs. It was good fun to hang around with Bhuvanya as she looked for some kind of local Assamese knife, which she didn’t find, but she found a kutty little dish made from some alloy, which was a big hit with the other ladies - so much so that we had to return and buy some more! So many things I came to know - that Bhuvanya loves to paint, is a cheerful chatterbox and has a wonderful joie de vivre. </p><p>We would depart for Pobitara the next day. </p><p>Kaziranga - I could go back again and again. (I did go back, with Sekar, and I would be happy to revisit.) The flood plains, the grasslands, the vastness, the magnificent rhinos and elephants in such plenty, the gibbons, langurs, squirrels and all those birds.</p><p><br /></p>flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13583733876810341137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-58165402532706002292024-03-10T19:56:00.000+05:302024-03-10T19:56:13.691+05:30Illalur morning<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">March 10th 2024</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>Hello said the sunbird!<p></p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-B22bCEojns?si=QBqHBJGd8IpTU0sd" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9AGlvSYiGDcWe2R0cjF_LV1sEXgcQw_fQwh0UqvHLr56O8oCKp9VxYTQiEuaOxuAy7oDJR4QDr_PQessP8lNJX6UUPdLTDmAGDeBgAiKkSeLkzqbN6TBr4EhFDQPM0wK7i_kubFU66FgNV59BjNgu31g_8H1LnOTyf6kQCqCkopJAcjTa6WfIlht-OCZa" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9AGlvSYiGDcWe2R0cjF_LV1sEXgcQw_fQwh0UqvHLr56O8oCKp9VxYTQiEuaOxuAy7oDJR4QDr_PQessP8lNJX6UUPdLTDmAGDeBgAiKkSeLkzqbN6TBr4EhFDQPM0wK7i_kubFU66FgNV59BjNgu31g_8H1LnOTyf6kQCqCkopJAcjTa6WfIlht-OCZa=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sun rose over Illalur lake, and we watched.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="text-align: center;">The magical shimmer of gold across the water, </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">the silhouetted trees, </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">Cormorants skidded across the surface,</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">Dew on the grasses, </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">Dragonflies hovering over the reeds</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">And I listened, to the</div><div style="text-align: left;">Gurgling chuckle of the White-browed bulbuls</div><div style="text-align: left;">Familiar francolins' call</div><div style="text-align: left;">Coucal hoot</div><div style="text-align: left;">Kingfisher's rattling cry</div><div style="text-align: left;">and the caw caw of the crows.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">What's not to love in my morning meander</div><div style="text-align: left;">with others on a similar journey, together</div><div style="text-align: left;">Yet separate,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Enjoying our solitary discoveries </div><div style="text-align: left;">Sharing our delights, </div><div style="text-align: left;">and sandwiches!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQNKQ0PhgasvPhEgMlxbrYHHP8pL8qm3Vo7SLZDHj5tZWUIonu8fL2CCJ8MP8DYeInzvvQstf_6iMDrmv4CB0m9QQwh5SRgKUxrgIDRcLcLfyRxKGX5pA65MMWkhYFBVW3HRdcdmdD5lKP2mqb1V2PH-bFWc3FlEUB04GW3gZoXhA0Er1rX37QMxyRHqGK" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQNKQ0PhgasvPhEgMlxbrYHHP8pL8qm3Vo7SLZDHj5tZWUIonu8fL2CCJ8MP8DYeInzvvQstf_6iMDrmv4CB0m9QQwh5SRgKUxrgIDRcLcLfyRxKGX5pA65MMWkhYFBVW3HRdcdmdD5lKP2mqb1V2PH-bFWc3FlEUB04GW3gZoXhA0Er1rX37QMxyRHqGK=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Later at Mudayathur lake, the Thandri under water, unlike my last visit.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Yellow Wattled Lapwings - an unexpected delight</div><div style="text-align: left;">An Osprey afar!</div><div style="text-align: left;">Cormorants aplenty</div><div style="text-align: left;">A brain fever bird after ages!</div><div style="text-align: left;">Oriental Skylark shot up from the grass, calling and hovering before descending</div><div style="text-align: left;">Smart and perky Indian Robins </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6Og_feBJM-326RBfXCNCI59vQhDbf9iI144FtcNUOYSXdDsv4V6Y0arpz2eDxdhm3PGDm2Mtw13RfZovZslzzHST3w5OQ9ctor1bsGfa3IraKVIKAq6Lhc1iRqmzXasahZ60cFM2XKxCPrbihpV4eozyHQ3B1phtUpWnOl3yrcS5RL2P6WhzohKFccquk" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6Og_feBJM-326RBfXCNCI59vQhDbf9iI144FtcNUOYSXdDsv4V6Y0arpz2eDxdhm3PGDm2Mtw13RfZovZslzzHST3w5OQ9ctor1bsGfa3IraKVIKAq6Lhc1iRqmzXasahZ60cFM2XKxCPrbihpV4eozyHQ3B1phtUpWnOl3yrcS5RL2P6WhzohKFccquk=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And a new discovery this time - the hillock near Vembedu Lake. A lovely scrub area which we visited a little too late - next time we need to catch dawn here.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Returning via Nemmeli, and the flamingoes danced in the salt pans, on their amazingly long legs while the Spoonbills wagged their beaks and bodies, almost in time. And what were the Northern Shovelers doing dabbling in the saltpans I wondered. Aren't they freshwater, wetland ducks?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://ebird.org/india/tripreport/211037">81 species for the morning</a> - by Sagarika, Ramanan, Ramraj and me. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://madraswanderer.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-loten-and-gliricidia.html">My Visit of 2023 here.</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-38898542264967001722024-03-08T16:59:00.003+05:302024-03-10T19:01:54.660+05:30Andamans Day 2 - Garacharma Wetland - waders <div>11th Feb 2024 - afternoon. <a href="http://madraswanderer.blogspot.com/2024/03/andamans-day-2-kalatang-birds-and.html"> Continued from here.</a></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj29FLxjCyW00QuQ5z4YufPeKkccMS-YIKJzd-YLuNygqCc3ff0FxRlE2SRVvzMLZBMAMgBHKF_VILshYqjckcCYb-9Drw0MjILfILjtJn1mKCkv5kZB2HQjpCRHHqUu69PxYwPs01SVxuZBGAkYyFVb_wLP6FFCMHZ154XTeVsMMcS5nzD7p_0EZ0KvkQe" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1693" data-original-width="1628" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj29FLxjCyW00QuQ5z4YufPeKkccMS-YIKJzd-YLuNygqCc3ff0FxRlE2SRVvzMLZBMAMgBHKF_VILshYqjckcCYb-9Drw0MjILfILjtJn1mKCkv5kZB2HQjpCRHHqUu69PxYwPs01SVxuZBGAkYyFVb_wLP6FFCMHZ154XTeVsMMcS5nzD7p_0EZ0KvkQe=w193-h200" width="193" /></a></div><br />A short post-lunch snooze later, we were headed out again. We picked up Jabili along the way from Bathi Bastu.</div><div><br /></div><div>A twenty minute ride down south from the hotel, through little colonies interspersed with vacant plots, small patches of marsh and we were at an unimpressive mudflat/water body with a lot of humdrum human activity all around.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOoxm5Bbql8Q8fD-8wu9oAW6TjXargUbKEc9oqJWr08PX5pgxH7MgvmOmlTySaGTaTAHYRSskEtKNxcDbXcrmDX8WWAsB8JNgkoXAJCVk-axMAzj9wUxCrT3XIJCTmIydn3huLLE4nAxRwjU1MMgeiqcE8g_fq5YyymoZC3Bc0Dg1fxCGjRE9NHB5YA_mG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOoxm5Bbql8Q8fD-8wu9oAW6TjXargUbKEc9oqJWr08PX5pgxH7MgvmOmlTySaGTaTAHYRSskEtKNxcDbXcrmDX8WWAsB8JNgkoXAJCVk-axMAzj9wUxCrT3XIJCTmIydn3huLLE4nAxRwjU1MMgeiqcE8g_fq5YyymoZC3Bc0Dg1fxCGjRE9NHB5YA_mG=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Garacharma wetlands - further under threat than even Pallikaranai it seems. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi2FD1UI5p76MqcDpteYZYgR1UwdL0_AtF1pfpdq9QYp3jZb-1rGis0a148RYbY_-LfrbcoGxdU2GL90F1Qq9aF_5wc34DJ5Jc0jcdrKIKDfpCa_WQgdo34Jn_bQmtbbi3p26zKy3YQhlknWR8tLLfVqPVXn5NboCtRWEe26fveiAZLvf_boZ2wjS6hReiP" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi2FD1UI5p76MqcDpteYZYgR1UwdL0_AtF1pfpdq9QYp3jZb-1rGis0a148RYbY_-LfrbcoGxdU2GL90F1Qq9aF_5wc34DJ5Jc0jcdrKIKDfpCa_WQgdo34Jn_bQmtbbi3p26zKy3YQhlknWR8tLLfVqPVXn5NboCtRWEe26fveiAZLvf_boZ2wjS6hReiP=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"White birds" were scattered here and there - no large flocks, just a smattering of solitary waders here and there.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjq1wam-4gRaBGmd3ANFZbzPIjbNiPV7gsWLEuOjK9L3x0S_k91BQ4y7thOGEfD2bwN7RA5dynsU3vvsrkCWG4DEp7Gi9DHzi79ov2LaQ_gSJ3JWCv9AW3Glokc2WsgA3pczWIRnUHePklxF3AXTcg8CjUMnCorTywYwfSwwXXbvH53ZY6SNwC-CKP0nWCj" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjq1wam-4gRaBGmd3ANFZbzPIjbNiPV7gsWLEuOjK9L3x0S_k91BQ4y7thOGEfD2bwN7RA5dynsU3vvsrkCWG4DEp7Gi9DHzi79ov2LaQ_gSJ3JWCv9AW3Glokc2WsgA3pczWIRnUHePklxF3AXTcg8CjUMnCorTywYwfSwwXXbvH53ZY6SNwC-CKP0nWCj=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Binoculars and cameras emerged, and the search was on, and before you know it, we had a dozen species!</td></tr></tbody></table><br />As I scanned, all the 3 egrets I could see, plus what I call the usual Pallikaranai residents - Swamp hens, moorhens and waterhens. Then we spotted the sandpipers and the wagtails, redshanks and plovers.</div><div><br /></div><div>We walked around the periphery to another part, sat down on some construction stones on the sides, and now the lifers (for me) began - winter migrants.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://ebird.org/species/lotsti">Long-toed Stints</a> - with their pale legs and mottled bodies. I was happy to identify one - after much instructions - "left of the small yellow bucket, behind that plastic bag, walking to the left", and such like. Finally we had a tally of 11 of them. </div><div>Five <a href="https://ebird.org/species/rensti">Red-necked stints</a> were shown to me - no red necks or anything, just a grey little wader, with a stocky bill, smaller stint size of course but with dark legs unlike the LT cousins. (The red necks are in breeding season up north.)</div><div>Scurrying about in the grass were <a href="https://ebird.org/species/retpip">Red-throated pipits</a> - their usual upright Pipit stance, quite heavily streaked.</div><div><br /></div><div>A White-bellied Sea Eagle glided lazily above, and then moved out of view.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uuG-QxMa8pk?si=czc2nwwRkZTywO6q" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://youtube.com/shorts/uuG-QxMa8pk?feature=share">Click for a video view of the wetlands here.</a><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>We moved to a more scrubby part, away from the water's edge, and a bittern flew quite literally past my nose! It vanished into the undergrowth, but we did track it, and what a lovely sight it was. A <a href="https://ebird.org/species/yelbit">yellow bittern,</a> absolutely still, trying hard not to be seen, and staring at us. It was hard to point out to the others, so well camouflaged was it, even though we had a clear line of sight.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbTWMd1jf9UeW3bvJCxy-3wsgNC3uAhv5yp1KOZ1QhJzj2FEvnY4YcUbYwVOIwL_JWGTWH-0gQuz_jI9NvVKQStxYOe7FjhjFm28ax4KtYeAV0yHYscdHv07x_0443pXInnonE0BOc6WEOOSu3qdHn3YKzrKPKVAE9DKjt-j3t4V3UsCHV5-a_q29w2dtC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbTWMd1jf9UeW3bvJCxy-3wsgNC3uAhv5yp1KOZ1QhJzj2FEvnY4YcUbYwVOIwL_JWGTWH-0gQuz_jI9NvVKQStxYOe7FjhjFm28ax4KtYeAV0yHYscdHv07x_0443pXInnonE0BOc6WEOOSu3qdHn3YKzrKPKVAE9DKjt-j3t4V3UsCHV5-a_q29w2dtC=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Andaman cow came up to say hello in the meantime.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrngSMNUpJ0k_dF5qRQh66qZkoIPDvVeLXfWNYy_zLGqLVeA8bZPfgRTs-kOEVOYovJtf8Zo1cKKZK5V3X3g8BLn_wSIIlE6NT_LH-7vAM4TfrFDu123T2FblR1ZT03SNzwWZ8Qlopst6FvkXDgy8xb5g7k5bn4nzKqXZDu6Lkctqph_nNZzP-A0cHlExZ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrngSMNUpJ0k_dF5qRQh66qZkoIPDvVeLXfWNYy_zLGqLVeA8bZPfgRTs-kOEVOYovJtf8Zo1cKKZK5V3X3g8BLn_wSIIlE6NT_LH-7vAM4TfrFDu123T2FblR1ZT03SNzwWZ8Qlopst6FvkXDgy8xb5g7k5bn4nzKqXZDu6Lkctqph_nNZzP-A0cHlExZ=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Desigan flushed a Snipe which went shooting off, and then another and then yet another! Five Pintailed Snipes in all.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />A bunch of Rosy Starlings came to roost on a tree as the sun sank low in the horizon.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEhROvtf6mQVrLjBd2OW_kDRx-5rWtvupUJy_RgS-pZfKSz2iOpkg9dwuqCy3fek2DvyiY0871hgVM1pl6n5DHKEdNIzTV8IfSgNsgXOcDP3zxOylH-twBv83ZDhYXNg9bft9CVhDUYwQRLB9bHIB0ucN1Chaoug-_Un4Jw520Mp7pgOeej-zeDOVJNTyV" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEhROvtf6mQVrLjBd2OW_kDRx-5rWtvupUJy_RgS-pZfKSz2iOpkg9dwuqCy3fek2DvyiY0871hgVM1pl6n5DHKEdNIzTV8IfSgNsgXOcDP3zxOylH-twBv83ZDhYXNg9bft9CVhDUYwQRLB9bHIB0ucN1Chaoug-_Un4Jw520Mp7pgOeej-zeDOVJNTyV=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was sad to see this dump - as usual wetlands and marshes considered wastelands, and unprotected.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaRt9rUdeJr2dqi1B87jtnjyz5jwi9XljZ5OzkZtwFVVTLiBO87URocUGpRPEszLRGmNGHT6qrzLzLeb1y3NNeOVkpFJxm5pw50p1U-5CHH_ExgfUc7VskvPHY2oVBp6rQgt0EgfNoLOi6GGnplBu6NOx366ngmSmk6j_NWU1uhhSSJ6spa5q52JCdslnA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1101" data-original-width="1536" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaRt9rUdeJr2dqi1B87jtnjyz5jwi9XljZ5OzkZtwFVVTLiBO87URocUGpRPEszLRGmNGHT6qrzLzLeb1y3NNeOVkpFJxm5pw50p1U-5CHH_ExgfUc7VskvPHY2oVBp6rQgt0EgfNoLOi6GGnplBu6NOx366ngmSmk6j_NWU1uhhSSJ6spa5q52JCdslnA=w640-h458" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We stopped at a Tamil diner, for a dosai (which was pretty ordinary - it flattered to deceive) and some even more ordinary chai. But our waiter was a master of hyperbole and provided much amusement.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><a href="https://ebird.org/checklist/S162620093">eBird Checklist - 11 Feb 2024 - Garacharma Wetland - 44 species</a><div><br /></div><div>We were off to Rangat the next morning - it was a 4 am departure!</div>flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13583733876810341137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-223249872232419262024-03-07T21:03:00.007+05:302024-03-11T10:43:28.070+05:30Andamans Day 2 - Kalatang - birds and butterflies 11th Feb 2024<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://madraswanderer.blogspot.com/2024/03/andaman-dairy-day-1-burmanallah-beach.html">Continued from here.</a><br /><div><br /></div><div>Up at 4am for a 5am departure to Shoal Bay. I had assumed we were going to the bay/beach. Turns out I was mistaken and we were headed for Kalatng RV which is in the Shoal Bay Area, via a ferry ride from Chatham Jetty to Bamboo Flat jetty.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkxWhP6HXIN2zibml9hPxXDOOaStxH-YMUNWH_nmZ080SshwYyalEEZZFoPwNbz_NsZ_YN-yFQqct10uyYPMD15UkgTpBiK_tQbVVHpl8vRnEtGL4XkrOLTuxo7GOdnyx4nRYo6CWsDGZ176QtZmVRmaieERBO1x-JRZNx4nvQpNJIGqOdaPK9hrJ3brC_" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1778" data-original-width="1258" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkxWhP6HXIN2zibml9hPxXDOOaStxH-YMUNWH_nmZ080SshwYyalEEZZFoPwNbz_NsZ_YN-yFQqct10uyYPMD15UkgTpBiK_tQbVVHpl8vRnEtGL4XkrOLTuxo7GOdnyx4nRYo6CWsDGZ176QtZmVRmaieERBO1x-JRZNx4nvQpNJIGqOdaPK9hrJ3brC_=w453-h640" width="453" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ferry ride across the Port Blair bay saves a lot of time, when compared to taking an all-land route. The plan was to take the 530 am (first ferry) to the other side. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgA6LCIcEVRpIILWJiUZXtl_UAYji1-wHy6g-BhPXop6otuoNRYvZakaelpYdUKrwRmpnG5oEIFQ_Pm-mkgNdIUIw6iBNU_ruCqFrY0l4iUOfsX04VEh8URDL0UpsyAL8jo0MLgsZuD0Wf-YT3nA5sux0EqO5hq9LxsMgq1EYcslhFuSy-f569KjCUt2ZK5" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgA6LCIcEVRpIILWJiUZXtl_UAYji1-wHy6g-BhPXop6otuoNRYvZakaelpYdUKrwRmpnG5oEIFQ_Pm-mkgNdIUIw6iBNU_ruCqFrY0l4iUOfsX04VEh8URDL0UpsyAL8jo0MLgsZuD0Wf-YT3nA5sux0EqO5hq9LxsMgq1EYcslhFuSy-f569KjCUt2ZK5=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chatham jetty is actually on the little island of Chatham, which is reached by a short 100m bridge from Haddo in Port Blair. The jetty was abuzz with activity.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The island houses the <a href="https://forest.and.nic.in/WebPages/ChathamSawMill.html">Saw Mill.</a> The British <span style="text-align: center;">set it up in 1883 to systematically denude the Andamans - it was a different time and ethos. The Mill continues to work. There is a Forest Museum within it full of wood </span>artefacts - a kind of cruel reminder of deforestation I would think. We did not visit.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgRef49NvbE8vZskyeiWLGOSyYR6e5fhVEdHjA_Gx-LM7SXMoxWsYyiPXTmRLmswqW3FNJwytql1zKsmEdJP4eAEWLHXkbDKJiAgXVXOTG_4rCpw9Z9uF6p2caQo6W8k3uXGVWGky7cTMc5VKXqN0mN9KmYc8wzBQWPPWbeGV-2UB4zhfeHi3f77y6XO-iN" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgRef49NvbE8vZskyeiWLGOSyYR6e5fhVEdHjA_Gx-LM7SXMoxWsYyiPXTmRLmswqW3FNJwytql1zKsmEdJP4eAEWLHXkbDKJiAgXVXOTG_4rCpw9Z9uF6p2caQo6W8k3uXGVWGky7cTMc5VKXqN0mN9KmYc8wzBQWPPWbeGV-2UB4zhfeHi3f77y6XO-iN=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We drove onto the ferry. The fisherwomen were already there, all waiting in an orderly fashion to take their fish to market. Men on bikes, heading to work, traders with wares to sell, and a bunch of tourists like us. I loved the island vibe - everything was so calm and relaxed, but everything seemed to run on time - except the service at Shreesh!</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNWB69__w-gL-hETWIARquxagU8gcrqaPoq6j4zb9Q0y39YpLwIGAVeqLQi2vhAlemJ2nfMmIRGmxZe2iX2Ogr3H0hKAB_pLQIGMyxeBO_O4AL23yH-R__3KTDks6ZBXObYgqNnMGBAXzQOcSMKxmgtHsSRVSzStm0c3x6RT2Kk5rM7EUpT55I9FWYk_jU" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNWB69__w-gL-hETWIARquxagU8gcrqaPoq6j4zb9Q0y39YpLwIGAVeqLQi2vhAlemJ2nfMmIRGmxZe2iX2Ogr3H0hKAB_pLQIGMyxeBO_O4AL23yH-R__3KTDks6ZBXObYgqNnMGBAXzQOcSMKxmgtHsSRVSzStm0c3x6RT2Kk5rM7EUpT55I9FWYk_jU=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chatham island receded, and as I looked back I saw the hilly nature of the island, the tip of a volcanic upheaval. </td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Twenty minutes later, we were at the Bamboo Flat jetty, and ready to move on to Kalatang. Mount Harriet National Park was somewhere on our right. I was very fascinated by the ferry on/off as you can see in the video below.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3n5hDgmhFxo?si=iObQAI5iIAb-xv90" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhFi1wYqkb6OwYBrZXCN0d6HiyomD1_YpQ_-_GqVh7miBU5DTE6sCYx2ctpZDwjwfpI0jFVKcjIkSlMOM8Bp8WvNqEmX8F0JrBAaz-RhZHUrCWcEguwp4HlJeaEPUFFDEbL2Gtasda8Ovq3jjmMQb3RP2E8MPg5X5COtD_5g5dAZ1G71Hdvfv1Nrdrgjjb4" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhFi1wYqkb6OwYBrZXCN0d6HiyomD1_YpQ_-_GqVh7miBU5DTE6sCYx2ctpZDwjwfpI0jFVKcjIkSlMOM8Bp8WvNqEmX8F0JrBAaz-RhZHUrCWcEguwp4HlJeaEPUFFDEbL2Gtasda8Ovq3jjmMQb3RP2E8MPg5X5COtD_5g5dAZ1G71Hdvfv1Nrdrgjjb4=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drives through the Andamans are always scenic - water bodies here and there, turn a bend and all of a sudden, the sea may be in front of you, and of course the forest trees. But increasing pressures of human habitation and agriculture are here as well.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirJronhkiJNT3SSl4SaiQpwAwnfQf_JwHaESRz5xOz7SThV_eXB2ddYTSHc4dmZLvJq0F-PQTH8Eyvoqcq0UkcoieNs9PvfRYn1HMoIaKgX2V24TSU6MBuInTO1WiqNY_CeJK7ySsfA_gpGMEl6Uu4Iu4FB3-2P1OON1fo2YalWUZoAQx1ZQRT23H2if3-" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirJronhkiJNT3SSl4SaiQpwAwnfQf_JwHaESRz5xOz7SThV_eXB2ddYTSHc4dmZLvJq0F-PQTH8Eyvoqcq0UkcoieNs9PvfRYn1HMoIaKgX2V24TSU6MBuInTO1WiqNY_CeJK7ySsfA_gpGMEl6Uu4Iu4FB3-2P1OON1fo2YalWUZoAQx1ZQRT23H2if3-=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wimberlygunj is on the way - and our drivers stopped at Fathima stores for much needed morning chai.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpnpSHdMVM8fngPgrEN4mtiIZ5JXl1ueGsOfejg5luuUpkFEruYdQRIBcEP5sT14jOx_DCOjgZMwHcf2ZqX8EbJPsMUqqdgykkHF9AY0Bbx-uGHiC9O16yCGInvVj97vhJYgv3jXoPr6DWung-KdVs-mG-TlRikxeMehJYvSGj433fGO7if9NdP3X6fM2F" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpnpSHdMVM8fngPgrEN4mtiIZ5JXl1ueGsOfejg5luuUpkFEruYdQRIBcEP5sT14jOx_DCOjgZMwHcf2ZqX8EbJPsMUqqdgykkHF9AY0Bbx-uGHiC9O16yCGInvVj97vhJYgv3jXoPr6DWung-KdVs-mG-TlRikxeMehJYvSGj433fGO7if9NdP3X6fM2F=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Such delight on Ravi's face on spying Pazhampozhi at Fatima stores!! The group fell upon them as if there was no tomorrow, and everyone was immediately awake, cheerful, alert and garrulous. Bring the birds on!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTFF_MRlD4Vmhky3FqXWxi1UhVJWesWLmiM2qqCVEncoDQWGS8vimAPU8sVOViDFKlUIOR4u5b1WEFemZ-yMGolOGySFC0eRKFv7KmXUbWHaeq3EU-_Kavfj4j_ch0kl9PYnuc-Pwp_ThX1bOZLhLK6z1DDm0PcgBs9RuVc6ckqY6JGlYmm_u1py5w8XtT" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTFF_MRlD4Vmhky3FqXWxi1UhVJWesWLmiM2qqCVEncoDQWGS8vimAPU8sVOViDFKlUIOR4u5b1WEFemZ-yMGolOGySFC0eRKFv7KmXUbWHaeq3EU-_Kavfj4j_ch0kl9PYnuc-Pwp_ThX1bOZLhLK6z1DDm0PcgBs9RuVc6ckqY6JGlYmm_u1py5w8XtT=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mist was still hanging in the air.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSkX4sVY7CvxS544JGtHsiU6BZh7ShCi6fEVPr9kOPsAldZJjthQjnfY7sTYXxgNY4JmeYqP9W0JALrfyyUTadolmV0M4sypGdcJennKuujn7_4upF-cITX64dQ84aSE-Gkx-i4mXTyTeKKbRMrRFoA1shCjWfFK-uCq0bPdJbkpSiam-tmaVyusDgaI3r" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSkX4sVY7CvxS544JGtHsiU6BZh7ShCi6fEVPr9kOPsAldZJjthQjnfY7sTYXxgNY4JmeYqP9W0JALrfyyUTadolmV0M4sypGdcJennKuujn7_4upF-cITX64dQ84aSE-Gkx-i4mXTyTeKKbRMrRFoA1shCjWfFK-uCq0bPdJbkpSiam-tmaVyusDgaI3r=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few large bungalows lined the road, before we reached the mangroves of Wright Myo Creek.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6p2rSOFhqPYkhYPZtO3xqyYivAHmeOGXzhEBQ70C7VsBLx_ThspNMmiAS1nsjrLU4IcIai2hBDJAhuLYe-OKquW8SLzgZlW0G9V8QQm6MLjCK38Q87CQ9MSdrq-QztdZGiyZhtjwQQC2MlLnG549DzEAZ8RXkkPQoxa5ILaMZTFqbSLiwfgFwcqRtGQSe" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6p2rSOFhqPYkhYPZtO3xqyYivAHmeOGXzhEBQ70C7VsBLx_ThspNMmiAS1nsjrLU4IcIai2hBDJAhuLYe-OKquW8SLzgZlW0G9V8QQm6MLjCK38Q87CQ9MSdrq-QztdZGiyZhtjwQQC2MlLnG549DzEAZ8RXkkPQoxa5ILaMZTFqbSLiwfgFwcqRtGQSe=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tall Stilt Mangroves grew besides the road, probably the end of the creek. Low tide left a lot of mud and silt, and sadly, plastic too.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Click here to see the drive besides the <a href="https://youtube.com/shorts/65EVOMDhkhs?feature=share">Wright Myo creek</a> mangroves. We drove slowly looking for the ruddy kingfisher, but all was quiet, not a single bird call did I hear in this stretch. </div><div><br /></div><div>We arrived at our destination - a bus stop, a culvert over some water run off, a mud track going to the right past a dump yard, and a graveyard! As we alighted, we could hear bird calls from all sides. </div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPYZKxNVe317mo-p6G3BcwNtmj13hpq5NYwvAr2BeuFijlelcHU0wIz8iCu784voQwT2Qr_hTgIDpzlY9BwoE7yeEcMKgNfztHduOv4vwKx-pqtJEmB2M4J0Pff_Q8m93s-MfRiS5j1KTVu-MKCw2ecfVB83N9_A6nCKmZNqp7CubsCGAs4Xl_YeollQaO" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPYZKxNVe317mo-p6G3BcwNtmj13hpq5NYwvAr2BeuFijlelcHU0wIz8iCu784voQwT2Qr_hTgIDpzlY9BwoE7yeEcMKgNfztHduOv4vwKx-pqtJEmB2M4J0Pff_Q8m93s-MfRiS5j1KTVu-MKCw2ecfVB83N9_A6nCKmZNqp7CubsCGAs4Xl_YeollQaO=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mud track along which we birded.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0WovaP8E3yQecTx-vwswWOrnhP7yFWtbROq17nruTnMYfn4jnVro0A2dfXzp7pr3N28kyMP1Wtcn1tWx3Xwo6nTv3Pg3DeEVfEThsmi3KexVtnTg_MO2ZaquKfEy6FjuS5txHxIlMwXPdoHRaKmhP9pzst-n61YEIVOVeBcAfcav19zggK5Gn4OW7VUy0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2501" data-original-width="3491" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0WovaP8E3yQecTx-vwswWOrnhP7yFWtbROq17nruTnMYfn4jnVro0A2dfXzp7pr3N28kyMP1Wtcn1tWx3Xwo6nTv3Pg3DeEVfEThsmi3KexVtnTg_MO2ZaquKfEy6FjuS5txHxIlMwXPdoHRaKmhP9pzst-n61YEIVOVeBcAfcav19zggK5Gn4OW7VUy0=w640-h458" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The forest path was lined with these shrubs, which I identified upon return as Malabar Melastome, commonly called Indian rhododendrons though no relation of the actual Rhodos. You can see the 3 main veins, the red stems and the beautiful pink/violet flowers. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The shrubs were probably planted/brought in by the British - <a href="http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Malabar%20Melastome.html">flowersofindia.net</a> notes that </div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote>"In Southeast Asia and elsewhere it is a widespread weed of industrial forest plantation crops (such as rubber and mahogany), orchards, and rice fields."</blockquote></div></td></tr></tbody></table>As we walked, every few steps Jabili would point to something - Long Tailed Parakeets, Minivets, Glossy Starlings and Black-naped Orioles - high up in the canopy. The birds were all catching the morning sun. </div><div><br /></div><div>Somewhere up there was a Violet Cukooo too. It was backlit and looked like a black cuckoo to me. With a name like that I expected a nice brightly coloured bird that matched those flowers above! So, this was most unsatisfactory.</div><div><br /></div><div>The <a href="https://ebird.org/species/gripig1">Green Imperial Pigeons</a> were well behaved. They sat still and long enough for me to get a good look, though the dull day did not do justice to their colours, as also those of the <a href="https://ebird.org/species/emedov2">Asian Emerald Doves</a>. They were too high and too far away and we did not bother taking pictures - the others did. </div><div><br /></div><div>It was nice to see an older English birdwatching couple too, on the road. </div><div> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMomZjLMkAeB_Grl4cnaVsvv6iJZ7-W0rbSQvsIkG_Wzdok6eiUoxjpAZMyN6-CvKHjzOaqg4T_62CJbAcTIA707VDUc8GB1pqykIQMZMiUSiCNT4HWv_Nr1oAm1IZpbSlWm3mqf2VisPLh_stG2oIrk9XU5CVqgwyh_ekDcCiVs_zcRk11zfUtZEvTdyX" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMomZjLMkAeB_Grl4cnaVsvv6iJZ7-W0rbSQvsIkG_Wzdok6eiUoxjpAZMyN6-CvKHjzOaqg4T_62CJbAcTIA707VDUc8GB1pqykIQMZMiUSiCNT4HWv_Nr1oAm1IZpbSlWm3mqf2VisPLh_stG2oIrk9XU5CVqgwyh_ekDcCiVs_zcRk11zfUtZEvTdyX=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The doctor "twins" Ravi and Gasper chose this beautiful spot to just sit and watch the birds in the Ficus tree opposite - there were Ornate sunbirds, White Eyes, Andaman bulbuls, Andaman Flowerpeckers, Red Whiskered bulbuls, mynas and doves flitting through the tree. They would not sit still and it was a great game trying to spy what I knew was definitely there but still could not be seen.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYFQF11Szwe3JXvmSH0uLMnpc1XrSgNRAglsat6PaD7O6a_H937wOpY2HVydMcb52KNLo33DxwpP-VOaKl-w0bOqY90rMK_TMdxIUV3ThSystno7B1DOcEW6TvqF5F-MJL67maKs6M2VmrnTIAveO8QVMtoli-q4_ACwfYUqLKcgC6yKTLhbaYPIXVNQWg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYFQF11Szwe3JXvmSH0uLMnpc1XrSgNRAglsat6PaD7O6a_H937wOpY2HVydMcb52KNLo33DxwpP-VOaKl-w0bOqY90rMK_TMdxIUV3ThSystno7B1DOcEW6TvqF5F-MJL67maKs6M2VmrnTIAveO8QVMtoli-q4_ACwfYUqLKcgC6yKTLhbaYPIXVNQWg=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jabili heard a Mangrove Whistler too, but I did not, sadly. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVJ6uuXArneL4-fDrVVRwax0QGf-hSupa7jTOkkxzxaN_9b3bdzAhiiCUkPAb7x7EqI0CzuGhbQAVAvwxGycLOMxBbJPSXuzxgD1NX6zMik27ThX0JavK_uNpAzdvR47Y78gLiTxVz8e6wgiegTOvKsakLE2XDJ8ON_uOKCJ9RZtx9vRnvQKQ-5RLyMO6g" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVJ6uuXArneL4-fDrVVRwax0QGf-hSupa7jTOkkxzxaN_9b3bdzAhiiCUkPAb7x7EqI0CzuGhbQAVAvwxGycLOMxBbJPSXuzxgD1NX6zMik27ThX0JavK_uNpAzdvR47Y78gLiTxVz8e6wgiegTOvKsakLE2XDJ8ON_uOKCJ9RZtx9vRnvQKQ-5RLyMO6g=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chestnut-headed bee eaters hawked and swooped over the gravestones, and kingfishers sat on the wire watching.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>White Bellied Sea Eagles soared above - we were not far from the bay, after all.</div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhy4_bBKI9fLqllXcGin9AWjLzR1B-BnKaRhZwH0HYxf3MiVJLGyl7bGh86lCgtoeQsMiB9diJ0nkkzsrCxHu_Xnf8CAkGm468YtoFKzDOZTjK8oy0hP5yIk-Y3H4ZYK3QyNWwre8hERxzfauJbwdld5R5VIuQcIcnVGppDnhkmW0a-RYeVCpnmwzkjRFdn" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhy4_bBKI9fLqllXcGin9AWjLzR1B-BnKaRhZwH0HYxf3MiVJLGyl7bGh86lCgtoeQsMiB9diJ0nkkzsrCxHu_Xnf8CAkGm468YtoFKzDOZTjK8oy0hP5yIk-Y3H4ZYK3QyNWwre8hERxzfauJbwdld5R5VIuQcIcnVGppDnhkmW0a-RYeVCpnmwzkjRFdn=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We halted for breakfast at around 815, using the bus stop as our picnic spot. No bus came, no passengers alighted, and it was all very peaceful. breakfast was heavy - 4 idlies and sambar!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">More wandering after breakfast - the doctors and Sekar decided to have a short snooze in the car (the idlies were asking for a post prandial siesta), while I chased butterflies. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The dump yard - of which I refused to take a picture - was a favourite for the Andaman Crake I believe. Jabili waited patiently for it, as did some others. I think it made a fleeting and hurried scoot across the road - and I did not see it. Desigan gave a vivid and animated description of its scoot across in the blink of an eye. He managed a picture, if I'm not mistaken.</div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhnVI_dTeqR6OqGYodUugwLsBmKeuXQpLxsQeLV23n-5Ax_7iXeFUCw1n0fmeKyxrXSwOA3C90JA4q1hbyARhMVUxt_QcHL8eORPgS_UyaOBxFv2JojDCxhFnI2Y95pyBAiqmfmrIy7wz813RIpX44aMwoOJryzFObEYFCMUzNN7OPEA_7EFIC2Kwm5gtwQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="2054" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhnVI_dTeqR6OqGYodUugwLsBmKeuXQpLxsQeLV23n-5Ax_7iXeFUCw1n0fmeKyxrXSwOA3C90JA4q1hbyARhMVUxt_QcHL8eORPgS_UyaOBxFv2JojDCxhFnI2Y95pyBAiqmfmrIy7wz813RIpX44aMwoOJryzFObEYFCMUzNN7OPEA_7EFIC2Kwm5gtwQ=w640-h336" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Andaman Glassy Tigers flitted about in the undergrowth, and this one sat still for a minute.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><a class="sciname subspecies secondary-name" href="https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1129376" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: table; font-family: Whitney, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Parantica aglea <span class="rank" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;">ssp.</span> melanoleuca<br /><br /></span></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiSxuWetArMUzWap74Vc2paYtUW989B-g012ilxXzxOYIL8zCmMmq75G2FJZX7euJL3Wvg-mSFpeIi2leLxjuxcBwuYo1Q3ULtTNCXs3ssX6csn0Fbo9KThl5pwnvbCyqrxiwEwRm-IxBmHUnSQf-O0MgheBMg15z0qwHetSzuYwtCn-1Sdrcn71BxNEfU" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1795" data-original-width="2513" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiSxuWetArMUzWap74Vc2paYtUW989B-g012ilxXzxOYIL8zCmMmq75G2FJZX7euJL3Wvg-mSFpeIi2leLxjuxcBwuYo1Q3ULtTNCXs3ssX6csn0Fbo9KThl5pwnvbCyqrxiwEwRm-IxBmHUnSQf-O0MgheBMg15z0qwHetSzuYwtCn-1Sdrcn71BxNEfU=w640-h458" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The endemic Andaman Clippers were also quite common, and delightful to watch. They were polite and gracious enough to allow me to photograph them.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUDBN6EZ-1W26cw8SHUgbTLrymElA2R6MLT2pBrFR3S54Mtl14GoLKlybIS0-2Oulo1K_xdpqWGUONQl83XPQvVa1GIyxj69gKedxXJbFkyI8F-pcBlYLkez5uPDJMFCfK5Tl4qAexeTsRfLEU-6mJS-djd7KXfN6g2Z2Zt8JdaEkPRt-aQ3R7RAsY5L8T" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2491" data-original-width="4143" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUDBN6EZ-1W26cw8SHUgbTLrymElA2R6MLT2pBrFR3S54Mtl14GoLKlybIS0-2Oulo1K_xdpqWGUONQl83XPQvVa1GIyxj69gKedxXJbFkyI8F-pcBlYLkez5uPDJMFCfK5Tl4qAexeTsRfLEU-6mJS-djd7KXfN6g2Z2Zt8JdaEkPRt-aQ3R7RAsY5L8T=w640-h384" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were a lot of Common Ceruleans around - this one sat on a Hyptis (bush mint) plant</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgoBQMs11ySmZpgLHDRuzEboKOcsnMxINFWHfDkINYcN1aumrIcUEC2R0Lp5rFgMsqCbGe56CTA0L12_-kiM_K5TMM9hQ7Ed8XlV32XeiiQCM13PFIl1OwCF1wO9VSLuCvKcfDu6n7hmHizjdkpUQhIA3snMCa3h8fX5WXPsz-3paGb05lb_hFK17mGZn7t" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2041" data-original-width="2858" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgoBQMs11ySmZpgLHDRuzEboKOcsnMxINFWHfDkINYcN1aumrIcUEC2R0Lp5rFgMsqCbGe56CTA0L12_-kiM_K5TMM9hQ7Ed8XlV32XeiiQCM13PFIl1OwCF1wO9VSLuCvKcfDu6n7hmHizjdkpUQhIA3snMCa3h8fX5WXPsz-3paGb05lb_hFK17mGZn7t=w640-h458" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I thought this was a Common Leopard, but on return I learnt it was Phalanta alcippe, the Small Leopard. The markings at the edge are different. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5If86dEBuN9vKiuKWV-a__ERqca9Q8OG7N-q8ipkYY3oNyuKG6mhD_gP-lldjf7TR5nz4rspmKN6j8j2qqBs6IN2tm1D2R7aBrz1cDMOgmY7UVtYnlCUa1EcaqyWBeuxoieRV2qq0SnY0ZnFOH56X4d6GcGtZL8AosBcL8iff9cys38tQU4ixbeRt-Bkd" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2639" data-original-width="3695" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5If86dEBuN9vKiuKWV-a__ERqca9Q8OG7N-q8ipkYY3oNyuKG6mhD_gP-lldjf7TR5nz4rspmKN6j8j2qqBs6IN2tm1D2R7aBrz1cDMOgmY7UVtYnlCUa1EcaqyWBeuxoieRV2qq0SnY0ZnFOH56X4d6GcGtZL8AosBcL8iff9cys38tQU4ixbeRt-Bkd=w640-h458" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A grey Pansy rested in the shrubbery.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHVhs5I75FlnJ5bK25nje1I1YJ59NqjWmk8oNnFDCYno-6cP_vqgLO3GwjtcOWIS74_g-I4WQbQWT40ak8w3_WXB_f6AdUNuWpqqjjtJ2vzpCjfXR4dKj437hDRGZX4mk4J8QBDMVKkRmzFgCr9w8Lnp1mnAK0Zma7B_MPgjp21c98jT6Io7ySj_ewmDqj" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHVhs5I75FlnJ5bK25nje1I1YJ59NqjWmk8oNnFDCYno-6cP_vqgLO3GwjtcOWIS74_g-I4WQbQWT40ak8w3_WXB_f6AdUNuWpqqjjtJ2vzpCjfXR4dKj437hDRGZX4mk4J8QBDMVKkRmzFgCr9w8Lnp1mnAK0Zma7B_MPgjp21c98jT6Io7ySj_ewmDqj=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We took the 1130 ferry back to Port Blair, via Chatham island. But there was still one more treat. Jabili asked us to watch the mango trees on the shore at the Chatham jetty. This was the tree where the <a href="https://ebird.org/species/piipig1">Pied Imperial Pigeon</a> hung around. </td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>As we approached the shore, I scanned the tree with my binoculars, whilst Umesh, Desigan and Srinivas looked through their cameras. We spotted a head here, a rump there, some movement from one branch to the other. As we neared the shore, I finally did manage a glimpse of the whole bird. How magnificent it was! A lifer for me - this large white and black pigeon. What a regal beauty I thought! I learnt that it mainly seen in small islands and in coastal areas. How fascinating - why would a tree-dwelling pigeon choose to/need to live close to the coast? I came back and <a href="https://ebird.org/species/piipig1">checked the call - and this was deep and magnificent too!</a></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgvVnnqImR9y2834k2Wh3AOERaHtK9ey6MH1LGP9H6SwUWTq_HFBtCaRSgU-g-fVvSL2WktKMt4lDHH_h0y0_Ox0js20Lfh67FCuz4NSDPtq8wFmjf1eQ3t-f5Y9yeqJejQlk_fcklkzRCRzzUJm7-OoNkHcmp0EdlyJKlNwM3FUTSoRD2EqxI9Kph1wXP6" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgvVnnqImR9y2834k2Wh3AOERaHtK9ey6MH1LGP9H6SwUWTq_HFBtCaRSgU-g-fVvSL2WktKMt4lDHH_h0y0_Ox0js20Lfh67FCuz4NSDPtq8wFmjf1eQ3t-f5Y9yeqJejQlk_fcklkzRCRzzUJm7-OoNkHcmp0EdlyJKlNwM3FUTSoRD2EqxI9Kph1wXP6=w512-h640" width="512" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Desigan of the Pied Imperial pigeon in the mango tree.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibb-LGWQepaZMJ-VUo6Hd-7UeBEfHx4YD45BMamtBIbC0gnz2v756p7Ap2Mn_8G5Qa0JmPlhUpDtluQrP4zs7xE3enfF9D-18NoSKUkwz02hr4JXtHGHXX3GTYs7_FuJ-KHFziHN7CehzFxi4df_kq11H3Dj2Nr3b0PBFC3E81atTjVhTaM_mCOcADtDXg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibb-LGWQepaZMJ-VUo6Hd-7UeBEfHx4YD45BMamtBIbC0gnz2v756p7Ap2Mn_8G5Qa0JmPlhUpDtluQrP4zs7xE3enfF9D-18NoSKUkwz02hr4JXtHGHXX3GTYs7_FuJ-KHFziHN7CehzFxi4df_kq11H3Dj2Nr3b0PBFC3E81atTjVhTaM_mCOcADtDXg=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We returned to high tide, and I marvelled at the brilliance of Phoenix Bay, shimmering blue and silver.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Back to Shreesh, and the comical struggle for some fresh lime soda refreshments.</div><div><br /></div><div>Umesh requested a newbie waiter for 8 Fresh Lime sodas, and the chap looked distinctly unhappy. First he said "No English", then when Umesh lapsed into Hindi, he desperately said "No Hindi" and then even there "no soda, soda finished" at Umesh. Umesh was quite indignant at this, and seeing his ire, the said waiter disappeared!</div><div><br /></div><div>Shreesh has a strange system where the dining room has a pantry attached, but the kitchen was one level down... so food came up from below. So while we waited for our dal roti sabzi, we investigated the pantry, but found no signs of any human nor of the fresh-lime drinks...After a while, the "senior" waiter sauntered in. Umesh repeated the order to him and said we had ordered but it had not showed up and neither had lunch. This waiter looked pityingly at us, and asked "whom did you order from?" And then said airily, "Oh he doesn't know anything, I will get you." it was all very Fawlty Towers and Manuelesque.</div><div><br /></div><div>The fresh lime eventually did come - but after we finished our lunch! An oh yes, the rice would come before the rotis, making Umesh even more grumpy - since he wanted the rotis and not the rice...we all merrily chowed whatever came first!</div><br /><a href="https://ebird.org/checklist/S162620054">eBird Checklist - 11 Feb 2024 - Kalatang - 40 species</a></div></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://madraswanderer.blogspot.com/2024/03/andamans-day-2-garacharma-wetland-waders.html">Garacharma wetlands awaited us, in the evening.</a></div>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-46135193093295865262024-03-03T17:36:00.007+05:302024-03-11T10:37:28.154+05:30Andaman Diary Day 1 - Burmanallah beach and beyond<p> Continued from <a href="http://madraswanderer.blogspot.com/2024/02/andaman-dairy-day-1-cellular-jail-views.html">here</a>.</p><p>Feb 10th 2024</p><p>Post lunch, we piled into the cars and picked up our birder guide <a href="https://birdcount.in/birder-profile-jabili-rao/#:~:text=Jabili%20Rao%20is%20a%20birder,flocks%20in%20the%20Andaman%20Islands.">Jabili Rao</a>. She is a young birder from the Andaman. I wonder now, what first impression we made on her. One group of seniors, all of us perhaps twice her age! Or maybe she's used to it, since many seniors love to bird and love to photograph with their respective bazookas.</p><p>Off we went to Burmanullah beach, with Jabili in our car, along with Umesh, Srinivas, Sekar and me. Umesh was focussed with target species list and locations. I was busy looking out of the window and exclaiming at the views!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://youtube.com/shorts/dNo5yDhnX5c?si=fEOAyi0POpQsN18_"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uuG-QxMa8pk?si=FG0A9jgYvZQyOQuw" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </a></div>
<div><a href="https://youtube.com/shorts/dNo5yDhnX5c?si=fEOAyi0POpQsN18_"> Driving along Burmanullah coast. Click here.</a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>We stopped, to admire and photograph the Pacific Reef Heron, and oh there was a Collared kingfisher on the line.<div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsSET7QpX_ZF5rDSF_6AYbo_1P-09SLMCOTUEGg4Yypk4vaYy-Y88SvXoBUSu6WYRjiK4yt2L-c8ozB1f-_N2ziWgZIgpTEEpSHKZ1VDs-e8irBw3lStGpJyViSfibgEi6rz5dX-fWjoXEMLaznKZQoAqimICbw4VMNby3K7M353qt0VtNufidsDq1yaiZ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1666" data-original-width="3159" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsSET7QpX_ZF5rDSF_6AYbo_1P-09SLMCOTUEGg4Yypk4vaYy-Y88SvXoBUSu6WYRjiK4yt2L-c8ozB1f-_N2ziWgZIgpTEEpSHKZ1VDs-e8irBw3lStGpJyViSfibgEi6rz5dX-fWjoXEMLaznKZQoAqimICbw4VMNby3K7M353qt0VtNufidsDq1yaiZ=w640-h338" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pacific Reef heron - Egretta sacra - I love their salty grey colours, and how well they camouflaged with the rocks.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="text-align: center;">Pacific Reef heron - we saw them nesting at the top of the <a href="http://madraswanderer.blogspot.com/2018/03/mundapahar-and-chidiyatapu-andaman.html">Chidiya Tapu cliffs last </a><span style="color: #0000ee;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 238);"><u>time</u></span></span> as well.</span><br /><br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgxYoMXoJjT1Mn5QXMQCmtK9DjfaHi3eYSzfq2-SPSZOLguErlqROnKXO3WxKRPYGd-sZnuYTO8tSYqBqy5EAh5V_s8eKBZuCGEgqoVxvIXT3jkdmpXwauKAf_fXAZlZe8JFUZzyacGUqFubUoK6szHuJZvLX30JLwtxGKfqKWdaUWt6mPbb1Gc68PhAHlY" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1350" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgxYoMXoJjT1Mn5QXMQCmtK9DjfaHi3eYSzfq2-SPSZOLguErlqROnKXO3WxKRPYGd-sZnuYTO8tSYqBqy5EAh5V_s8eKBZuCGEgqoVxvIXT3jkdmpXwauKAf_fXAZlZe8JFUZzyacGUqFubUoK6szHuJZvLX30JLwtxGKfqKWdaUWt6mPbb1Gc68PhAHlY=w640-h512" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Photo by Desigan. There were several on the beach, here and there, walking around with usual egret slow-motion intent.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />In order to confuse matters, there is a "white morph", which looks like the Little Egrets, except they have quite a thick bill, greenish legs and a little squatter. Why would they display this dimorphism? And can the two morphs inter-breed - and will you get pied coloured variants then? Seems not, but why not?<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivte1guq3VM4PUzy7sgjUQ4uWLhsTjdNj3JsU11EeNdRkhSH15jDTDsBX4aJDAD_QXYqWgT-2CGBx68y5JBhMNdbgCpimGc5idtgTVSi9IIm3kOsLjHQ8SgVy-DQN4nGOmrrFNMV8suGXw4HFiD1GhzGJsg7Nq2bqisQIu_P5QLNbQBM8jV9eCbo_CO4Qj" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivte1guq3VM4PUzy7sgjUQ4uWLhsTjdNj3JsU11EeNdRkhSH15jDTDsBX4aJDAD_QXYqWgT-2CGBx68y5JBhMNdbgCpimGc5idtgTVSi9IIm3kOsLjHQ8SgVy-DQN4nGOmrrFNMV8suGXw4HFiD1GhzGJsg7Nq2bqisQIu_P5QLNbQBM8jV9eCbo_CO4Qj=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">As I pondered these deep "existential" questions, the others were more gainfully occupied.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhS5k3D6tFk4NORJOt3LNTyzGD6P-B_m4TVbwA3IrrYfq35QQ-pNw3KAKD2l79MAe4xooO2GOt3dAY3H8Q63FNFNgrpzVsYAU3wuU_edaNiiiEOFl5DSnVvVtipHmVjAmRxOPd4Y_WwGjuYOiFOddBuGrh8a_osW-X-6htJuax7uA9mQLuR1ft_3Vwarnk6" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhS5k3D6tFk4NORJOt3LNTyzGD6P-B_m4TVbwA3IrrYfq35QQ-pNw3KAKD2l79MAe4xooO2GOt3dAY3H8Q63FNFNgrpzVsYAU3wuU_edaNiiiEOFl5DSnVvVtipHmVjAmRxOPd4Y_WwGjuYOiFOddBuGrh8a_osW-X-6htJuax7uA9mQLuR1ft_3Vwarnk6=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I found a piece of dead coral in the grasses.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh75WuBCgRdynHMnaGBnOhy_262K7_nAmcljafn2aHlq5y2ZsKhV67V9uZVvKa5SvM32OJBLqjkueB3zfUAxldyxu91YN-Cdwtb7KBk3w6xZOyqdGAzLMp_PRb27s2AFv7in7A9rwTt8AirNa5mLix_C8ONE4-zUM9UzM43qftbsPtq2ijLMoOrOTGPn59k" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1559" data-original-width="2345" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh75WuBCgRdynHMnaGBnOhy_262K7_nAmcljafn2aHlq5y2ZsKhV67V9uZVvKa5SvM32OJBLqjkueB3zfUAxldyxu91YN-Cdwtb7KBk3w6xZOyqdGAzLMp_PRb27s2AFv7in7A9rwTt8AirNa5mLix_C8ONE4-zUM9UzM43qftbsPtq2ijLMoOrOTGPn59k=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were crabs and mudskippers in the tidal pools at the edge. If I am not mistaken this is a Mottled Lightfoot Crab. (<i>Grapsus albolineatus</i>) a coral-dwelling crab.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />There were people wandering the shores collecting crabs as well. A common sandpiper landed on a rock nearby. <p></p><p></p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFNWOWzDYR2RXB47zRldopFwF--qXXDMEGppI5kMdem-pAjjFdYm1g2PEximwdiQuB7_RY2kOjaCuZdVT1NPH12_n2fNLJ_StjSG2TBaaVkTBeS591zKO4Ztol4dxYxoBl5H8Q_Oo4lx-mvDCf3_S2QMRQQ-fJEN18UJhxu-W2ElpkfYzHCPKSbLaKawNM" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1350" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFNWOWzDYR2RXB47zRldopFwF--qXXDMEGppI5kMdem-pAjjFdYm1g2PEximwdiQuB7_RY2kOjaCuZdVT1NPH12_n2fNLJ_StjSG2TBaaVkTBeS591zKO4Ztol4dxYxoBl5H8Q_Oo4lx-mvDCf3_S2QMRQQ-fJEN18UJhxu-W2ElpkfYzHCPKSbLaKawNM=w640-h512" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And this Collared Kingfisher also had found a crab. Photo by Desigan. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHp6bWoP2UulQhvYaEqOKCiuSIW_eXg-wyiHKe5d0MyXVTA9k8ZZzwp-68ez-lG20nPlBGSt_C0Sv-eqLR1fuvq54q4MxbMmSSoHrn-GWcb3g-gIbYX6i852jSUCvujY9YqAnCwCMzGeNQWmqF1Zmjer5lC-PgfG_Gmazlddr6wd8P11czPRIyR6G-6dQc" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHp6bWoP2UulQhvYaEqOKCiuSIW_eXg-wyiHKe5d0MyXVTA9k8ZZzwp-68ez-lG20nPlBGSt_C0Sv-eqLR1fuvq54q4MxbMmSSoHrn-GWcb3g-gIbYX6i852jSUCvujY9YqAnCwCMzGeNQWmqF1Zmjer5lC-PgfG_Gmazlddr6wd8P11czPRIyR6G-6dQc=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I marvelled at the towering trees and the winding lianas.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBqMcZdXNnmL4ELd0665NB-0owJACvYnKGeSwJl32DZUpmsMab3fP8RAtQkLdlQuBV09v0yl8sZT_52dHRc0aXl38sPqi27zPZZLUKuB1a9NPgMMjxTe5AV0b0gCvGXOdknYZW8FLc8D9n_OsJeJIXezwDQxGvvTJVcZnExor8Iuvd_T41Zt-AqvlftkkJ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2380" data-original-width="3156" height="483" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBqMcZdXNnmL4ELd0665NB-0owJACvYnKGeSwJl32DZUpmsMab3fP8RAtQkLdlQuBV09v0yl8sZT_52dHRc0aXl38sPqi27zPZZLUKuB1a9NPgMMjxTe5AV0b0gCvGXOdknYZW8FLc8D9n_OsJeJIXezwDQxGvvTJVcZnExor8Iuvd_T41Zt-AqvlftkkJ=w640-h483" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A red-collared dove sunbathed.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYeQkAJM-8NsolKfG7h9rqjH6s7zLC_14mqGHBYO2Hxgbw_cBkezzoYLINquelD2WeaiMzY2E0NCEndv7i_7EQGkUlL2YvnkLhnPs6ls5ek-7QYDmEA2O-z9YDVHnnF2lswKxGPsM7D2_7QHdkcvrvKgE2Co_aE2xwtORAPXCW9dU986tL5B0_v89IH9na" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYeQkAJM-8NsolKfG7h9rqjH6s7zLC_14mqGHBYO2Hxgbw_cBkezzoYLINquelD2WeaiMzY2E0NCEndv7i_7EQGkUlL2YvnkLhnPs6ls5ek-7QYDmEA2O-z9YDVHnnF2lswKxGPsM7D2_7QHdkcvrvKgE2Co_aE2xwtORAPXCW9dU986tL5B0_v89IH9na=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The hunt for the Amur Stonechat (Stejneger's Stonechat) Saxicola stejnegeri </b></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>We veered off the tar road and stopped before a little footbridge over a rivulet and entered what looked like fallow and overgrown agricultural land. We were tracking the Stejneger's Stonechat - a target species for our trip, I was told. It is a species seen in east Asia - but not in mainland India, only in Andamans. It breeds somewhere up in Siberia, and comes down to winter in the Andamans. (In itself, that fact renders the bird magical!)</div><div><br /></div><div>It was a subspecies of Common Stonechat, and now it has been separated after genetic testing. And Stejneger was Nordic Steineger and decided he liked Stejneger better, went off to the Smithsonian and this little stonechat we were trying to see was named after him and now the common name has changed. </div><div><br /></div><div>Jabili warned us that it was very shy, and we were to be very quiet. A farmer passed us in the opposite direction, and airily said oh you should come in the mornings for the birds. It was close to sunset, and the air was filled with bird call. Now and then one faint zitting cisticola-like call was heard, which was the Stonechat I believe. A flash here, a sudden appearance there. The photographers were frustrated. "See, near the fence, that pole!", "Which pole, there are so many" - came the retort. ""Arre, that short one, 12 o'clock." "The one below the tree with green leaves?" "All the trees have green leaves!" Such was the conversation. Srinivas' 6ft plus visual perspective quite different from Umesh's did not help matters. I wonder if they did manage to photograph the bird.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the midst of all of this, for a change, I actually spotted the said pole and saw the bird quite clearly with my 10x binoculars for about 5 seconds, before it vanished into the undergrowth again! I registered a chestnut brown, "little brown job", with a little darker tail. This was the female. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5GsKdDkByCyaicJsAQ8YdYeJ__6drfw-d-r8-yoLT2i9ZzpC2ciIeYc2aVe0SpPWdKci0wnSJvTRUaE78OU3hnxJ3qU9__miogmN6Yd5G5URRiHkmIUhYjXRnGntc4koAn8vrjre24tVWqqabmm8z9QFWcTMu568AmxKcOaJRAgR0LqBVWjy1MClz7pNb" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1350" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5GsKdDkByCyaicJsAQ8YdYeJ__6drfw-d-r8-yoLT2i9ZzpC2ciIeYc2aVe0SpPWdKci0wnSJvTRUaE78OU3hnxJ3qU9__miogmN6Yd5G5URRiHkmIUhYjXRnGntc4koAn8vrjre24tVWqqabmm8z9QFWcTMu568AmxKcOaJRAgR0LqBVWjy1MClz7pNb=w640-h512" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Desigan took this great picture - how he managed in the midst of all the flitting and the instructions, one never knows!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="text-align: left;">Anyways, I was happy, kind of thrilled to catch this little messenger from Siberia. We did not see the male. I wandered on to see the other sights of the scrub.</span></div></div><div><br /></div><div></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCbeouhr8gDGt1neXZ9qAs8Yt_Hr8YVzGfkldagpEtGWyilPPtGlyQKVsAjbjyCkT7MRMrHNsfmZN697FcvscBAydPb6m8TALgMB-lteG6lJQL9oepTkv1OE_evlRRZgq0XzkaV0IA9q6TNc_KjKG4gC7Ox1I4JjF_exiyfq0G1FAOT_xSU3lnYgNlph_c" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCbeouhr8gDGt1neXZ9qAs8Yt_Hr8YVzGfkldagpEtGWyilPPtGlyQKVsAjbjyCkT7MRMrHNsfmZN697FcvscBAydPb6m8TALgMB-lteG6lJQL9oepTkv1OE_evlRRZgq0XzkaV0IA9q6TNc_KjKG4gC7Ox1I4JjF_exiyfq0G1FAOT_xSU3lnYgNlph_c=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were a whole bunch of goats, feeding quite blissfully and happily, unmindful and uncurious about us. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguARthW78oDWconUBDU_oINJmTnCYFQca9w7Cuuy-CrHt0jpvWp0NCUWUF6WBz1Zo4zTpgJILKSUA0HaVWJNz_KLL-oOYBjJBTrBh_rqWqcfHGHyn51dhNMKKVPll4LZq9UeViSvsmT6vLsaLcrMt0OJRtImfdOfd7s4x6AWAUMD18TfIqR0oW61xpZ3_M" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguARthW78oDWconUBDU_oINJmTnCYFQca9w7Cuuy-CrHt0jpvWp0NCUWUF6WBz1Zo4zTpgJILKSUA0HaVWJNz_KLL-oOYBjJBTrBh_rqWqcfHGHyn51dhNMKKVPll4LZq9UeViSvsmT6vLsaLcrMt0OJRtImfdOfd7s4x6AWAUMD18TfIqR0oW61xpZ3_M=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think this is Simpleleaf Chaste tree - a Vitex</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixN61jN-p2FUxbY7qKcCuOV6i5Y7OpHSdkJU1460Zd04Osuzmk7VaV3f53gHgha7pbFj7O8oNwW6Ojxdve35AjBHgkn6mR5I7_wJvJQFLpGE1Fwah-HaDBfMO7hMgyoYSeW6yy5ujZzZJYaeYVJXbPNOmVsg2G_V2dGkimUtVUvRUtXL0H6eBRb6t5Adwh" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixN61jN-p2FUxbY7qKcCuOV6i5Y7OpHSdkJU1460Zd04Osuzmk7VaV3f53gHgha7pbFj7O8oNwW6Ojxdve35AjBHgkn6mR5I7_wJvJQFLpGE1Fwah-HaDBfMO7hMgyoYSeW6yy5ujZzZJYaeYVJXbPNOmVsg2G_V2dGkimUtVUvRUtXL0H6eBRb6t5Adwh=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And this false ironwort, we see in our city undergrowth as well. </td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-FJP4nswHYurb2FfOb0xo6KB-Zfe9-kinzVaa-jWpaVdN7cZR9Jk5Ja8xbIVzo_-qyjlXdwNsZo4t-pgrFvON-h5ybVexbthCSf41WQabqN45bzWwjyemuk2yRMj1el5dohWdoVhT6A5Ja1uQ5rcuzmM9sOPvn62LLNhng-oZ2C8DxcrCR54im3oQjBko" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2081" data-original-width="2914" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-FJP4nswHYurb2FfOb0xo6KB-Zfe9-kinzVaa-jWpaVdN7cZR9Jk5Ja8xbIVzo_-qyjlXdwNsZo4t-pgrFvON-h5ybVexbthCSf41WQabqN45bzWwjyemuk2yRMj1el5dohWdoVhT6A5Ja1uQ5rcuzmM9sOPvn62LLNhng-oZ2C8DxcrCR54im3oQjBko=w640-h458" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were very few butterflies for some reason, but many a dragonfly, including this Crimson Marsh Glider</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhmhhqq5okVSHfZh3qJyNvbmo5KK83M38p69WiT-ekg7q0Dzp2z3WF72yySC-1LngpKTI4ULKLnVG1ss0thB2eviy1o8zLIBz31dVHNBD5cSzx7CedQ3y7CmQGiKpoDBpHa2tKB335pCnfrojsMQyeYiO48VHuMCwGX8RNo48B2Cgw_fzXOCMz9lsotcfS" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhmhhqq5okVSHfZh3qJyNvbmo5KK83M38p69WiT-ekg7q0Dzp2z3WF72yySC-1LngpKTI4ULKLnVG1ss0thB2eviy1o8zLIBz31dVHNBD5cSzx7CedQ3y7CmQGiKpoDBpHa2tKB335pCnfrojsMQyeYiO48VHuMCwGX8RNo48B2Cgw_fzXOCMz9lsotcfS=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We retraced our steps across the stream, and the sun gave the leaves such a lovely translucence. I wonder if this is Macaranga peltata - the parasol tree - the leaf arrangement seemed that way. It could be.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div>Back into the cars, and we went up along the road to Chidiyatapu. The scenery changed, as tall trees sped by on either side.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='431' height='358' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxBfcEKCC7JVP-b6D7ca4aWRoDndxxBGNdn_8QzkahwBt1igmlfl_Tve3rzf3ERL_I9wB8ZItoIeXCeAVmPQg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh21Jz5-I0efsZmCGxDqrAC84_Gpmju4vkrT0NnoH0ntmYuplYsZ9DeEqB_6NHRv5CNdfnFciD2kV-tyi1ciFD-6LlsVgKx8MuyEz1UeL0o0xjBfe8BGT7QLtiNyBUpI1bcq9G1Ack8jgUdUGKRTh8ADH3ybWS-xHIOWfG2TbkLdzr2vMyrB5yVWl3ViAia" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh21Jz5-I0efsZmCGxDqrAC84_Gpmju4vkrT0NnoH0ntmYuplYsZ9DeEqB_6NHRv5CNdfnFciD2kV-tyi1ciFD-6LlsVgKx8MuyEz1UeL0o0xjBfe8BGT7QLtiNyBUpI1bcq9G1Ack8jgUdUGKRTh8ADH3ybWS-xHIOWfG2TbkLdzr2vMyrB5yVWl3ViAia=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stop! was the cry from Jabili - and we saw the Andaman woodpecker! (Dryocopus hodgei) silhouetted by the evening sun, high up on the tree stump.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEENKKSsR_PyFQBHs5-7hbntRJUWmS62F0k710fcZvSnYZ9KRucp2fH7OhAgqAnDIaVdM8pQxlgL0fSMmDri1w96_GLk9rNzcEaqmWKL3v3iEqRWTkiOr1PRBDUO2LRJTHq2duW-8k72E1tDXCNnvpGNspqw3ohC3vSDkd2VGE1j53_gG6ao2rn2oVrNjF" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEENKKSsR_PyFQBHs5-7hbntRJUWmS62F0k710fcZvSnYZ9KRucp2fH7OhAgqAnDIaVdM8pQxlgL0fSMmDri1w96_GLk9rNzcEaqmWKL3v3iEqRWTkiOr1PRBDUO2LRJTHq2duW-8k72E1tDXCNnvpGNspqw3ohC3vSDkd2VGE1j53_gG6ao2rn2oVrNjF=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Desigan. It was a beautiful 15-20 minutes, as we watched it make its way up the stump, its red head giving it a crown of fire almost. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div>What a stunning bird! We saw it a couple more times across the week, and each time it was a joy to watch. The bird is in on the IUCN "Vulnerable" list, threatened by loss of habitat.</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>"Little is recorded about the behaviour of the Andaman woodpecker. It lives in pairs, but also associates in small flocks. It forages on large trunks and branches, but has also been recorded foraging on the ground for ants. It has been recorded breeding between January and March, and breeds in a nest hole 6–14 m (20–46 ft) off the forest floor, in a dead tree. Two eggs are laid" - Wikipedia</blockquote></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDIw6ji2imPILkMuubZfFiVdx_R7tgRsLHjkuH-sxjiUwsJdvStxKddPoyV9n0jnSGrYz_llI985dXT1K23Ceg1caxLj4iWFqQVToSV5PZ22_ucqPb0tG22ax3jX7bKkUyuUj_YsWALQCl8syceNorV_4p8FIUcP0XM9h6fjUGutFe8WSEQ5DbutOc3nJq" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDIw6ji2imPILkMuubZfFiVdx_R7tgRsLHjkuH-sxjiUwsJdvStxKddPoyV9n0jnSGrYz_llI985dXT1K23Ceg1caxLj4iWFqQVToSV5PZ22_ucqPb0tG22ax3jX7bKkUyuUj_YsWALQCl8syceNorV_4p8FIUcP0XM9h6fjUGutFe8WSEQ5DbutOc3nJq=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We made our way back to the Chidiyatapu beach shacks for some welcome chai. We fell upon the vadais and bajjis and ordered strong chai from the Tamil tea-shop owner who did not waste time on small talk, as the tourists ebbed and flowed like the tide through his shop. </td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>We saw foreigners, backpackers, middle-aged Indians from the north, scuba divers packing up for the day, and even a group of trainees from NIOT. <br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='377' height='313' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyLb1310cdHzEtBgs44A0Ir3humAHfZ45lgFTwBwfGLccbib_hfikwOrDHAjWUrtwACSl3ZI_k8XgzlO4VcwQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlZ6hrW1Y6zzyK2Kj8lhaiLbdlCWQH57-34IaOnw8yLuIgHg8DtHq4xBQJKGCs5c1I-14XjIhqvPSRhHjlz6gKJSPRxwqZ8RxSGwE1sUiijaLZ3_spGttVhZaOFH888CBBeochTM87n8OPBac4bvRaHf7CXSskiacIPsd_2rZ79LkkXho-H9lW9FIVfaPT" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlZ6hrW1Y6zzyK2Kj8lhaiLbdlCWQH57-34IaOnw8yLuIgHg8DtHq4xBQJKGCs5c1I-14XjIhqvPSRhHjlz6gKJSPRxwqZ8RxSGwE1sUiijaLZ3_spGttVhZaOFH888CBBeochTM87n8OPBac4bvRaHf7CXSskiacIPsd_2rZ79LkkXho-H9lW9FIVfaPT=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As we finished our tea...the sky was even more magical.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiya2D_9EhUTu7riwxqgDF7f3VxIRLtrPWfl2Fmffy7ftuKiLN-7K73GDcpwd9hrwNVwcFydWiEvRuPxduu1GyZrTP6oBYJrJytXiRGqMavWsBz0n3m59Yi5qva0FrlsuXvPqSARMdPnyGD3n0JhAVXgg-wZ044_SXIZm75e5CNm7ZBiih7cZOMCOQLxE_F" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2666" data-original-width="3732" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiya2D_9EhUTu7riwxqgDF7f3VxIRLtrPWfl2Fmffy7ftuKiLN-7K73GDcpwd9hrwNVwcFydWiEvRuPxduu1GyZrTP6oBYJrJytXiRGqMavWsBz0n3m59Yi5qva0FrlsuXvPqSARMdPnyGD3n0JhAVXgg-wZ044_SXIZm75e5CNm7ZBiih7cZOMCOQLxE_F=w640-h458" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One more surprise by the roadside. Andaman Coucal! What a show we had. Quite bold, and unlike its mainland counterpart. It didn't seem to be bothered by us at all. </td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>The fawn brown feathers were displayed, this way and that. The head is a duller colour. The Coucal was busy foraging among the leaves. I did not see any berries, it was probably on the hunt for insects. The foliage was a mix of short shrubby bushes. I could not identify from this.</div><div><br /></div><div>The crickets and other night insects were out as the light faded. Some went off with Jabili to search for the owls, whilst some of us just enjoyed the night sounds around.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWys5_KJVx4fmxruAT_0hSSIm407mVVRVXBl1cXoGuQX2P4COqAbZ-jsPJU7mwOl7jYAnCNNuaLsslAiJgSCreERkwrA1hc6ptwpwr0OvQLz0hhwcKzPKmnSqGW16I2ealPpJlKpu3Gu_BRV3WM9ZvBQCcM4QteNBVtJydU91VfmtTS4A8aJx8EEqqATs1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1463" data-original-width="1536" height="610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWys5_KJVx4fmxruAT_0hSSIm407mVVRVXBl1cXoGuQX2P4COqAbZ-jsPJU7mwOl7jYAnCNNuaLsslAiJgSCreERkwrA1hc6ptwpwr0OvQLz0hhwcKzPKmnSqGW16I2ealPpJlKpu3Gu_BRV3WM9ZvBQCcM4QteNBVtJydU91VfmtTS4A8aJx8EEqqATs1=w640-h610" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This cat moved from one side of the road to the next, listening to the night sounds - didn't waste time on me, but seemed intent as though listening for a particular sound. Maybe he/she was off on a night hunt. I did not see too many stray cats on our trip, but Port Blair was full of stray dogs, like any other Indian city.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Back to Shreesh for the night, it was good to have a shower and get out of our sweaty clothes - the humidity was high - and come down and wait for our dinner. It was lovely to meet Madhuri as well - an "Islander", who works at ANET, and was a friend of Umesh. She spoke about the road to Rangat being bad - and how her sister preferred to go by ferry, a conversation that made more sense when we did embark a couple of days later to Rangat!</div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjR5HxPRF6kf1OidGmH3YeLsBXW6pz19TgPofoAiWzs64AiGT4vG90Wf95ItG6YmXdGRb0KOgTuUOqd18fIx7_kW1a79oiO1KSPTbeoose96ylMQUP2ydxGiuaawb5sSuLuyWOVCs-eLyKwjz9W9_GPxv71WtzZ8qSU4tMuBmTiwLvARlRufLnecySMCbzk" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3640" data-original-width="3007" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjR5HxPRF6kf1OidGmH3YeLsBXW6pz19TgPofoAiWzs64AiGT4vG90Wf95ItG6YmXdGRb0KOgTuUOqd18fIx7_kW1a79oiO1KSPTbeoose96ylMQUP2ydxGiuaawb5sSuLuyWOVCs-eLyKwjz9W9_GPxv71WtzZ8qSU4tMuBmTiwLvARlRufLnecySMCbzk=w528-h640" width="528" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These interesting lampshades were in our corridor, and I noticed them as we went off for the night.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />It was a 5am start the next day, and I was much excited - we were to take a ferry and cross a strait and go off to Kalatang!</div><div><br /></div><div>*******</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://ebird.org/checklist/S162620102">My Ebird checklist here. </a></div><div><br /></div><div>Lifers of the day</div><div><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Plume-toed Swiftlets - Andaman special - not in mainland India. (Supposedly has a tuft of feathers near the rear toe - which I never saw, but shall assume in good faith that it is present)</li><li>Brown-backed Needletail</li><li>Amur Stonechat</li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ztso5vSr-czXgioLLMOl2VsVYUkO2SDaTSzBMTwL_m1sPABeLYoJUQs6y4uZUbKsu52NXe1nAOvsD99VGvGe86M23-qgBw23EbDdFRESBkVkIZJTEqBV_mVJ71a2YU8MpCwTGThrapW3q0Um_W106a2b2nRL3FZz_LowTrZHUvIQMNLkfDof23ZhrNtD/s1362/IMG_3817.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1017" data-original-width="1362" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ztso5vSr-czXgioLLMOl2VsVYUkO2SDaTSzBMTwL_m1sPABeLYoJUQs6y4uZUbKsu52NXe1nAOvsD99VGvGe86M23-qgBw23EbDdFRESBkVkIZJTEqBV_mVJ71a2YU8MpCwTGThrapW3q0Um_W106a2b2nRL3FZz_LowTrZHUvIQMNLkfDof23ZhrNtD/w640-h478/IMG_3817.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swiftlets and larger Needletails were zooming around above. The Swiftlets had white bellies and the Needletails - like this one on Umesh's camera display - were dark brown underneath. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-53820763642333545332024-02-26T19:43:00.003+05:302024-03-03T18:31:22.664+05:30Andaman Diary - Day 1 - Cellular Jail views10th February 2024<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqi_6RLhd_0lxv3-InqWU7inkxCHzJWvKongzQaWIpPrcgOyJBuj21rqDj9G2Rfix2_T86mEM7kYxONeAjzkWwtCkGiGVEK2M5njjg_OblY7mVwfxR4SXvKx9ZwKtAaI8XeTzFbr6BlGMqhV_ht-u1ngx_0NWIEOedYcKTPDxFvY55QgdQ2zVCO46PXI_5" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3174" data-original-width="2995" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqi_6RLhd_0lxv3-InqWU7inkxCHzJWvKongzQaWIpPrcgOyJBuj21rqDj9G2Rfix2_T86mEM7kYxONeAjzkWwtCkGiGVEK2M5njjg_OblY7mVwfxR4SXvKx9ZwKtAaI8XeTzFbr6BlGMqhV_ht-u1ngx_0NWIEOedYcKTPDxFvY55QgdQ2zVCO46PXI_5=w188-h200" width="188" /></a></div>Scrambling to finish work the previous day and a start to the airport at an unholy hour. Thanks to Srinivas, we travelled in comfort and without the stress of will the cab show up or not.</div><div><br /></div><div>8 naturalist friends, coordinated by Umesh, on a "birding and photography" sortie to the Andamans. Six bazookas at check-in, and I had my new 10x binoculars to try out.</div><div><br /></div><div>5am Air India flight. We board smartly. Desigan is in our row, and so we chat, snooze, the breakfast is fine, the coffee is well quite appalling.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinbc11wZdzbFB2ARSIqieNhEKX00ciPYuEevnMXoaZev3f6z2IG9_m8rRIbHd01Dmo0s3WsQGe6lrsJ5zIFjGIne4Z-pR9zYLItw2CgIjN0T5PAb8Yk0a_gRrP_nuP6BCCbMpCXXJE0csARNhv1dR67uJGJqZ1-U0lITe1gX9jzy95pw_klmaeORFc6z63" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinbc11wZdzbFB2ARSIqieNhEKX00ciPYuEevnMXoaZev3f6z2IG9_m8rRIbHd01Dmo0s3WsQGe6lrsJ5zIFjGIne4Z-pR9zYLItw2CgIjN0T5PAb8Yk0a_gRrP_nuP6BCCbMpCXXJE0csARNhv1dR67uJGJqZ1-U0lITe1gX9jzy95pw_klmaeORFc6z63=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sunrise is spectacular - reminds me of Pink Floyd's album cover - Dark Side of the Moon.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLDmHYm4BgKnaSpKKRnj2JUsZH2eHc019YahK8Ag4BgI5Blax03Ic2ygmKowO7qGGCmhEdFCndogAiUo0_dn9ry-4hyWcfgIRoSrggDc2l219yv_JH7cAMH5r1wrv2PSOE1cR3sXVM8VkW3iJX6l0dGWYb01RD67GQGDH7FmFNT3A10m7q3NPoMdvd14so" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLDmHYm4BgKnaSpKKRnj2JUsZH2eHc019YahK8Ag4BgI5Blax03Ic2ygmKowO7qGGCmhEdFCndogAiUo0_dn9ry-4hyWcfgIRoSrggDc2l219yv_JH7cAMH5r1wrv2PSOE1cR3sXVM8VkW3iJX6l0dGWYb01RD67GQGDH7FmFNT3A10m7q3NPoMdvd14so=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I see the first little island - lovely beach, even the coral reef is visible, so clear is the water. I think this is Boat Island, off the western coast of the main island.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEcv9UKI7DuPsgAVDNh1mv7Wej4Q4uBMBkMNG6MZvVuZbDGlPpvFWij5I6rlf7RSHAh7ihEVi8W31B2UO5WhSap9QBkaCnYMjGAgUYA2wEAYarIYVnee4CB81WcMy58RQhfDmhAH4gbsTAGtlOTQpNBTRm79gpyzErxePCg-NDa_hNYXfOe5OXOnqry7m5" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEcv9UKI7DuPsgAVDNh1mv7Wej4Q4uBMBkMNG6MZvVuZbDGlPpvFWij5I6rlf7RSHAh7ihEVi8W31B2UO5WhSap9QBkaCnYMjGAgUYA2wEAYarIYVnee4CB81WcMy58RQhfDmhAH4gbsTAGtlOTQpNBTRm79gpyzErxePCg-NDa_hNYXfOe5OXOnqry7m5=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lower down now, skimming over the main Port Blair island. I suppose this is Manjeri RV and the bay in the background. I recalled now all the Tamil and Kerala names for the places - there is a Calicut and a Kamaraj Nagar - besides the Bengali names as well.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOcMHVD5nXXWcziXgCA4kl3lRFNKGA4RKKgp4YY78QCmDszDLoPe0GqK4AswJ9MZeDI91JhoDNl9Exkg2D3bWsMXM72u3A1SBu90DfDYztKIQYraPM3YpAs2tY6f4iteqN98yohQ7_RsK_hCPZjCVvbPWuPvd6heb54uUq2W3JCxg-R6mmgI5WWUWSxmd0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOcMHVD5nXXWcziXgCA4kl3lRFNKGA4RKKgp4YY78QCmDszDLoPe0GqK4AswJ9MZeDI91JhoDNl9Exkg2D3bWsMXM72u3A1SBu90DfDYztKIQYraPM3YpAs2tY6f4iteqN98yohQ7_RsK_hCPZjCVvbPWuPvd6heb54uUq2W3JCxg-R6mmgI5WWUWSxmd0=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table>Port Blair came into view. Colourful buildings and water everywhere.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr></tr><tr></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div>Large signs in the airport accompanied the Air India announcements - "No Photography" of the airport which is also a defence airport I believe. In this day and age of satellites, seems a pretty pointless restriction, but I complied.</div><div><br /></div><div>The airport terminal is new - from the time we were here last, in 2017. And was pretty standard. Pick up and bags sorted and in 10 minutes we were at our hotel.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZ_edduRs5vezxX1iOQZkrVWh1mnA8lfILhCAsGSDDrnTJq6CpKDJ1_t8npD_A52v7U7nACSqKH8a4UxSyppvbhJvSEz31YPagJ8lVJHB-YueWQ7NWDug3grrNHSnIJ1eT7_NxOOfUady8xgrNKMQBE_OcGqa7vaOPvj1PtNl_Oktv2ocFLQuXEK2IK5Eo" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZ_edduRs5vezxX1iOQZkrVWh1mnA8lfILhCAsGSDDrnTJq6CpKDJ1_t8npD_A52v7U7nACSqKH8a4UxSyppvbhJvSEz31YPagJ8lVJHB-YueWQ7NWDug3grrNHSnIJ1eT7_NxOOfUady8xgrNKMQBE_OcGqa7vaOPvj1PtNl_Oktv2ocFLQuXEK2IK5Eo=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sheesh! thats how I read it first and I wondered why the exclamation - Sheesh, you shouldn't be here, or Sheesh, so good! Sekar gently said, "It is Shreesh, my dear." </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><a href="https://www.guestreservations.com/hotel-shreesh/booking?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAivGuBhBEEiwAWiFmYa-DdOUTbZe-jVweGCdMVVXfwp59j_blfru-XIWnUKKCAeSUK2KvSxoCHZ4QAvD_BwE">Shreesh</a> was where we stayed for the first couple of nights. A clean, nondescript place, where the rooms were neat and the food was average. For some reason, the request for preparing our meals would only start after we came to the dining room despite Umesh having informed them when we would be there. So we would send an advanced party to go occupy tables and hurry the chef along. All in due course, what's the hurry.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdu6twE68KasOZCK67wLW6JQ-BV7dUMXFjrsVwNtJ2iCFdfuxw0jGiQP9lxpLb2udeNeNMR-uWyFMiIh1TfiZL_GlXzMBU7z5o15mDMX4KdvRXfvp3kubckZjKuVSKob_pNQW19v88h9kstWWodveT1z7XCGQq8glVFPkk1mHClZTszA9NYQgHXH_qDdfY" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdu6twE68KasOZCK67wLW6JQ-BV7dUMXFjrsVwNtJ2iCFdfuxw0jGiQP9lxpLb2udeNeNMR-uWyFMiIh1TfiZL_GlXzMBU7z5o15mDMX4KdvRXfvp3kubckZjKuVSKob_pNQW19v88h9kstWWodveT1z7XCGQq8glVFPkk1mHClZTszA9NYQgHXH_qDdfY=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the view at the rear of the hotel past the corridor of rooms. Next to our room were Desigan and Srinivas, and I think there's had a tiny window which showed a bit of Junglighat jetty in the rear. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div>In the course of the two days, there were many lost in translation moments with a newbie waiter and fresh lime order - we tried English, Hindi and Tamil on him. The crucial Bengali competency was missing in our group - where is Sagarika when you need her?). Hindi also was a problem for most I hasten to add. </div><div><br /></div><div>Srinivas was ready to bird at 9 am - but alas had to wait until post lunch. So off we went to the Cellular Jail instead. (We birded there too, let it be known.)</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKv71RnDok6EltruH0BYxVuab8Oww7ySJ7cCWKW1Z2BmAF0ncs4yxr4NwKWRI_g9lw6WyZ5PU9YrUiQ_Pu6jtB6AxVNbYeK2tCO_ChmmXnbMymXh9dA6ejvWI3CaSwn9-yIdUUP9tsZP4-WOogSJuEIcT_OXiluiW2o259SWCyWeFsT3Vnuv7efOOvxFYW" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKv71RnDok6EltruH0BYxVuab8Oww7ySJ7cCWKW1Z2BmAF0ncs4yxr4NwKWRI_g9lw6WyZ5PU9YrUiQ_Pu6jtB6AxVNbYeK2tCO_ChmmXnbMymXh9dA6ejvWI3CaSwn9-yIdUUP9tsZP4-WOogSJuEIcT_OXiluiW2o259SWCyWeFsT3Vnuv7efOOvxFYW=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We drove around in two Xylos for the trip, comfortable cars that have a real rolling suspension which would be tested to the hilt in our later adventures. We drove through "Aberdeen bazaar" - do check out Faizabad stores - an interesting set of activities and products!</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEidjTjfVFqYdC9rQKvX3Bz-AmWLKEdag0CcO-GzW2GDwFd3MymsYWlTwnZ7TTuuP2ErgYQRqcl3jQ13V0hlnqrbXbREft3DiNYIn3f0xD913jeY9lpbvpvJvPo_uVzRwgH3X4Rn-7Ivi0Drdfn-GuQVR62ME1ioMohJ2bpkwkUD36XJvNFYBspE4EUdbgNu" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEidjTjfVFqYdC9rQKvX3Bz-AmWLKEdag0CcO-GzW2GDwFd3MymsYWlTwnZ7TTuuP2ErgYQRqcl3jQ13V0hlnqrbXbREft3DiNYIn3f0xD913jeY9lpbvpvJvPo_uVzRwgH3X4Rn-7Ivi0Drdfn-GuQVR62ME1ioMohJ2bpkwkUD36XJvNFYBspE4EUdbgNu=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how a proper pavement with a rainwater drain looks like, dear Chennai Corporation. I was very impressed.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqE6Shrw4NMKZKSxrVAcGiDYGfpCx7yq9BMxtQmkhojuuldsmP3AnspoYOlCvd5DwuX0ukVP624xbW5njfZACHiUEQyhFg3qz9Ta2uNhtLRa3eot8mKwNBjeS86GyYVsCHu9Gey39bPDQIyzV0defASc4GQCBSh7bvGI3hE7r_-dylbEoa3A-IS4sfuWEZ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqE6Shrw4NMKZKSxrVAcGiDYGfpCx7yq9BMxtQmkhojuuldsmP3AnspoYOlCvd5DwuX0ukVP624xbW5njfZACHiUEQyhFg3qz9Ta2uNhtLRa3eot8mKwNBjeS86GyYVsCHu9Gey39bPDQIyzV0defASc4GQCBSh7bvGI3hE7r_-dylbEoa3A-IS4sfuWEZ=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I loved the Andaman Police uniforms</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVoA3cZ2Obq6InKgXCqO7gqKB4aXV9to-na1dIKQ_ocBqX2GzaDkVVNiYkBVUtzNBwc_zIopU_EXZz9IE4ZipMkvecK0yr3edFLlfwX7bMqkxwdXgBTu6I1VqNZc-7mbYIJuX5BVbQ-I8FXpthwPXrnTmFIBqdDK3MrLHBekpo8TcjabTJZQqjDODVaer-" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVoA3cZ2Obq6InKgXCqO7gqKB4aXV9to-na1dIKQ_ocBqX2GzaDkVVNiYkBVUtzNBwc_zIopU_EXZz9IE4ZipMkvecK0yr3edFLlfwX7bMqkxwdXgBTu6I1VqNZc-7mbYIJuX5BVbQ-I8FXpthwPXrnTmFIBqdDK3MrLHBekpo8TcjabTJZQqjDODVaer-=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even the goats were well behaved and walked on the pavements!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBR3zw0LONFS0Zquu_1_D5WfnaD8m_D8d-3onc5n8xjw9m6Vzn8jW2XqUggEBmcohnswlMO5C6cxy8CTDhsOHOdP2F60ANWc45_ofRFAov7_DyxLTys54RfCfAet2MJiTgAJydFGQ4WoMqEha3I480Fs9rsV-YDXCrOqTFWNslVTGhU5Jdo9_QyBkmmyX7" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBR3zw0LONFS0Zquu_1_D5WfnaD8m_D8d-3onc5n8xjw9m6Vzn8jW2XqUggEBmcohnswlMO5C6cxy8CTDhsOHOdP2F60ANWc45_ofRFAov7_DyxLTys54RfCfAet2MJiTgAJydFGQ4WoMqEha3I480Fs9rsV-YDXCrOqTFWNslVTGhU5Jdo9_QyBkmmyX7=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking down to Marina/Phoenix Bay</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>Cellular Jail</b></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYyIAjk2voHsyfZG5W-4fJe7ylBB70d1rCvZ0DjBgDB9EKLNxzDAm61VJx9pqwWaNAUCNQFOlQZ0mkhmMYyt3jhJqUf9j-46e0pB-g9rFvJPEdizxUSoL8yA7IgvB0THy1NxyGzzZB4LKkyl3dKbgm56XcCJOz7P3ymbn5hI2zlLFlI4VSZYiHUTJ_nZN1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYyIAjk2voHsyfZG5W-4fJe7ylBB70d1rCvZ0DjBgDB9EKLNxzDAm61VJx9pqwWaNAUCNQFOlQZ0mkhmMYyt3jhJqUf9j-46e0pB-g9rFvJPEdizxUSoL8yA7IgvB0THy1NxyGzzZB4LKkyl3dKbgm56XcCJOz7P3ymbn5hI2zlLFlI4VSZYiHUTJ_nZN1=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">it was hard for me to imagine this calm and now serene facade as the scene of cruelty and struggle.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>Here is a couple of boards:</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">NATIONAL MEMORIAL</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">THE CELLULAR JAIL, THE INDIAN BASTILLE, STANDS AS A MUTE WITNESS TO THE UNTOLD SUFFERINGS, VALIANT DEFIANCE AND UNDAUNTED SPIRIT OF THE FIREBRAND REVOLUTIONARIES AGAINST THE BRUTALITIES OF THE BRITISH BARBARISM.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">THE NAME CELLULAR IS DERIVED FROM ITS UNIQUE FEATURE OF HAVING 698 CELLS, EACH ONE MEASURING 13.6".</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE JAIL WAS TAKEN UP IN OCT 1896 AND COMPLETED IN 1906 AT AN ESTIMATED COST OF Rs.5,17,352/</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">AS A MARK OF RESPECT TO THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS, THE CELLULAR JAIL WAS DEDICATED TO THE NATION BY THE THEN PRIME MINISTER, SHRI. MORARJI DESAI ON 11TH FEB. 1979 AND NOW IT STANDS AS A NATIONAL MEMORIAL OF GREAT HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">CELLULAR JAIL</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The Cellular Jail was constructed to deal effectively with the freedom fighters who revolted against the British Rule during India's First War of Independence. This site, being located just opposite to Ross Island, was found more suitable for construction of the Jail. It was also better suited in terms of security of the jail, as more than half of the outer wall was bounded by sea.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The construction of the Cellular Jail began in 1893 and completed in 1905-06. The Islands were formally occupied on 22nd January, 1858.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Spread as seven spokes of a bicycle wheel, this unique three-storied structure was the first of its kind in India, it was based on Jeremy Bentham's idea of the Panopticon. 693 cells in the jail were specially built for solitary confinement of the Freedom Fighters. The freedom fighters brought to the Cellular Jail rebelled against the jail authorities. Finally, the Government decided to close down the penal settlement and all the political prisoners of the Cellular Jail were repatriated to their respective states in mainland India by January 1938.</div></div></blockquote></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Only two spokes are retained as a memorial. There is a hospital where the rest of the jail probably was.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiK7uaeq1yMteHV0TkzF0h_eqF2OREk-u-I50SdyRHvhugFCFPfa0gVfQsEqXoDAxsKIr_T237xBU8A9xs93KOqLv_H6fTGhks9uaYJZ45YURdEDHiUDDrM9VCnGzsAXROeKxSapSBAqK13WZmJX8UeuvmwqlXQb5HojybtqMfgUVz8ZDSgBahNe-x02cAS" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiK7uaeq1yMteHV0TkzF0h_eqF2OREk-u-I50SdyRHvhugFCFPfa0gVfQsEqXoDAxsKIr_T237xBU8A9xs93KOqLv_H6fTGhks9uaYJZ45YURdEDHiUDDrM9VCnGzsAXROeKxSapSBAqK13WZmJX8UeuvmwqlXQb5HojybtqMfgUVz8ZDSgBahNe-x02cAS=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wondered if this peepul stood from those days.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>Japanese occupation of the islands, Bose's alignment with them has somehow been portrayed as him freeing India from the British...</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfzruZfU4G5OyrRVBnlMb9yJIovW9_uStQqjERPfh4SyDZe2HEaOmbzYpMujBWH4HEceyKKs9CJt1U15bSTn81kx5dOB6YxeVRlNK8Rh4LgoneZReBz0vldNg8BoYtxUPS9eh3npgS9pkaeVvc095WvDQRumwYDl57PN5aKAq6kkyfRBO-w4gsm2EthCvl/s2757/IMG_4021.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2757" data-original-width="2198" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfzruZfU4G5OyrRVBnlMb9yJIovW9_uStQqjERPfh4SyDZe2HEaOmbzYpMujBWH4HEceyKKs9CJt1U15bSTn81kx5dOB6YxeVRlNK8Rh4LgoneZReBz0vldNg8BoYtxUPS9eh3npgS9pkaeVvc095WvDQRumwYDl57PN5aKAq6kkyfRBO-w4gsm2EthCvl/w510-h640/IMG_4021.jpeg" width="510" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andaman Shimbun....2602</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiRYBPsu8wl_w8v_qDKxRnigsQTDzK5M3so1zUB7JnbNjvNxFAyRlJN-f2TtGvDdKFGzJ6oBA85WVGOkAKBEKAGN3w4eHZYDPL65rELTf0rGcG8ozdf-DZpWoHsknLcaJRiP-Tb7h5ENlS6gvK3yn5gtBQNwaA1RU3PdAuA23qpjFCBnfsdQvq7KwPtLqqC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiRYBPsu8wl_w8v_qDKxRnigsQTDzK5M3so1zUB7JnbNjvNxFAyRlJN-f2TtGvDdKFGzJ6oBA85WVGOkAKBEKAGN3w4eHZYDPL65rELTf0rGcG8ozdf-DZpWoHsknLcaJRiP-Tb7h5ENlS6gvK3yn5gtBQNwaA1RU3PdAuA23qpjFCBnfsdQvq7KwPtLqqC=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTc24dxPypkiG8I6PQsiFEBfNr1L0Jo3m3fmq_PtR9M--IDUix2WrKhGHOxBcAWyT7LDmbG00lBcUPHGGowH_dV_0KQwH9EIaWTBoOwON7diDqLtOZTRvHh6Ml3IG5pIctqlLBl64qKoHt7sJeQNzq-QhtxbgbIIN6LCCJI0T7v92LBwLClcuEoRTqXdtj" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiTc24dxPypkiG8I6PQsiFEBfNr1L0Jo3m3fmq_PtR9M--IDUix2WrKhGHOxBcAWyT7LDmbG00lBcUPHGGowH_dV_0KQwH9EIaWTBoOwON7diDqLtOZTRvHh6Ml3IG5pIctqlLBl64qKoHt7sJeQNzq-QhtxbgbIIN6LCCJI0T7v92LBwLClcuEoRTqXdtj=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAYOtLMqZVAzaKni5qCyM8cLmcW-uWaeaNuWrYou-YbTmjsm4xtyNk9QP-DXf_za0IiJG7_Idgxj60w_rg0vwuqRgyDhyujOJ2_ZtexzytCjz0-Rvd17FuQZq4VilG0TOy2gU4FIthsRUFPAMAsz8okfaCr3Fx1k_LODnNGqzBH8SX3nop81LGVFro1_7m" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAYOtLMqZVAzaKni5qCyM8cLmcW-uWaeaNuWrYou-YbTmjsm4xtyNk9QP-DXf_za0IiJG7_Idgxj60w_rg0vwuqRgyDhyujOJ2_ZtexzytCjz0-Rvd17FuQZq4VilG0TOy2gU4FIthsRUFPAMAsz8okfaCr3Fx1k_LODnNGqzBH8SX3nop81LGVFro1_7m=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDgOzCrf57CbttAL4rxK7IMr1xm6qIaw_q4dTg7b1ldWilvOtNtrxJmgQDlNLuSPzIhWIK_QDcTiKNpTPoBjMNSI9hreHNMxqznT7m2GhE84O1V5rmM6_9evvDjCouEYjSGrRCZuIH07MiSMeNlf4WK06y7ikRziTIKARfLJrBTGEQvpQdoP-Ym26S6u05" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDgOzCrf57CbttAL4rxK7IMr1xm6qIaw_q4dTg7b1ldWilvOtNtrxJmgQDlNLuSPzIhWIK_QDcTiKNpTPoBjMNSI9hreHNMxqznT7m2GhE84O1V5rmM6_9evvDjCouEYjSGrRCZuIH07MiSMeNlf4WK06y7ikRziTIKARfLJrBTGEQvpQdoP-Ym26S6u05=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Aberdeen bazaar clock tower now.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhC7LotkZONQlfALcu8oEza_qKXP_sbz258oEBVhQ6kh_yFjsA47BlYQ1zToNOpJyaC3qR0TFxolv0cR8TyLuYZF9YAOqtTpwbOesFIe1alZNF18U9Kzcg-xSX3eepgCP0dM0KlZsmDMAFUGeWmqH3C75C5ptTL2zBOZkEVj1djUcx9Yej3-O_LwpiG19f-" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhC7LotkZONQlfALcu8oEza_qKXP_sbz258oEBVhQ6kh_yFjsA47BlYQ1zToNOpJyaC3qR0TFxolv0cR8TyLuYZF9YAOqtTpwbOesFIe1alZNF18U9Kzcg-xSX3eepgCP0dM0KlZsmDMAFUGeWmqH3C75C5ptTL2zBOZkEVj1djUcx9Yej3-O_LwpiG19f-=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One wing had not been touched up and had the old look. There were sparrows chirping among the undergrowth, several mango trees, banana and coconut too.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />11am and the sun was sharp - it felt warmer than Chennai actually. We decided to walk up the watch tower. Spiders had made elaborate webs in the archways. Bulbuls flitted in and out as did Mynas and one Oriole flew across from the mango tree. Swallows dived and swooped.</div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXCu-cKcI3PPIqissBZVhbO_Kgysqa7Y_Gsv4OthuzjEuk_pMrWisN_5gWiQpKp_5Du4ACzvs7VcpJkD3zyakMZJx3F0ZLaayu-plcxm3QWf8ELHs5QzXfvSUwTAzEiBfW_rsOts0NHqvebJOCkrkQTHfaQOUjj1wAYTU32ZbGr-e7GaGA72jHO87_ljdd" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3762" data-original-width="10318" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXCu-cKcI3PPIqissBZVhbO_Kgysqa7Y_Gsv4OthuzjEuk_pMrWisN_5gWiQpKp_5Du4ACzvs7VcpJkD3zyakMZJx3F0ZLaayu-plcxm3QWf8ELHs5QzXfvSUwTAzEiBfW_rsOts0NHqvebJOCkrkQTHfaQOUjj1wAYTU32ZbGr-e7GaGA72jHO87_ljdd=w640-h234" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The names of political prisoners are listed on the walls - a huge contingent from Bengal.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div>The jail I'm sure has a lot of significance to many Bengali families - we saw busloads of them. More about them in a bit, after I share the gorgeous views from above.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1WKZE2UIicXRzU0rwMMaUHdZvHqcNGr3DpcgUFrWjQN2UV6TxKphsGeiirrPUycpw0WI0gYk7X5rzJBuLtllHtm3poXGZfx5CWQhgn5W0vgUdfom38Ho86kUhY6bvF0IqZIl8WMp9AT26WBE18nluU6lrri7ALI_u-2mr8chNUxNacqrSVI-ICG7dWXAs" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3786" data-original-width="10428" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1WKZE2UIicXRzU0rwMMaUHdZvHqcNGr3DpcgUFrWjQN2UV6TxKphsGeiirrPUycpw0WI0gYk7X5rzJBuLtllHtm3poXGZfx5CWQhgn5W0vgUdfom38Ho86kUhY6bvF0IqZIl8WMp9AT26WBE18nluU6lrri7ALI_u-2mr8chNUxNacqrSVI-ICG7dWXAs=w640-h232" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I involuntarily gasped when I emerged onto the watchtower platform, from the stairs below. Out of breath after the steep stairway, this further took my breath away. (The blue-roofed buildings are a hospital, in parts of the old Jail.)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgRgqlaY3U9i6XCtoBxJcfmEGvMahu5v5NZQqTf-2Z_fw1mh78EUQ0kOf-VF4BnJPVa5QD2MiAO8kjnT3fcE64JJsw8iRlsUIurbbMYS8MzPrANxk0kZ88fSRSXU65jRmL2nA5hALlZVfDI6ChexuSyBVM1KPrJO3BbMzfBqJnXnmfwefhQEi8Qs9vznuNS" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3884" data-original-width="8132" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgRgqlaY3U9i6XCtoBxJcfmEGvMahu5v5NZQqTf-2Z_fw1mh78EUQ0kOf-VF4BnJPVa5QD2MiAO8kjnT3fcE64JJsw8iRlsUIurbbMYS8MzPrANxk0kZ88fSRSXU65jRmL2nA5hALlZVfDI6ChexuSyBVM1KPrJO3BbMzfBqJnXnmfwefhQEi8Qs9vznuNS=w640-h306" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wing retained as the Jail - in the distance is Ross Island.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2HZOkk_oeRywCrQnyVdfge3Q4h0v9tevuEyEulcbrV205vsEHTRBGUGQHkSVhmWUGG6khns5PT4JJJ5QvLMLYbg25zeSKd-jAE58ANERApCM2wHe_ri5FyB_5pa-9P_XMu4s0NX6Y5kmFdChYfVeSodUb6iCiVHCiw2smuEtC4-92Wu96Aeca7hb1h3zN" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2HZOkk_oeRywCrQnyVdfge3Q4h0v9tevuEyEulcbrV205vsEHTRBGUGQHkSVhmWUGG6khns5PT4JJJ5QvLMLYbg25zeSKd-jAE58ANERApCM2wHe_ri5FyB_5pa-9P_XMu4s0NX6Y5kmFdChYfVeSodUb6iCiVHCiw2smuEtC4-92Wu96Aeca7hb1h3zN=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ross Island. How could the prison guards have been cruel in the face of this extraordinary beauty, I wondered, as I soaked in the cool breeze, the beautiful waters in different shades of blue, the soaring and gliding White Bellied Sea Eagle up above, and the philosophical discussions among some young people relaxing on the platform. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisvTaRx_wOZ_UzgKuiD8T494yVRVwwUPRr_iOr5OjbQEEduUhmPhL5MM1NwhyhKQb786OdOJU1RnGF3Z1sET4RKl7dBHEpx0vFmWpDqyT3i5lctpqBZr9491yvFHwRqz0sWDhYbkS5jY0xEiyulJsGHOQHkaTuLQtPezKbwowYJxJj_JOCKpv2xNDnuSO4" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisvTaRx_wOZ_UzgKuiD8T494yVRVwwUPRr_iOr5OjbQEEduUhmPhL5MM1NwhyhKQb786OdOJU1RnGF3Z1sET4RKl7dBHEpx0vFmWpDqyT3i5lctpqBZr9491yvFHwRqz0sWDhYbkS5jY0xEiyulJsGHOQHkaTuLQtPezKbwowYJxJj_JOCKpv2xNDnuSO4=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As I gazed, they discussed Nietzsche and Bose, Gandhi and Jinnah, Communism and freedom struggle; religion and God as manmade constructs and so much more. The beauty around made me contented and their words kind of crashed around me, not really registering what they were saying.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFIlVwh88FxtdxV-Lxzc2REZn84rqOaq-gYAs5Uy8MP2NhaNI_6lmrwEkXAU2R9aToLC3rG3VjMocRybCqp-YRlDyQlnsoSJ3FA5SpOJ7OSBaxjeJXWt7gl3LsPBIMg_A0n5FCVz__z3Ell1-x3gN27wu23GTC2X-gvHjkfbcsQyBswC5tn0tzS5dI9aG7" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFIlVwh88FxtdxV-Lxzc2REZn84rqOaq-gYAs5Uy8MP2NhaNI_6lmrwEkXAU2R9aToLC3rG3VjMocRybCqp-YRlDyQlnsoSJ3FA5SpOJ7OSBaxjeJXWt7gl3LsPBIMg_A0n5FCVz__z3Ell1-x3gN27wu23GTC2X-gvHjkfbcsQyBswC5tn0tzS5dI9aG7=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was time to head down. Umesh and Desigan had also come up, and they clicked away and we took some selfies too. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div>We proceeded down one flight when suddenly, there was an upsurge of tourists - they kept streaming up, and the stairway was too narrow to allow for two way traffic. The platform above seemed to creak and groan, and I hastily moved away from the watchtower stairwell into the safety of the brick and mortar cell corridor! After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, we saw a break and Sekar and I scampered down, but Umesh was still stuck up there!</div><div><br /></div><div>We rejoined the doctors and Suresh and Desigan in the chairs put for the sound and light show and waited for Umesh, and this led to the Incident of the Shrike.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ravi mentioned he saw a shrike with a orangish vent and wondered what it was. Sekar piped up quite casually oh that must be the red vented bulbul we saw. Oh the horror, the horror! The complete dismay in Ravi's voice - his birding competencies being dismissed like this - a bulbul and a shrike...any self respecting birder would know the difference! It was pretty funny to all onlookers except Sheepish Sekar and Riled Ravi. </div><div><br /></div><div>Umesh finally escaped the Bengali busload and joined us and we set out to return to lunch at Shreesh.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh86Gk06XAlX9usIPq1vtkMRyxClhI_sCO-zzlODn02X3ndotdy1_gKVuyoZDZX2BnYaMEUx0W-Dl6slRQla0Dr2xPKsOYKDeX5VGVTEoodgUxkwcaG1rpNqpb7md0rnmsc8XNKaciHvbOoaZYyIPu_qlEjOuLJ-gIOlrWUORq2KAX7MeBh1gbISh3aRYoe" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh86Gk06XAlX9usIPq1vtkMRyxClhI_sCO-zzlODn02X3ndotdy1_gKVuyoZDZX2BnYaMEUx0W-Dl6slRQla0Dr2xPKsOYKDeX5VGVTEoodgUxkwcaG1rpNqpb7md0rnmsc8XNKaciHvbOoaZYyIPu_qlEjOuLJ-gIOlrWUORq2KAX7MeBh1gbISh3aRYoe=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We crossed this on the way out - in hindsight, I should've stepped in. At least picked up a few souvenirs. We never did enter a shop after this.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The afternoon sortie continued <a href="https://madraswanderer.blogspot.com/2024/03/andaman-dairy-day-1-burmanallah-beach.html">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-24034750807332999112024-01-17T16:19:00.005+05:302024-01-17T16:19:52.913+05:30January wanderings on ECR<p> Jan 10th 2024</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-iQ1VZeqGuVke2yRJ_Tirq_EF17A3QtTRqGBuw_5w7TlXxZ0RvJdR9J60qTqMsOjPtSPgaHBAK64Ruqxl1Qfz4CKv54UxJCX2ZRwFI4XsYzxhodn47AXyt-nuYOMmEjz9Rq4us1kF6F_PL1DRau6cA8l8X93_u2m20PvAnrc6HKoEonVy5R__IJRWTwPn" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-iQ1VZeqGuVke2yRJ_Tirq_EF17A3QtTRqGBuw_5w7TlXxZ0RvJdR9J60qTqMsOjPtSPgaHBAK64Ruqxl1Qfz4CKv54UxJCX2ZRwFI4XsYzxhodn47AXyt-nuYOMmEjz9Rq4us1kF6F_PL1DRau6cA8l8X93_u2m20PvAnrc6HKoEonVy5R__IJRWTwPn=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><a href="https://ebird.org/tripreport/193844">Indian Maritime University Recce visit - eBird Trip Report</a></p><p>50 species not counting the warblers and other scrub birds that we did not have time to focus upon. So here's a rhyme to celebrate.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There was once a trio of MNSers</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Nothing in common, but all birders</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To IMU we drove</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And found a treasure trove</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A marsh full of Warblers and Plovers.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There were Egrets and Pelicans galore</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Garganeys, Pintails, Ibis and more</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">so much joy and delight </p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Spoonbills in flight</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Oh wait! Godwits in 100s, furthermore!</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then the dogs, who felt ignored</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Into the marsh, they crashed, quite bored</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Godwits flew off</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And the Lapwings did scoff</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Did you do it”, they called, and soared.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And how can I forget those Grey Francolins, endearing</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Across the road they went. to the edge of the clearing</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I counted seven</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Quite a procession</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And all through our walk we heard them calling.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Openbills flew across along with Painted Stork</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Drongo, Coucal, Treepies did disembark</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A Roller flashed blue</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And the Kingfisher flew</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Oh that sweet call - a Jerdon’s Bush Lark!</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Powder Puffs played host to many Purple Sunbirds aglow</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A Solitary, stock-still Thickknee in the scrub below</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We rounded the corner</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And there found a charmer</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">An Oriole above, a flash of sunshiny yellow.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And then as a finale, on a faraway stone</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A raptor for sure, that did our goodbyes postpone</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A Falcon, a Peregrine</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Its claws it did preen</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Enjoying the sun and solitude, but no not alone.</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We will be back at IMU, that is for sure</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The AWC will be a joy and a sinecure</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When we go birding</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The uncertainty is rewarding</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And the company brings laughter in good measure.</p><div><br /></div><p>And here are the photos:</p><p><a href="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMedpx1a_MBA0vqW1ax2-fI3RkjwFjkM5sLHXTr01mEvAXKxQDx2wm75b6FFUkCmQ?key=UmJ6YXlLRGFoRW9LRjIwUjJvZ1FjMGJjU0dkRWhR">From Sunbird</a></p><p><a href="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOHqfoiLOAW8Mcqd-updMJ4HXoYlXhFd47Kidyx_PeuH2KtCpkv2da99uMwEFAx1g?key=VkdXQVM2Vy1KbVY5STAtT0tYVXFqd1VfVGFPQWZB">From Ramesh</a></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjiaflL5fI35Cz039MzdBShbeDXzHI06HbHRIZqWBXWuCbretOYQjPu9sKZTZ3DDYEHC4pTZJKhIO7A93MHf7ace6wTsoWVgqPWn-Sir87o3Gi6_ieXwQjjYoLD6DBllPVlZC0ynXsDXUBs4_d9YxuqGJzRIz54LA1oThCGZ1wr6ZDqX09nkXK2kjFJxOsy" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjiaflL5fI35Cz039MzdBShbeDXzHI06HbHRIZqWBXWuCbretOYQjPu9sKZTZ3DDYEHC4pTZJKhIO7A93MHf7ace6wTsoWVgqPWn-Sir87o3Gi6_ieXwQjjYoLD6DBllPVlZC0ynXsDXUBs4_d9YxuqGJzRIz54LA1oThCGZ1wr6ZDqX09nkXK2kjFJxOsy=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bauhinia</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8dbzoPghvzhmNDvaQxERySYKoTmQ4fuZUHYjdjsnwRqgUw_hXfrukLZQJERSfUG4897x2J2qqwqlJzFCeIO5cdf5o0yrBVk4mtIugJF14FX5a10xf304zmR57AD0JAcFsUha6RWE8c3rLG5GzXgipSEwWMrHW-St0ZzoWnvSTEABe3TCveRrhomYSFuZB=w480-h640" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="480" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rosy Milkweed Vine</td></tr></tbody></table></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8dbzoPghvzhmNDvaQxERySYKoTmQ4fuZUHYjdjsnwRqgUw_hXfrukLZQJERSfUG4897x2J2qqwqlJzFCeIO5cdf5o0yrBVk4mtIugJF14FX5a10xf304zmR57AD0JAcFsUha6RWE8c3rLG5GzXgipSEwWMrHW-St0ZzoWnvSTEABe3TCveRrhomYSFuZB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjuwJhqw3lzcU6wt4Py--EX-R8Snye8ZWt9Zd8rQlYaijS0DyVnRGNkx1uU65jCZKkeTq30d9L_17kZhy_WN7tO0ar1qm8qLkZUYNAKzIRjA6Hzo5ZoUeyOdJyN9XmOvSvCS761sHyw_ZqC8BZpB1WhB_NSVdLhjAJnqDMdeXwojO_w_M6TFoT964bKvVIv" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjuwJhqw3lzcU6wt4Py--EX-R8Snye8ZWt9Zd8rQlYaijS0DyVnRGNkx1uU65jCZKkeTq30d9L_17kZhy_WN7tO0ar1qm8qLkZUYNAKzIRjA6Hzo5ZoUeyOdJyN9XmOvSvCS761sHyw_ZqC8BZpB1WhB_NSVdLhjAJnqDMdeXwojO_w_M6TFoT964bKvVIv=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Powder Puff - Calliandra</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0000ee;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 238);"><u><br /></u></span></span></div><br /><br /><p></p>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-86237515677601513482023-12-15T15:48:00.000+05:302023-12-15T15:48:17.319+05:30The Sunbird<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCDqUiB9z23lsTqYO74YUKv3P3eK-QIcBLVpDCeAlJxjGNNJpYV5KiXug5gavnXPRYnrltkBd2X-mkYn89IBDz08UfF4rLeQRqWM8LhWuu4_72WXfkbYsbwWJCUGBEwrbKU5qic8MILmxoyA4f00nHmxe2wuKHN3nT0rK-WnlPxOl2Rw-8d4Xc6_MHWcxO" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="3013" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCDqUiB9z23lsTqYO74YUKv3P3eK-QIcBLVpDCeAlJxjGNNJpYV5KiXug5gavnXPRYnrltkBd2X-mkYn89IBDz08UfF4rLeQRqWM8LhWuu4_72WXfkbYsbwWJCUGBEwrbKU5qic8MILmxoyA4f00nHmxe2wuKHN3nT0rK-WnlPxOl2Rw-8d4Xc6_MHWcxO=w528-h640" width="528" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Skies<br />greens and browns<br />my window frames.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiKhwKGYNe0hrGu_ChM3wvBT0LVTJYDYaCpFH1sSdoXZnJZiuU69jMW27oHGxW7BdY-kJDqZtHixjpR7fcnjQ-IrOESL3QrRKiYypos7SHIGfqEATWCEbRPqyJ8C7VL_N57BoQvNTDW0gYfPbMde4Bo_64CN5WuJt6pKtl38YwSuwUjBlpMyKjjaQ8STQu" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1572" data-original-width="1319" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiKhwKGYNe0hrGu_ChM3wvBT0LVTJYDYaCpFH1sSdoXZnJZiuU69jMW27oHGxW7BdY-kJDqZtHixjpR7fcnjQ-IrOESL3QrRKiYypos7SHIGfqEATWCEbRPqyJ8C7VL_N57BoQvNTDW0gYfPbMde4Bo_64CN5WuJt6pKtl38YwSuwUjBlpMyKjjaQ8STQu=w536-h640" width="536" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quiet sunbird!<br />Yellow breast reflecting in<br />my window frames.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3_NP--2UoNIvQPGt2t4ojzUxozGTkyr_ytv6cX8KPKcaJSSKUYp49RaU3zXA50R8SZzcy_j_1WE1SQ5DNMFjMbMw7sffQ4MBJfQIci8Q0RbZjOtmcdp-ZMLQy0PoL4hMeufcpcv21__-2P7lZjd999OfFTtz-TbR59Fh0--Cuux4QyKqBQ_87WJQMU_zk" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2265" data-original-width="1769" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3_NP--2UoNIvQPGt2t4ojzUxozGTkyr_ytv6cX8KPKcaJSSKUYp49RaU3zXA50R8SZzcy_j_1WE1SQ5DNMFjMbMw7sffQ4MBJfQIci8Q0RbZjOtmcdp-ZMLQy0PoL4hMeufcpcv21__-2P7lZjd999OfFTtz-TbR59Fh0--Cuux4QyKqBQ_87WJQMU_zk=w499-h640" width="499" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching sunbird<br />Catching her reflections, in<br />my window panes.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiZeclgmTH9QsdsOaWfFnLgl_yiqwJlOpxzGlyKszXzg3ALb1ulmuSlcn_E2rSfBlRXEYxihZYxCw8Xfk3i_hjsa6Qw3pduZFsoSOBsiEYn9rLqrycTI9B1SRn8FOGL9rwb9fXs1Mv66XyH6SQOIzsufPKkVvJhrhOJmUaZN9g7fNEQeLcO7zxUai21VK47" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2401" data-original-width="2189" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiZeclgmTH9QsdsOaWfFnLgl_yiqwJlOpxzGlyKszXzg3ALb1ulmuSlcn_E2rSfBlRXEYxihZYxCw8Xfk3i_hjsa6Qw3pduZFsoSOBsiEYn9rLqrycTI9B1SRn8FOGL9rwb9fXs1Mv66XyH6SQOIzsufPKkVvJhrhOJmUaZN9g7fNEQeLcO7zxUai21VK47=w584-h640" width="584" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Working moms<br />exchanging glances, through<br />my window frames.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6UE6O3a8ok7THe96g7YlEhRyFsdXLQeCnhbaaw934fG6ZeCkjhpaxjD7AeA_DviCDMlpBxnbDoRYy_vbCFTrFm2lgweTbJH4_NiYXPCcEPFIX9nRE_srKKMcnWNgZmncFdnZ9JeWJUgyBrXvQEGboeQguGD6uTaU0XGsxNEoXPQmUDO7MNXkHrTtnfGRM" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1952" data-original-width="1809" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6UE6O3a8ok7THe96g7YlEhRyFsdXLQeCnhbaaw934fG6ZeCkjhpaxjD7AeA_DviCDMlpBxnbDoRYy_vbCFTrFm2lgweTbJH4_NiYXPCcEPFIX9nRE_srKKMcnWNgZmncFdnZ9JeWJUgyBrXvQEGboeQguGD6uTaU0XGsxNEoXPQmUDO7MNXkHrTtnfGRM=w592-h640" width="592" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A moment's experience<br />a connection in a blink, through<br />those window frames.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Female, Purple-rumped Sunbird <i>Leptocoma zeylonica</i></div><p></p>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-91375446144248427392023-12-14T15:56:00.004+05:302023-12-18T11:38:26.041+05:30The Achaleswar temple at Mt Abu and the fascinating story of the attacking bees<p> 6th December 2023</p><p>Mt Abu</p><p>As usual, I was confused, I had understood that we were going walking to Guru Shikhar, which is the highest point on the Aravallis near Mt Abu, but instead we were here. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAo9hFnKP7iFTIZGxFWPe_m_szD8p_BtsT-_2wnaC20BQaNnAEOA4w8RUZg2mdQ_cNUUyFbQHOV9vr6FiUUtXYYOZkLFymKNzfeOs1ycdlR3X1rx406huKAAC6cQ4KW8_23BmWvySAYr1NGT3RN0CquON_4dGOZYpYFT2iLj_7Joiu2h7zQIrvEabhmq4P" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1524" data-original-width="3290" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAo9hFnKP7iFTIZGxFWPe_m_szD8p_BtsT-_2wnaC20BQaNnAEOA4w8RUZg2mdQ_cNUUyFbQHOV9vr6FiUUtXYYOZkLFymKNzfeOs1ycdlR3X1rx406huKAAC6cQ4KW8_23BmWvySAYr1NGT3RN0CquON_4dGOZYpYFT2iLj_7Joiu2h7zQIrvEabhmq4P=w640-h296" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The colourful elephants at the entrance did not raise my enthusiasm to go in.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgejvmYbuhdvfXLkCrf6qRk8_AP5KNziLXzP4dFoGOGNuyWR03YSRZIvPZxfhZ2jUIQm_shZsD4LCjDo7aGomGl_6ayb5RJxiIYBUWEp0YWj0K5KkMbQpn6r06cKk0VUUUUOLGGHgf70vDvaOI8W7NElb4mDPJ4DZ394-SSLE8GmgmVVLAqYDBynfVfNhc_" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgejvmYbuhdvfXLkCrf6qRk8_AP5KNziLXzP4dFoGOGNuyWR03YSRZIvPZxfhZ2jUIQm_shZsD4LCjDo7aGomGl_6ayb5RJxiIYBUWEp0YWj0K5KkMbQpn6r06cKk0VUUUUOLGGHgf70vDvaOI8W7NElb4mDPJ4DZ394-SSLE8GmgmVVLAqYDBynfVfNhc_=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I peered through the covered tunnel passage to see this. Still not enthused enough to remove shoes and go in, I hung around outside initially until Arjun hurried back out and said that we were being given a history talk of the place by Mr Daivat Singh of Sirohi! </td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWm3R_QDAmYJNM0vXPsNF9d122DTV1LOeHBpwZ8iPkn7oDEIlqaGope-3jfyq2yP1UiUjqYAF0J1m_5aXh8gp2u1qsYgTpUha2w8qKgScbt5mnKV9B3beujXb0_VKqedGvAo9tL4cxC5wWNkY9_ApyMZoyeXvTWAkirs6RCGb_aBzJYGYQndIO6CEODh3w" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3520" data-original-width="1980" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWm3R_QDAmYJNM0vXPsNF9d122DTV1LOeHBpwZ8iPkn7oDEIlqaGope-3jfyq2yP1UiUjqYAF0J1m_5aXh8gp2u1qsYgTpUha2w8qKgScbt5mnKV9B3beujXb0_VKqedGvAo9tL4cxC5wWNkY9_ApyMZoyeXvTWAkirs6RCGb_aBzJYGYQndIO6CEODh3w=w113-h200" width="113" /></a></div>And so in I went and was so glad I did, as we were enthralled with some great storytelling of legend and history of the Achaleswar temple, told with humour, personality and objectivity.</div><div><br /></div><div>The previous night at dinner, Nino, had shared some legends of Mount Abu - Arbuda the serpent who saved Nandi over here, and another one about how Devi Parvati's lips (arbuda) fell here, and hence Arbuda, became Abu....<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhujDEzK3OL7OxW0rUCYxV55heP8a7mP-Zg2CZCn2nYdNpD77yrTb1_jtMGEyiMpOG5qnahYEiR8BhDat52MWcfyQ4BipZPEs3Ah3KsO0Gg8bBHIze4xKS8uhBTmvboJjngtoHUOIHrvWkVH3axp4Ml1vOQsjs9aMQ6epq4IeKGyeOxmyxUifC6iKzb4rhI/s856/Screenshot%202023-12-12%20at%207.08.10%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="856" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhujDEzK3OL7OxW0rUCYxV55heP8a7mP-Zg2CZCn2nYdNpD77yrTb1_jtMGEyiMpOG5qnahYEiR8BhDat52MWcfyQ4BipZPEs3Ah3KsO0Gg8bBHIze4xKS8uhBTmvboJjngtoHUOIHrvWkVH3axp4Ml1vOQsjs9aMQ6epq4IeKGyeOxmyxUifC6iKzb4rhI/s320/Screenshot%202023-12-12%20at%207.08.10%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div></div><div>And now, we heard of the legends related to this temple. The region was prone to tremors and instability and the local chieftains prayed to Kashi Vishwanath, who stabilised the hills by placing one toe...and so it moved from <i>chal</i> to <i>achal</i> or stability. (The deity within is not a typical lingam but a toe like protrusion in a hollow. The hollow is the hole caused by the toe if I got it right, and goes all the way to <i>naraka</i>)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The legendary bees of Mount Abu</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Another Alauddin Khilji story. As he was making his way from Ahmedadabd, his henchmen mentioned about the riches of the temples of Mount Abu, and so up he came with his 1200 plus horsemen, looted Delawara temples and set his sight on Achaleswar. The local warriors were only 100 strong, and decided that rather than dying and causing bloodshed at the temple, to go and meet the incoming troops head on, and so off they went, fighting ferociously - and miraculously the angry bees of Abu came buzzing along and attacked and stung the Khilji forces, and only them...making them turn tail, surrender arms and basically leave the place.</div><div><br /></div><div>I mulled and pondered and decided those must have been those rock bees - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_dorsata"><i>Apis dorsata</i> </a>- the "rajput" bees - aggressive defenders of their territory!</div><div><br /></div><div>The surrendered arms and other weapons were melted into a Trishul and offered at the temple, the account goes. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://indiahikes.com/blog/the-swarm-of-bees-an-adventure-story-from-mt-abu#gref">The bees of the rocks of Mount Abu also caused another hair raising adventure, which I read here</a>.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRHs0RdJ9u3C6lBZrHu7OK9VvQMxTqtTC7aCgGel5SemKwKjQ8zUX5WwmXfuBoMf_TqghfjQ-YNNwmwUbrW4Xdekds0NyLgUjLseIoOcMDqCnWY5DKHhYxjAqvNI92j0fj8sromkiJLNOmI_4QKGSRPQKV5E7C91DlJLq2e6QT7kWQjgCLqPcGppbDD4GA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="6000" data-original-width="4000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRHs0RdJ9u3C6lBZrHu7OK9VvQMxTqtTC7aCgGel5SemKwKjQ8zUX5WwmXfuBoMf_TqghfjQ-YNNwmwUbrW4Xdekds0NyLgUjLseIoOcMDqCnWY5DKHhYxjAqvNI92j0fj8sromkiJLNOmI_4QKGSRPQKV5E7C91DlJLq2e6QT7kWQjgCLqPcGppbDD4GA=w427-h640" width="427" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Re-discovering the beautiful marble carvings</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These marble carvings seen below were hidden behind chunaam and plaster and revealed only in 1979 by accident! Mr Daivat and even Priya remember the chunaam pillars and facades. Some "damage" accidentally displaying what was under. Since then, they have been slowly and carefully cleaned and the beauty revealed.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Whether this was done to protect the pillars from harm or it was an act of careless beautification was unclear. It's quite astonishing how there is so little documentation at institutional level...everything is word of mouth. Quite contrary to the British obsession with classifying and documenting?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCcGXT01kABCOcTvNPT9U6I456umOi1z-8XAC4stBKvh1EhxYHrGLHFhGArViPvZIFhuArx1Nt4-AidbplDmZ5hkMvXquimn6gSr77t_y7GRnNbhOjvabNUNV2MeA5PED_3Pa-y0g7VlXppL84yDK2qPDm7xNlTOTq1cHfBXnQz2joKcQIoWGogBIOg-c5" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCcGXT01kABCOcTvNPT9U6I456umOi1z-8XAC4stBKvh1EhxYHrGLHFhGArViPvZIFhuArx1Nt4-AidbplDmZ5hkMvXquimn6gSr77t_y7GRnNbhOjvabNUNV2MeA5PED_3Pa-y0g7VlXppL84yDK2qPDm7xNlTOTq1cHfBXnQz2joKcQIoWGogBIOg-c5=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I admired the delicate filigree-like rosettes, monkeys, Devis, apsaras and assorted figures around the doorway. Marble slabs, whittled away with perfect artistry.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVCVPiB335FhBR2gloA63oadAyFXqEJ99L0x8VPCmmk3Tevpp9AKxxK13GppHZwwvuudzYBlxS9HRYqG2Pm3BDVOcIQ35sj4-0knm3kwJY7Kv3HnBPpZ8R_gkefS33IrFVvqN5yOLAcWlS2J4-zpQMenlUPALpNcbV6oVNkBnVEQTKA7cFqUGvGa8EW-n9" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVCVPiB335FhBR2gloA63oadAyFXqEJ99L0x8VPCmmk3Tevpp9AKxxK13GppHZwwvuudzYBlxS9HRYqG2Pm3BDVOcIQ35sj4-0knm3kwJY7Kv3HnBPpZ8R_gkefS33IrFVvqN5yOLAcWlS2J4-zpQMenlUPALpNcbV6oVNkBnVEQTKA7cFqUGvGa8EW-n9=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There are two new restored figurines - find them.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaI5MkiV6ToPEbBZYR7k98R2juFFL5z-Eht2fsvJ4F8lIzuLwERVGUOb2E4s2yRgk5ghPEQqWGAVlurB8c6hZV8igQwWQpdGZ-HxEh8M0pQlFLYJOYZVuNAG_ZIIMUXV18Y19NSso5snyX1tVtwM4yvVKfAx3DmVN4UGVWYlzPakE2E_Vp0XLVPsqVvC2E" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaI5MkiV6ToPEbBZYR7k98R2juFFL5z-Eht2fsvJ4F8lIzuLwERVGUOb2E4s2yRgk5ghPEQqWGAVlurB8c6hZV8igQwWQpdGZ-HxEh8M0pQlFLYJOYZVuNAG_ZIIMUXV18Y19NSso5snyX1tVtwM4yvVKfAx3DmVN4UGVWYlzPakE2E_Vp0XLVPsqVvC2E=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And these delicate drawings, with bricks underneath</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLUAS1OP7Izw6aOOjIxudI4in-QI1eQ6QnV6LHTG7bJKM2hLJGwVXPwiStaI__4Hg_xp1Mx2ExydoV576oGa4GAvRsNG82NaFcvEJZOQjwfqycw7OOAQwXtmAkbpzuQ5u5D6eIPQARL1LswUkt5mWlxyP9GsGKuy11IozLVSGQQJ71SghBXiOwz5kEKv9i/s4349/DSC09509.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4349" data-original-width="2665" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLUAS1OP7Izw6aOOjIxudI4in-QI1eQ6QnV6LHTG7bJKM2hLJGwVXPwiStaI__4Hg_xp1Mx2ExydoV576oGa4GAvRsNG82NaFcvEJZOQjwfqycw7OOAQwXtmAkbpzuQ5u5D6eIPQARL1LswUkt5mWlxyP9GsGKuy11IozLVSGQQJ71SghBXiOwz5kEKv9i/w392-h640/DSC09509.jpeg" width="392" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was fascinated with this lovely couple - welcoming smiles - a Very Greek beard (according to me). Is this Agni, and is that a lightning bolt in his hand, I wondered... hmm but no potbelly of Agni, the ears look like that of a Learned man...so anyways I do not know who he or the beautiful lady are.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1MfNlDoB8mmGlryHiVOLtTzGfvM-K9HaKprc_h7MNh9pjQ8jikn4IiNjbe5C9K0FWs2oVb-SFLOq08Cjz3jGRJp6NxSY1VnHDdJ6Gj8-dBU4_f8dvbhRuQX1ljF7c2cdjWCqheBKyxJ3USsWLEEYhchpJ4HtMROe7GJLzEFE2l3ea0pY05KrSo5Q_6mSf" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="6000" data-original-width="4000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1MfNlDoB8mmGlryHiVOLtTzGfvM-K9HaKprc_h7MNh9pjQ8jikn4IiNjbe5C9K0FWs2oVb-SFLOq08Cjz3jGRJp6NxSY1VnHDdJ6Gj8-dBU4_f8dvbhRuQX1ljF7c2cdjWCqheBKyxJ3USsWLEEYhchpJ4HtMROe7GJLzEFE2l3ea0pY05KrSo5Q_6mSf=w427-h640" width="427" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I loved the aesthetics of this. The arms of the dancers bring a movement, and made my eye travel upwards.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4S3LVF_Ek_2axNVTZFa_pgSe2GmAmobX-DrdZkZIze9YyslK0n2Z3rgXKR4wXDdlIeIbk4JOMIjSD2FD3O5IofzTHy9bBJrFPmV9bCgNCZHONQsbTWSGZ1HNjVjAaP1l1DwX1aVEHklLm4wVmpf0COj11B7BKw3zvS3Fyq7cTVNzcD_iVJYawNGPgGbaO" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4S3LVF_Ek_2axNVTZFa_pgSe2GmAmobX-DrdZkZIze9YyslK0n2Z3rgXKR4wXDdlIeIbk4JOMIjSD2FD3O5IofzTHy9bBJrFPmV9bCgNCZHONQsbTWSGZ1HNjVjAaP1l1DwX1aVEHklLm4wVmpf0COj11B7BKw3zvS3Fyq7cTVNzcD_iVJYawNGPgGbaO=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OK, now this waist is unreal.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqZLAyUncc24fVcwf5Kx_BFVNWEpFOD4R-BL22ly-emxjgmKQZbeReKUyyg3T9NEd8W2GGtwmtT9S3cX4iO24p41P3oMAjt0KYrAeOP35QlGLWgIFwSfENjY3TPp64SAByGU7uq_-vxxFZ5vyGHzUlcOpAT_ExbNGenn33HBdLb7ELx2HyTHU3SqMPrgV5" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqZLAyUncc24fVcwf5Kx_BFVNWEpFOD4R-BL22ly-emxjgmKQZbeReKUyyg3T9NEd8W2GGtwmtT9S3cX4iO24p41P3oMAjt0KYrAeOP35QlGLWgIFwSfENjY3TPp64SAByGU7uq_-vxxFZ5vyGHzUlcOpAT_ExbNGenn33HBdLb7ELx2HyTHU3SqMPrgV5=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2q-XzBklFS7fES3X-wKQBEOAvBMCRPJwvSAdY4Nnyd20YJIgB83YG-LzjHoxLJOgcc8gP_Pqi4Ns1T-D-FX581IyOSn-81LGGWAHwjznoCLRspNTa-HrGydO5eYIIdu0l35FAAtcX5fbeudfw9bud0rxa1nm7PkgUGTiPLgnAxcq2DQrWijLiH5fSAIfv" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2992" data-original-width="3100" height="617" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2q-XzBklFS7fES3X-wKQBEOAvBMCRPJwvSAdY4Nnyd20YJIgB83YG-LzjHoxLJOgcc8gP_Pqi4Ns1T-D-FX581IyOSn-81LGGWAHwjznoCLRspNTa-HrGydO5eYIIdu0l35FAAtcX5fbeudfw9bud0rxa1nm7PkgUGTiPLgnAxcq2DQrWijLiH5fSAIfv=w640-h617" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There was a crooked house...In today's context...Koteswar would be appropriate.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPwpeAeqQ838x4Q0LRcMSqzQjrDXmiNujC9cQ3YktJXJNfTx1Ucx0rSLMa1NZIrodvrYEoybd1f3z2XJIiM8lOiY0GGTmcFCpXEesSpe9Wr9R0mM12EPobh2JjqYoIHajhekfAGhCaw_7JXNFZLQiyrS_Iag6vuy_ONbhHpceIt1LKmmJge2FiVmkNIC8c" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1934" data-original-width="3656" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPwpeAeqQ838x4Q0LRcMSqzQjrDXmiNujC9cQ3YktJXJNfTx1Ucx0rSLMa1NZIrodvrYEoybd1f3z2XJIiM8lOiY0GGTmcFCpXEesSpe9Wr9R0mM12EPobh2JjqYoIHajhekfAGhCaw_7JXNFZLQiyrS_Iag6vuy_ONbhHpceIt1LKmmJge2FiVmkNIC8c=w640-h338" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEilRqGdR1IAA2iQWh_P1jrs2vOh7GQWm9_QQbQHx6H7gBkgE9PyrQkjwjTCqzYhmZiOC60nAQc1GHFdxTt4ciHrp9ufsKbHMntY-mVt91vc_DYyo4XUalVDMVzBLyylidavKKAgU5zFVF8aRnU7buF8IA6W0OdD_CnLoSKL1DZdviTQmnsYTidCXftNxmaQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="6000" data-original-width="4000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEilRqGdR1IAA2iQWh_P1jrs2vOh7GQWm9_QQbQHx6H7gBkgE9PyrQkjwjTCqzYhmZiOC60nAQc1GHFdxTt4ciHrp9ufsKbHMntY-mVt91vc_DYyo4XUalVDMVzBLyylidavKKAgU5zFVF8aRnU7buF8IA6W0OdD_CnLoSKL1DZdviTQmnsYTidCXftNxmaQ=w427-h640" width="427" /></a></div><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMUWlGmCa3Bpwc4qpeFvG8FYgFDjrC087UAEkOxeckFoGZUFuvHIOwFNK4CsHGyzkJIXx_KRpQNcwMfM0FHmjb3c2mP8Omrb0UhokQZpLsUu9-LYud7MY-2FYUAiza4Lb68UdE4wrWgxMxuLeW46iBYt8idX_k0RQWvnfzNNtTeHM_mFPZuFUlXpcvKEiz" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMUWlGmCa3Bpwc4qpeFvG8FYgFDjrC087UAEkOxeckFoGZUFuvHIOwFNK4CsHGyzkJIXx_KRpQNcwMfM0FHmjb3c2mP8Omrb0UhokQZpLsUu9-LYud7MY-2FYUAiza4Lb68UdE4wrWgxMxuLeW46iBYt8idX_k0RQWvnfzNNtTeHM_mFPZuFUlXpcvKEiz=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Achalgarh fort..way up there.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2qwDOdaU-XkT7AtKxA2bbzFK3XvT97zTurABH1Cy8yNCrOkGQpeaT1rkbCvfgHeOsPDHZaB8lPqBWpynIALDt01U-Q9yGuUVQAbkFXnrwQ_Ltndbc81adH02kvzZ39hax11l63-HUu5-lSLF25lFtDR0ZFEfqIgce4dlNxws2qFgu3jNwg2qAo_Flz-5f/s4032/IMG_3360.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2qwDOdaU-XkT7AtKxA2bbzFK3XvT97zTurABH1Cy8yNCrOkGQpeaT1rkbCvfgHeOsPDHZaB8lPqBWpynIALDt01U-Q9yGuUVQAbkFXnrwQ_Ltndbc81adH02kvzZ39hax11l63-HUu5-lSLF25lFtDR0ZFEfqIgce4dlNxws2qFgu3jNwg2qAo_Flz-5f/w640-h480/IMG_3360.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">And so we emerged out from the 13th century again, back to 21st century India, greeted by a different kind of Nandi, </span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikZKUDXZGUlqcIzFmef-Fb1s95Q9Ax4oTU5zXrHYnOAUkeXAieK45ceXMl9ZiPC3mcicE-oSYkJQVt8phcE5TuROwYaj6SUjXJVElf5EX-9ApSwCV3efevE8h7iF0ut5HR091i6YAFmwaHD1bnQLQYk96rmtgbFE3kzrNUO1b42Cx8UUaRFu25lKxMTYtz" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikZKUDXZGUlqcIzFmef-Fb1s95Q9Ax4oTU5zXrHYnOAUkeXAieK45ceXMl9ZiPC3mcicE-oSYkJQVt8phcE5TuROwYaj6SUjXJVElf5EX-9ApSwCV3efevE8h7iF0ut5HR091i6YAFmwaHD1bnQLQYk96rmtgbFE3kzrNUO1b42Cx8UUaRFu25lKxMTYtz=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">and Lucky's Wax </span>Museum! </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Anyways, the moral of this story for me was never judge a temple by the well meaning beautifications outside.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKD-OG6KdBLmPMCWL9qC_rcJTbvLJxTGZHD-gJM8cooJSi0Dvd63_Yhst2TG5srH_aT1oxoS8hNhAKROUXamdzpWo8GCCg0QEqbJp2Wg7S8gJK3lN_T_4nrJeu9oiVElnySgZY1t22VmOSzC2oW9MP1bexg25ucHbcNQSo4_yvF2tdEK0ZkaZWMkwnBoz/s4032/IMG_3357.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKD-OG6KdBLmPMCWL9qC_rcJTbvLJxTGZHD-gJM8cooJSi0Dvd63_Yhst2TG5srH_aT1oxoS8hNhAKROUXamdzpWo8GCCg0QEqbJp2Wg7S8gJK3lN_T_4nrJeu9oiVElnySgZY1t22VmOSzC2oW9MP1bexg25ucHbcNQSo4_yvF2tdEK0ZkaZWMkwnBoz/w640-h480/IMG_3357.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We wound our way up some beautiful Aravali landscapes - scrubby, with small lakes in the valleys.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>We shared a ride with Arjun and Gapi in their little chariot that Arjun hustled around the hill curves with skill and casual ease (while I kind of hung on) - we were now up on our way to Guru Shikar - the highest point in the vicinity, where we encountered further 21st century Indian architecture and garbage (lack of) management.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NEvao4GYD5ifiylvOyFQt32H3yLuSASOk1KimdY9ibyvnmHMVFZgbu7cNlAXiCbaka9BNc80eYqLF3DAngseKBAoNLF_Je8EbVSlNFiZUN2mMvJTberc6O38sy3KL6X_c8Nj5lU0jhcIV9Nplo8rL7bazKjmjMe11_s2wwPO83A0OHy6LRyu3R-9KG5q/s6000/DSC09527.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NEvao4GYD5ifiylvOyFQt32H3yLuSASOk1KimdY9ibyvnmHMVFZgbu7cNlAXiCbaka9BNc80eYqLF3DAngseKBAoNLF_Je8EbVSlNFiZUN2mMvJTberc6O38sy3KL6X_c8Nj5lU0jhcIV9Nplo8rL7bazKjmjMe11_s2wwPO83A0OHy6LRyu3R-9KG5q/w640-h426/DSC09527.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhltvmBRDLHGKa5L_Kh4XA8TKN0gFPnO3q-rMG2ORJ8Ww9hNo5afvb__P5gN5jzeUI3OIfFjaUtdkokC_WOse9CVgAyscW5HC5SLv_6deavxGECqaNkyGfTQ_0gE_6BZFyBFkQbLeUnOQy7pVJfoR9MJoJhsT0BQgDuTgVRsnrpogE2mUvwKgWvV3McOmVg/s6000/DSC09529.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhltvmBRDLHGKa5L_Kh4XA8TKN0gFPnO3q-rMG2ORJ8Ww9hNo5afvb__P5gN5jzeUI3OIfFjaUtdkokC_WOse9CVgAyscW5HC5SLv_6deavxGECqaNkyGfTQ_0gE_6BZFyBFkQbLeUnOQy7pVJfoR9MJoJhsT0BQgDuTgVRsnrpogE2mUvwKgWvV3McOmVg/w640-h426/DSC09529.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was advisable to keep one's eyes on the distant vistas and admire the spectacular views.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>In averting my gaze from the foreground muck, I almost missed the Brown Rock Chat sitting on the rock and posing this way and that. She cheered me up, but also made me feel so shameful...how we spoil things for every creature on this planet, uff!</div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://www.wordsworthlodge.com/accomodations">The delightful Wordsworth L</a>odge was where we headed for lunch. The website has the Wordsworth story in a nutshell. Some lovely pictures too.</b></div><div><div></div><blockquote><div><i>There is a romantic history behind this lovely Boutique Hotel, hidden on a forested foothill of Gurushikar, the tallest mountain in the Aravali Range. In 1965, an English woman named Diana Wordsworth, a collateral descendant of the poet William Wordsworth, travelled to India to work on a film about the Ganga and fell in love with the country and with a colonel in the Indian Army, Buddha Sen. The couple resolved to retire together and began a search for a likely spot in one hill station or another. At a chance meeting with Fateh Singh Rathore, who would one day become India’s best-known defender of the tiger but was then a young game ranger stationed at Mount Abu, he suggested they consider Rajasthan’s best-known hill station, instead.</i></div><div><i></i></div><div><i>He helped them find the perfect spot on which to build their home. It was designed to complement the unique landscape by a rising young Mumbai architect named Rumy Shroff, but Fateh helped with every aspect of its construction. Sadly, the colonel passed away before the house was finished and when Diana Wordsworth died in 1984 she left it to Fateh whom she had come to see as her surrogate son.</i></div><div><i></i></div><div><i>Now, Fateh’s son, Dr. Goverdhan Singh Rathore, has lovingly restored and renovated Wordsworth Lodge so that visitors can experience for themselves the spectacular views and serene natural surroundings just as they were more than half a century ago.</i></div></blockquote><p>I sunk into a chair on the verandah surrounded by trees, breathed the foresty air and watched.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Se8f8wec19Q6nUMQBI1oy-IqdSgOFRpgC81Pn6CjvhP6L6DUuTjEjCAvEMpPL0OZz5pHKRdlVsZsaujx5MimUqCf72NINLVqIfrDFBcEGXL9I-WnZDbZYoGhgV1kNL0xGF4KL70YPyT7T-KoXPtfCe_tIzlVWF5KIqkhqZJXsg_2y4CTRK0N416rQPu9/s4032/IMG_3334.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Se8f8wec19Q6nUMQBI1oy-IqdSgOFRpgC81Pn6CjvhP6L6DUuTjEjCAvEMpPL0OZz5pHKRdlVsZsaujx5MimUqCf72NINLVqIfrDFBcEGXL9I-WnZDbZYoGhgV1kNL0xGF4KL70YPyT7T-KoXPtfCe_tIzlVWF5KIqkhqZJXsg_2y4CTRK0N416rQPu9/w480-h640/IMG_3334.jpeg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was also being watched. A grey langur mother and baby stared, alert to danger.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKD2bOuYunVvNugOi2b9M3k0jdK-hbJxHurMkXomeqiEfjuIUtnDo82qRLy6tQUi8qjSo3lx-PyyDzojS3zBLPCnReY-5g5LUYn2siVRZpP-VOd1hGHhBFRCkTHJV-lRXhpdHmXBH6u_e0SfGAc7xX56pXKHSf06Chgh0TEGTJqiFa16F-epWhl0alwXh1/s4032/IMG_3379.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKD2bOuYunVvNugOi2b9M3k0jdK-hbJxHurMkXomeqiEfjuIUtnDo82qRLy6tQUi8qjSo3lx-PyyDzojS3zBLPCnReY-5g5LUYn2siVRZpP-VOd1hGHhBFRCkTHJV-lRXhpdHmXBH6u_e0SfGAc7xX56pXKHSf06Chgh0TEGTJqiFa16F-epWhl0alwXh1/w480-h640/IMG_3379.jpeg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Treepie watched, hoping for some morsels.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='452' height='375' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz6nPBN_WCVXd4uHHDp4hhfaEYirjCjeLzY3pO-voZ9f9UOO2mv1S9hnYciRfy47qjL7-Vb9gfTzRibGPD8mA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p>And it was on to lunch - and then much confusion about walking or driving to Trevor Tal, or back to the hotel etc etc.</p><p><br /></p><p> </p><div></div></div>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-20444322203893919882023-12-12T19:55:00.001+05:302023-12-12T19:55:24.807+05:30The history of Mount Abu as told by Mr Daivat Singh Deora <iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/pc_lAG8F2ac?si=rPsyXHSDIo12x5wj" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>I wondered how Mount Abu had all those princely houses clustered together, and I discovered this video with an explanation.</div><div><br /></div><div>We met Mr Daivat Singh and his lovely wife Kirti, and enjoyed their gracious hospitality and tremendous food on our visit to Kesar Bhawan as well. What an enchanting evening that was - a gracious setting that is Kesar Bhawan.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.hkbp.in/facilities.php">Pictures of the Bhawan here.</a></div><div><blockquote>"<i>Kesar Bhawan Palace was built in the year 1868 A.D. by His Highness Maharajadhiraj Maharao Umed Singhji of Sirohi. It has been converted into an eco-friendly heritage hotel by Maharaj Daivat Singh of Sirohi whose ancestor Maharao Lumbha conquered the hill of Abu in the year 1311 A.D. and brought the area in the domain of the princely State of Sirohi, which was founded in the year 1206 A.D. by Rao Manning Rai."</i></blockquote><p>I was so busy savouring the delicious fare that I did not photograph the evidence of those lovely fresh green puris whose name I don't remember, the unique smoky khadi, hot missi rotis....and the large array of desserts not eaten.</p><p> </p></div>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-9236776086779483832023-12-10T12:59:00.000+05:302023-12-10T12:59:00.537+05:30Rainforests finally gain a friend<div>Paying to keep forests intact - that idea I like. An economic value to protecting natural reserves is probably the way forward?</div><div><br /></div><a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/12/02/rainforests-provide-a-global-public-good-so-the-world-should-pay-to-conserve-them?utm_campaign=r.science-newsletter&utm_medium=email.internal-newsletter.np&utm_source=salesforce-marketing-cloud&utm_term=12/6/2023&utm_id=1833025">Rainforests provide a public good. The world should pay to conserve them</a><div><br /></div><div><div></div></div><blockquote><div><div>At last, good news from the Brazilian Amazon. In the first eight months of 2023, the pace of deforestation has fallen by nearly 50% compared with last year. This reflects a change of government. Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s president from 2019 to 2022, was an outspoken chum of the loggers and ranchers who are slicing down and burning the rainforest. Not only did he make no effort to stop them; he went out of his way to hobble the agencies charged with policing environmental crimes.</div></div></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote><div><div>His ejection by voters last year gave the Amazon a much-needed respite. His successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, actually cares about conservation. As we report this week, gun-toting federal agents are once again making a serious effort to shut down illegal mining operations and blow up their equipment.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>But muscle, on its own, is not enough. To establish something resembling the rule of law in the Amazon, Lula is trying to clarify who owns it. This is long overdue. Currently, at least 22 separate Brazilian agencies register land claims there. They barely talk to each other, so vast swathes of the forest are subject to overlapping claims. And a whopping 29% of the Brazilian Amazon is “undesignated”, meaning it is public land but no one has decided whether it should be a nature reserve, an indigenous reserve, or something else.</div><div><br /></div><div>Deforestation tends to be worst in areas where property rights are hazy. A lack of clarity about who owns a plot of forest makes it harder to assign blame for torching it. And a tradition of local officials tolerating land-grabbing encourages more of it. Ranchers seek to establish facts on the ground by chopping down trees, burning the undergrowth and putting cows on the newly created pasture. Many hope that even if their actions are illegal, they will eventually be recognised as the owners of the land, because this has often happened in the past.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lula is trying to change these incentives. He is pushing to designate undesignated land as protected, and to integrate all the property registers into one coherent system. It is a huge task, involving clever use of satellite data and digital technology. It is also politically fraught, since many state and local politicians are cosy with the farming and wildcat mining lobbies and will jealously guard their influence over how land is apportioned. But it is an essential step towards imposing order on one of Earth’s most important biomes. The Amazon is a huge carbon store, a treasure vault of biodiversity and an essential regulator of the rainfall that feeds South America. Losing it would be a global catastrophe–and scientists fear it may be near a “tipping point”, when so much forest has disappeared that the water cycle that sustains it breaks down.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Which is why the rest of the world should help pay to preserve it. At the cop on December 1st, Lula asked for money to give local people in developing countries economic alternatives to cutting down rainforests. His environment minister outlined an ambitious plan: a $250bn fund that would pay a fixed sum per hectare of forest to countries that prevent their forests from shrinking more than a very small amount each year. The funding for this, Brazil hopes, would come from sovereign wealth funds. Several African leaders are making similar appeals, some involving debt relief in return for nature conservation.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lula is unlikely to raise $250bn—it is far more than has been offered before. And not all the governments asking for cash are likely to spend it wisely. But there is a decent chance that Brazil could make good use of external financing, which it sorely needs. No amount of enforcement will stop people from chopping down trees if they see no other way of making a living—illegal miners whose equipment is blown up by the environmental police may simply go to work on beef farms carved out of the rainforest. Also, if Lula’s efforts to save the trees are all stick and no carrot, he is more likely to lose the next election to a more Bolsonaro-like rival. So rich countries should chip in. And Brazil, for its part, should be more open to foreign advice, expertise and help on the ground than it has been in the past. It is not too late to save the Amazon, but the clock hands are whirring like the teeth of a chainsaw. ■</div></div></blockquote><div><div></div></div>flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13583733876810341137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-72000763700509848952023-12-09T19:45:00.002+05:302023-12-09T19:45:20.406+05:30Birding at Mt Abu<p> </p><p><a href="https://ebird.org/india/checklist/S155773969">5th December - grounds of the Lake Palace Hotel</a></p><p>This was midday after we checked in - we had the place to ourselves and wandered down to the little pons at the entrance.</p><p><br /></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYi-ozumrLFldOua-GDJ3mWlUXc_byLZ1Zl1Q_s1ntg4PoWp18q1-YONM4PHtDdy1bQNNBw12knDUr5F1b6n058mvfkY-ywV1OsH-Cz0areLH-2Tvx_Ojzbjy0571UaXS2HUhRD9g_jRURerlTUneQKIwYvLe0h07oR8onw52F7SJEZ77RoJBmZGC7pibR/s4032/IMG_3316.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYi-ozumrLFldOua-GDJ3mWlUXc_byLZ1Zl1Q_s1ntg4PoWp18q1-YONM4PHtDdy1bQNNBw12knDUr5F1b6n058mvfkY-ywV1OsH-Cz0areLH-2Tvx_Ojzbjy0571UaXS2HUhRD9g_jRURerlTUneQKIwYvLe0h07oR8onw52F7SJEZ77RoJBmZGC7pibR/w640-h480/IMG_3316.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue skies and clean air...we hung on to that - so precious. Michaung had finally blown away from Chennai, after dumping some 430mm of water in 35 hours, we read. </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>The city was more or less submerged. The water and lakes had reclaimed what was rightfully theirs. Where could we pump the water - it would go from this street to the next... </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5nMKjl-5SPRQOHgScwBCfPCwQMTAUgoQb0iO1aGcYJ0hTZIRvpk_YmltYNpmQMcIJh3Xw_8p61hcPTFbtKST1OEk3_ME0eWVDBM24SZVz9pFq0XBSVd_6tbUFLgrrLix3EOP82o9enIfPNnhAEL-lEqNt_IB8rh65luhfVEmJiPKCUuVP01ATsuEUCvTf/s4032/IMG_3328.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5nMKjl-5SPRQOHgScwBCfPCwQMTAUgoQb0iO1aGcYJ0hTZIRvpk_YmltYNpmQMcIJh3Xw_8p61hcPTFbtKST1OEk3_ME0eWVDBM24SZVz9pFq0XBSVd_6tbUFLgrrLix3EOP82o9enIfPNnhAEL-lEqNt_IB8rh65luhfVEmJiPKCUuVP01ATsuEUCvTf/w640-h480/IMG_3328.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was hard to comprehend that nightmare while we were here.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCn0cn4qqCnx-tnoC6mmJTs83eGlbIo7aRz_gHosUj6GXrqI4yv9u0MDkISB3EKrZr_Kqyv7X6RC8Nw6Ov0qMk7copzoG85Dr0OhuTA95BGo8GBo4AjUanioLnDPCaen8wFp4dZDFNaQgK1lxAWFCNzruEBVL7usnRYgHFOpRlM7mjQF2jaHZiZHSp6nnC/s4032/IMG_3329.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCn0cn4qqCnx-tnoC6mmJTs83eGlbIo7aRz_gHosUj6GXrqI4yv9u0MDkISB3EKrZr_Kqyv7X6RC8Nw6Ov0qMk7copzoG85Dr0OhuTA95BGo8GBo4AjUanioLnDPCaen8wFp4dZDFNaQgK1lxAWFCNzruEBVL7usnRYgHFOpRlM7mjQF2jaHZiZHSp6nnC/w480-h640/IMG_3329.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9E_Kg9Iu6-mrk63YDD4QQFY5pzkuI2q9lk4q5gknUIVklSbA6QOGKur2n9pAJM-qid9OtNo2gWgxVbUptQnE3Gl23g8-aq6DiCPlZK5gbdWf2F61JBT9vL9JXyXdRimu8UaZSN5df_jM81mresEs0VL5Bh7YZyDL49P8Ez8KnUiXY2OiMaAx9GpK24Kop/s4032/IMG_3330.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9E_Kg9Iu6-mrk63YDD4QQFY5pzkuI2q9lk4q5gknUIVklSbA6QOGKur2n9pAJM-qid9OtNo2gWgxVbUptQnE3Gl23g8-aq6DiCPlZK5gbdWf2F61JBT9vL9JXyXdRimu8UaZSN5df_jM81mresEs0VL5Bh7YZyDL49P8Ez8KnUiXY2OiMaAx9GpK24Kop/w640-h480/IMG_3330.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The little lake where we saw wagtail and lapwings on the rocks and moorhens in the water. Not much else though.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuEyNE-Ega5eCQidvgqaZVb_IKyyyS4oJ81phcXzmaFai8v2-DrPse2MBT2W9MW9X-bSmgnH07ezs2-R7A6tLsowqotkGbTckKiJ8QsRbh-z5Q-F-TVZjg3dhDl7o3D1lVfTi3qaIFCCV8btKgVNb-xr2kYCk6AOFjkG6_gIcuDnZCqAA-ZllZ_iz0Kkaq/s1371/IMG_3331.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1371" data-original-width="1201" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuEyNE-Ega5eCQidvgqaZVb_IKyyyS4oJ81phcXzmaFai8v2-DrPse2MBT2W9MW9X-bSmgnH07ezs2-R7A6tLsowqotkGbTckKiJ8QsRbh-z5Q-F-TVZjg3dhDl7o3D1lVfTi3qaIFCCV8btKgVNb-xr2kYCk6AOFjkG6_gIcuDnZCqAA-ZllZ_iz0Kkaq/s320/IMG_3331.jpeg" width="280" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ivJVQIyLq9UinnxsZQxm-aHOboU-DzWxOELLNpPiDHwsc_QQzB4TQb5hYWmtnS0Y_jqOFAMx2nglZitYQnwK9poIpoKdCMaMOB66CDXUPgw4EwH16jhLjZOOevmDzJRkdsqkljZb1SPcjXGBFScURinplfWLsQBdDdsTFLRKV7IeODICdl5TrCpeBawt/s4032/IMG_3337.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ivJVQIyLq9UinnxsZQxm-aHOboU-DzWxOELLNpPiDHwsc_QQzB4TQb5hYWmtnS0Y_jqOFAMx2nglZitYQnwK9poIpoKdCMaMOB66CDXUPgw4EwH16jhLjZOOevmDzJRkdsqkljZb1SPcjXGBFScURinplfWLsQBdDdsTFLRKV7IeODICdl5TrCpeBawt/w640-h480/IMG_3337.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nakki lake "baba" carriages.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5LY5hwTZqHZplAQV8waaBfYE2TXVMAB5I9Wqg5aCGIzkeaqpHlK4mAGZyxBUtNdPHOuHQfubAp7kjGnbipmBNGMDnaUe7RChIbWe-K1EFgIoz_iS6jdOgP1c0aB28UtZkp_Vw-wnyUAjMp63qsQeN5KPDZXp-F3-dSGN_WOVeZFHBmOEl6H_9zc_ED3GZ/s4032/IMG_3338.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5LY5hwTZqHZplAQV8waaBfYE2TXVMAB5I9Wqg5aCGIzkeaqpHlK4mAGZyxBUtNdPHOuHQfubAp7kjGnbipmBNGMDnaUe7RChIbWe-K1EFgIoz_iS6jdOgP1c0aB28UtZkp_Vw-wnyUAjMp63qsQeN5KPDZXp-F3-dSGN_WOVeZFHBmOEl6H_9zc_ED3GZ/w640-h480/IMG_3338.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nakki lake in the evening setting sun. Nice and peaceful, not too much bird life. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuSnC1ZnL1aySYDO345JZ82dRL43x9KMmF7FpbMTxUvRR0Wk9CbuJ6q2KVZojIG7zVp5MkbCv9dPCgtzq5pC5PcZwEniVyiDPk-jFL4kuVnVrHDigc4zKbOaE4_OSflFb_X1Xs4T2aBQ4dM4aPHolB0AExUBBMZHW8SE5k-xAK5zImMJOMsf2R81Qfgv8I/s4032/IMG_3339.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuSnC1ZnL1aySYDO345JZ82dRL43x9KMmF7FpbMTxUvRR0Wk9CbuJ6q2KVZojIG7zVp5MkbCv9dPCgtzq5pC5PcZwEniVyiDPk-jFL4kuVnVrHDigc4zKbOaE4_OSflFb_X1Xs4T2aBQ4dM4aPHolB0AExUBBMZHW8SE5k-xAK5zImMJOMsf2R81Qfgv8I/w640-h480/IMG_3339.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gandhi's ashes immersed here - I read online - dont know if it is accurate - but there is this Gandhi "ghat".</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDalQiKydaRHyYiFL-NJGlLNfgXN2qPgVMhKFwpHnhOJjREcx97AkjqQ9rQ1JRE6QrcuY7Gju0MP_TCtBDkMsC-grAXFHq5hAYQt8MGCfHLP4wNDr05SkoVMLtj5sIxK3nC7v3OXmKQra5nT9EGlMWBsl1zO_ehyAks_-iwnYCIBnydTZxTJthwF91ny9L/s4032/IMG_3340.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDalQiKydaRHyYiFL-NJGlLNfgXN2qPgVMhKFwpHnhOJjREcx97AkjqQ9rQ1JRE6QrcuY7Gju0MP_TCtBDkMsC-grAXFHq5hAYQt8MGCfHLP4wNDr05SkoVMLtj5sIxK3nC7v3OXmKQra5nT9EGlMWBsl1zO_ehyAks_-iwnYCIBnydTZxTJthwF91ny9L/w640-h480/IMG_3340.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toad Rock - behind the palms reminded me of the RV rocks and their names.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMi7YP7n8EnQZTYoaQcJaJ727NEcZPxeTS1Z69JG7R1Vu8JMp1yagP_2-jh0VHRDnpFMhrsq9pWS4Uzk3ugaDjS-k5Pk00YZJoEm33HG6OPdigqr_wxNviecaGbn3u7kEPI83X_uaEpnXiE0BJJe2e30uYGUAWC-duUpvgpvGULV93hCPeoTd8mSyE50OW/s4032/IMG_3346.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMi7YP7n8EnQZTYoaQcJaJ727NEcZPxeTS1Z69JG7R1Vu8JMp1yagP_2-jh0VHRDnpFMhrsq9pWS4Uzk3ugaDjS-k5Pk00YZJoEm33HG6OPdigqr_wxNviecaGbn3u7kEPI83X_uaEpnXiE0BJJe2e30uYGUAWC-duUpvgpvGULV93hCPeoTd8mSyE50OW/w640-h480/IMG_3346.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The palace all lit up the we returned. A beautiful sight</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><a href="https://ebird.org/india/checklist/S155821971">Wed 6 Dec 2023 8:14 AM checklist</a> - Indian yellow Tits and Oriental Turtle Doves were the highlight of my morning stroll.</p><p><a href="https://ebird.org/india/checklist/S155875876">7th December </a>- The red-breasted flycatcher flitted among the trees, in the morning, and <a href="https://ebird.org/india/checklist/S155883528">a brown-headed barbet called in the evening</a>. </p><div>We did not see the Green munia - despite searching for it at two locations.</div><p><a href="https://ebird.org/checklist/S156002036">Trevor's Tank list. </a></p>flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13583733876810341137noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-27890140976715046252023-12-09T18:16:00.003+05:302023-12-10T10:33:21.551+05:30All it takes is a few trees - Mumbai birds<a href="https://ebird.org/india/checklist/S155638284">eBird India Checklist - 3 Dec 2023 - Dosti flamingo complex - 14 species</a><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUzjS9wEiGYjDfHCxkrX1xv702A-MaTs1H1ox8wJ_HqJPXhUAlPniH3nX3PwD3d-X8cjRps6ThiOqcFdv_ERdwb9kUA-F6-7Ylxyd-nKVlm3ojNnqlUI73QzkH3Ql_lcQntK1arsjm9vNBrSVpewBVpKUVJ5sIs-ROgSHq2B4OB4s0wt24dBHKtddanu7B" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1138" data-original-width="854" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUzjS9wEiGYjDfHCxkrX1xv702A-MaTs1H1ox8wJ_HqJPXhUAlPniH3nX3PwD3d-X8cjRps6ThiOqcFdv_ERdwb9kUA-F6-7Ylxyd-nKVlm3ojNnqlUI73QzkH3Ql_lcQntK1arsjm9vNBrSVpewBVpKUVJ5sIs-ROgSHq2B4OB4s0wt24dBHKtddanu7B=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I didn't see the flamingos since the Sewri spot is now inaccessible. </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Dosti flamingo complex</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">03-Dec-2023</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">6:46 PM</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Traveling</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">2.01 km</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">66 Minutes</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">All birds reported? Yes</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Comments: Empty plots around have fig trees</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">30 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">1 Asian Koel</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">6 Black Kite</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">1 Coppersmith Barbet</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">1 Alexandrine Parakeet</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">7 Rose-ringed Parakeet</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">1 Spot-breasted Fantail (White-spotted Fantail)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">9 House Crow</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">2 Common Tailorbird</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">1 Blyth's Reed Warbler</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">2 Red-vented Bulbul</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">5 Purple-rumped Sunbird</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">6 Indian Silverbill (White-throated Munia)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">25 House Sparrow</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Number of Taxa: 14</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">In the heart of Sewri, it just takes a couple of fig trees and a Jackfruit to create a little haven for birds, it seems. </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">The Alexandrine, the Silverbills and the fantail were such a delight. </span><br /><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh0u9zXZQl3xYnWwE6erRVMZs4PTtklXcbnye0TIWMHH82wsyeRAaFZPINTYM7LM5pQ9oHh_lY68UY68ILCzH8sOLeMgf2n2MKloCdjQZLUjaJmvVHDAx7vhUaMUGQhiGhInR86UeF7Xx_wf-0eHDjdhKEGImURuFCXebg7gVQDUaaEOU5R0v97gQUdmwJW" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1138" data-original-width="853" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh0u9zXZQl3xYnWwE6erRVMZs4PTtklXcbnye0TIWMHH82wsyeRAaFZPINTYM7LM5pQ9oHh_lY68UY68ILCzH8sOLeMgf2n2MKloCdjQZLUjaJmvVHDAx7vhUaMUGQhiGhInR86UeF7Xx_wf-0eHDjdhKEGImURuFCXebg7gVQDUaaEOU5R0v97gQUdmwJW" width="180" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A <i>Mocis frugalis</i> - Sugarcane Looper -Identified via iNaturalist - spent the night on our room curtain.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6W_ij9VTWBjVUUBCeErS81xzCHJXxIjah7ndfLse-jCm5fP6oD6VgT3T7nTZ4FHx-gVqaq0NvUV_POwLRfq5WIK9YNh3x8MaeO1nBS8ACcJFASBpt-FOozF2IBPLo06lJTaP0uKbtbgOjjMxYlPOEW6cr0W2uMV38hPQq4uih7TOos4XblewsPOnOcKuS" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6W_ij9VTWBjVUUBCeErS81xzCHJXxIjah7ndfLse-jCm5fP6oD6VgT3T7nTZ4FHx-gVqaq0NvUV_POwLRfq5WIK9YNh3x8MaeO1nBS8ACcJFASBpt-FOozF2IBPLo06lJTaP0uKbtbgOjjMxYlPOEW6cr0W2uMV38hPQq4uih7TOos4XblewsPOnOcKuS" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6yQg2cvsyYr0COW-yWYhOdi9N3JMTN4X7GApTlNENb0YJhbkhXwU5bH13OVa9o0RQOim_gMFdiAWqxI2uzrxE6jO6bCxRwOCp5wB7nHCK--X-Tt9SkJDxoeJ2uUW2gxaTuW4D_uGVrJe6eb4tect_o6ASGZP_9BVYflLZXpiJclfE5Ox0k24KDLs67TKS" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6yQg2cvsyYr0COW-yWYhOdi9N3JMTN4X7GApTlNENb0YJhbkhXwU5bH13OVa9o0RQOim_gMFdiAWqxI2uzrxE6jO6bCxRwOCp5wB7nHCK--X-Tt9SkJDxoeJ2uUW2gxaTuW4D_uGVrJe6eb4tect_o6ASGZP_9BVYflLZXpiJclfE5Ox0k24KDLs67TKS" width="320" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfQwWbORL80IgT-krTZZQQE5pZ6BDrFiAfpVtbGQg_KD5Tt365BnyLk3hhW4VWuW9MdBbgcC-bN5TiAhATG2od9Mt30s5Fh6rAdqMASQc9artrEf9qpp8nVZ1HHgwGqgA4j4VE_DCK0oN2TttbhCfnpfEVNADJoeFL2_POKhAnKGvPTfpCtqV_6XXc4OyO" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2811" data-original-width="2108" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfQwWbORL80IgT-krTZZQQE5pZ6BDrFiAfpVtbGQg_KD5Tt365BnyLk3hhW4VWuW9MdBbgcC-bN5TiAhATG2od9Mt30s5Fh6rAdqMASQc9artrEf9qpp8nVZ1HHgwGqgA4j4VE_DCK0oN2TttbhCfnpfEVNADJoeFL2_POKhAnKGvPTfpCtqV_6XXc4OyO=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Blue pea vine had these beautiful blooms.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqDp6ndDFGZgA79fyUWjV7iBcz-z2mWa5k4b1tko-e_HJH_c4S4cU1LUUX9CcHN34FjsNLHqUejcNjR61DEIL7oWZmkI6uDrxcelNUp_-kAWudc29sG89VfGevJx6SjUzvHe8uXw1CIvaa7CMZaF3M7h_0iG27jh-ImSqiHRqxEgQJkbtrGIMW-A46KnII" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqDp6ndDFGZgA79fyUWjV7iBcz-z2mWa5k4b1tko-e_HJH_c4S4cU1LUUX9CcHN34FjsNLHqUejcNjR61DEIL7oWZmkI6uDrxcelNUp_-kAWudc29sG89VfGevJx6SjUzvHe8uXw1CIvaa7CMZaF3M7h_0iG27jh-ImSqiHRqxEgQJkbtrGIMW-A46KnII=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Banyan did not have much bird activity and I wondered why.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_mghYHmjicGFkCa4nI95XMSyKJkmNtyaaf4-Dq3yqYfWT07bC7oWX-9a4jOCFeahJArtBXyiub1hr40Ch4fFv2iTnG9UKHkDciMny9Tsksq0F497vPM9ZAoSqI0tivq-tITfrO4lLISu1T_-66EkXRdeNeWbQKCibxQVOpBrn58RsmZKcfFSGuCXabBjC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_mghYHmjicGFkCa4nI95XMSyKJkmNtyaaf4-Dq3yqYfWT07bC7oWX-9a4jOCFeahJArtBXyiub1hr40Ch4fFv2iTnG9UKHkDciMny9Tsksq0F497vPM9ZAoSqI0tivq-tITfrO4lLISu1T_-66EkXRdeNeWbQKCibxQVOpBrn58RsmZKcfFSGuCXabBjC=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was the Jackfruit corner that was buzzing with sparrows, babblers, sunbirds and the fantail,</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /></div>flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13583733876810341137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-12547109961883247432023-12-07T08:33:00.001+05:302024-01-15T16:09:28.275+05:30Green Munia: The Gullible Beauty of the Scrub Forest | Roundglass Sustain<div dir="ltr"><base href="https://roundglasssustain.com/"></base><style id="print"></style><title>Green Munia: The Gullible Beauty of the Scrub Forest | Roundglass Sustain</title><div class="original-url">I have not seen them as yet. 😓 We ent hunting for them, but missed them.<br /><br /></div><div class="original-url"><a href="https://roundglasssustain.com/">https://roundglasssustain.com/</a><br /><br /></div><div class="system exported" id="article" role="article" style="-webkit-locale: "en"; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> <!--This node will contain a number of div.page.--> <div class="page" style="max-width: 100%; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: start;"><h1 class="title" style="display: block; font-size: 1.95552em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-align: start;">Green Munia: The Gullible Beauty of the Scrub Forest</h1><div class="metadata singleline" style="display: block; margin-bottom: 1.45em; margin-top: -0.75em; max-width: 100%; text-align: start;"><time _ngcontent-vnn-c287="" class="date" datetime="Sep 24, 2023, 2:08:23 AM" style="display: inline; font-size: 1em; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;">24 Sep 2023</time></div><div class="leading-image" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75rem; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.15em; max-width: 100%;"><img alt="" data-src="https://res.cloudinary.com/roundglass/image/upload/ar_4:3,c_fill,f_auto,g_face,q_auto/c_limit,w_auto/v1602574299/roundglass/sustain/green-munia-crop-dhritiman-mukherjee-2_pbgzl1.jpg" data-unique-identifier="" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/roundglass/image/upload/ar_4:3,c_fill,f_auto,g_face,q_auto/c_limit,w_auto/v1602574299/roundglass/sustain/green-munia-crop-dhritiman-mukherjee-2_pbgzl1.jpg" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: auto; max-width: 100%;" /></div><p style="max-width: 100%;">The green munia <em style="max-width: 100%;">Amandava formosa</em> is a tiny bird of about 10 cm, with a distinctive green-and yellow colour with black-barred flanks and a reddish bill. Females are duller with indistinctly barred flanks. Owing to colouration and size, it can be easily identified from other munias and small birds. Its generic name has an interesting story. During the British rule, lots of birds were exported to Europe from Ahmedabad. Amandava is a corruption of Ahmedabad from where first few specimens were obtained. In Latin <em style="max-width: 100%;">formosa</em> means beautiful, and beautiful this little bird is! Some taxonomists categorise all munias under genus <em style="max-width: 100%;">Amandava </em>or "avadavat" (another corruption of Ahmedabad). This is why the munia species are also called green avadavat and red avadavat (<em style="max-width: 100%;">Amandava amandava)</em>. However, I prefer to use the old term munia as it sounds more Indian and munia for many people means "little".</p> <div style="max-width: 100%;"><figure style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><a data-caption=" The green munia is the official mascot of Rajasthan's Mount Abu Sanctuary. It is usually spotted amidst its rocky landscape. Locally it is also known as 'haria' after its greenish-yellow wings. <br> Cover Photo: The green munia is a tiny, brightly-coloured bird with a melodious call — a high pitched warble, followed by a prolonged trill. Unfortunately it is these features that have made it a popular caged bird and victim of pet-trade in India. " data-fancybox="image" data-options="{ "protect" : true }" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/roundglass/image/upload/f_auto/q_auto/w_475/v1602137500/roundglass/sustain/rajasthan-mt-abu-sanctuary-dhritiman-mukherjee_ofvmr2.jpg" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="The green munia is the official mascot of Rajasthan's Mount Abu Sanctuary. It is usually spotted amidst its rocky landscape. Locally it is also known as 'haria' after its greenish-yellow wings. Cover Photo: The green munia is a tiny, brightly-coloured bird with a melodious call — a high pitched warble, followed by a prolonged trill. Unfortunately it is these features that have made it a popular caged bird and victim of pet-trade in India." data-unique-identifier="" height="1792" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/roundglass/image/upload/f_auto/q_auto/w_475/v1602137500/roundglass/sustain/rajasthan-mt-abu-sanctuary-dhritiman-mukherjee_ofvmr2.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; margin: 0.5em auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1481" /></a><p style="margin-bottom: 0.4em; margin-top: 0.4em; max-width: 100%;"></p><figcaption contenteditable="false" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-size: 0.75rem; margin-top: 0.8em; max-width: 100%; width: 100%;">The green munia is the official mascot of Rajasthan's Mount Abu Sanctuary. It is usually spotted amidst its rocky landscape. Locally it is also known as 'haria' after its greenish-yellow wings. <br style="margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-top: 0.25em; max-width: 100%;" /> Cover Photo: The green munia is a tiny, brightly-coloured bird with a melodious call — a high pitched warble, followed by a prolonged trill. Unfortunately it is these features that have made it a popular caged bird and victim of pet-trade in India. </figcaption><p></p></figure></div><p style="max-width: 100%;">However, what's more important than a debate over its name is the crisis this bird is currently facing. This little bird is certainly in great trouble because of its beauty and simplicity. It is a popular cage bird, like all munias, so it is trapped in large numbers. It is also a naïve bird. The whole flock can be trapped easily as it is rather gullible. If a trapper is not able to trap all the birds the first time, the second or third attempt will bring all the birds of the flock in his net. The bird usually hangs around in a small area. As Dr Rajat Bhargava, ornithologist with BNHS and an expert on green munia wrote in my book, <em style="max-width: 100%;">Threatened Birds of India</em> in 2012, "Green Munia is a naive bird and can be easily approached in the wild and trapped. Trapped birds if released after a day behave like tame birds and do not fly far. Over a period of three to four weeks, they become so tame in captivity that they start pairing (which takes much longer in other munias)."</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">Illegal trade is one of the biggest threats to the green munia. Even 250 years ago, large numbers were sent to Europe from Ahmedabad via the Surat port. Export was officially banned in 1981, but Rajat Bhargava found that the bird is still often traded both in the domestic and export markets. An annual minimum of 2,000-3,000 birds were smuggled out of India to Europe and America in the 1990s. High mortality has been noted in trapped birds. Trapping for trade has extirpated several populations.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">The green munia is an endemic bird. It found only in southern Rajasthan, central Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, southern Bihar and historically up to West Bengal, south to southern Maharashtra and northern Andhra Pradesh. It is resident, very locally and unevenly distributed and on the whole uncommon. It lives in dry scrub forests, scrubby edges of marginal crop fields and uncultivated fields. It is listed in Schedule IV of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, whereby its hunting and trapping is totally prohibited. BirdLife International and IUCN list it Vulnerable in the Red List.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">Rajat Bhargava who has been studying and monitoring the green munia for almost 30 years has a major project on this species to find its total population in the wild. His preliminary results are not encouraging. It does not exist in most of the areas where he had seen it in 1990s and 2000s, due to illegal trapping. Besides trapping, habitat destruction is also a major reason — no one gives much attention to scrub forests, which is where the munia is commonly found. It feeds on small grass seeds, but thanks to overgrazing, grass is not allowed to reach the seeding stage.</p> <div style="max-width: 100%;"><figure style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><a data-caption=" Hunting, trapping or trade of the green munia is an illegal and a punishable offence. It is also protected against trafficking by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). " data-fancybox="image" data-options="{ "protect" : true }" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/roundglass/image/upload/f_auto/q_auto/w_475/v1602137617/roundglass/sustain/green-munia-pair-dhritiman-mukherjee_l1mzk8.jpg" style="color: #416ed2; max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="Hunting, trapping or trade of the green munia is an illegal and a punishable offence. It is also protected against trafficking by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)." data-unique-identifier="" height="1792" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/roundglass/image/upload/f_auto/q_auto/w_475/v1602137617/roundglass/sustain/green-munia-pair-dhritiman-mukherjee_l1mzk8.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; margin: 0.5em auto; max-width: 100%;" width="1481" /></a><p style="margin-bottom: 0.4em; margin-top: 0.4em; max-width: 100%;"></p><figcaption contenteditable="false" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-size: 0.75rem; margin-top: 0.8em; max-width: 100%; width: 100%;">Hunting, trapping or trade of the green munia is an illegal and a punishable offence. It is also protected against trafficking by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). </figcaption><p></p></figure></div><p style="max-width: 100%;">Considering its declining status, a conservation breeding programme should be started. In fact, it is already underway by the Rajasthan Forest Department with two pairs in Gulab Bagh, Udaipur. It is just a start. We have to wait for many years before results begin to show. Interestingly, the Green Avadavat Breeders Group under the umbrella of Queensland Finch Society in Australia has been breeding the birds for many decades. Before the export of live birds was banned in India, the green munia was exported to many countries, including Australia. There is already a stock of nearly 100 individuals there. We need to collaborate with Australians to exchange experience and upgrade our conservation breeding programme. However, if we are successful in breeding, conservation efforts will not succeed unless its habitat is protected and trapping is totally curtailed. Released birds usually disappear as they are either eaten by natural predators or trapped by cunning bird traders.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">Conservation breeding is never the first option for saving a species – it is, in fact, the last resort. If it has to be done, it should be done by experts, and at the stage when wild birds are still there. The idea is that wild population would be supplemented by conservation breeding. It has been shown in many such programmes that captive-bred individuals mix easily with the wild birds and also quickly learn the trick of survival in the wild.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">The plight of the green munia has again shown to us the plight of many such neglected species (in all taxa, not only birds) that are dying out, unsung, out of view, out of our mind. For every species, we need indomitable conservation champions like Rajat Bhargava. Only time will tell whether Rajat will see his beloved green munia back or only document its extinction.</p></div></div></div><br /><br /><div dir="ltr"></div>flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13583733876810341137noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-20380873738713879202023-12-04T18:21:00.002+05:302023-12-09T18:58:16.825+05:30eBird -- Sterling Mt Abu -- 04-and -5 Dec-2023 <div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhPheSogAPevrwIsaGUrQOjvnRNDEIANulf-vMCWkdHgd98RCD_zvlH--hS-8sKfmmsjyp-KbUYUkj8dzvm7XLgK-MLNxDmFYRUKmhkeGUJbXTA2uyPclWaEpmMthmJbTo34OEypTcoVsERzkP4uzGYzeK6N6uTLkOrvTpupwnYizW98i1JEhy6mD5iz5sY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhPheSogAPevrwIsaGUrQOjvnRNDEIANulf-vMCWkdHgd98RCD_zvlH--hS-8sKfmmsjyp-KbUYUkj8dzvm7XLgK-MLNxDmFYRUKmhkeGUJbXTA2uyPclWaEpmMthmJbTo34OEypTcoVsERzkP4uzGYzeK6N6uTLkOrvTpupwnYizW98i1JEhy6mD5iz5sY=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><a href="https://ebird.org/india/checklist/S155720836">Sterling Mt Abu <br />04-Dec-2023 </a><br />4:35 PM <br />Traveling <br />0.87 km <br />58 Minutes <br />All birds reported? Yes <br /><br />30 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) <br />15 Laughing Dove (Little Brown Dove) <br />8 Red-wattled Lapwing <br />1 Changeable Hawk-Eagle <br />1 White-throated Kingfisher <br />5 Rose-ringed Parakeet <br />1 Ashy Drongo <br />4 Red-rumped Swallow <br />2 Red-vented Bulbul 1 Indian Robin<br />15 Jungle babbler <br />35 House Sparrow
<br />1 Gray Wagtail
<br />1 Little Cormorant
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<br />Number of Taxa: 15<br />
<br />We walked down from Sterling onto Pilgrim Road. A casual stroll after an afternoon snooze that followed an overnight train journey that reminded us that India had over one billion people. People who are generally courteous and adjusting, but with no sense of 'personal space'. Interestingly, no in your face aggression that I was mentally steeling myself for, as we jockeyed for seats and luggage space in an overcrowded compartment, with the usual negotiations for those lower berths.
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<br />What a help to have Vish lift those bags with ease. 😄
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<br />So, it was good to be out and on our feet, relative quiet, and bird song A little nullah flowed by the roadside.
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<br />It was a sunny evening with clear blue skies. In contrast to the battering my dear Chennai was receiving at the hands of Cycline Michaung. I missed Vish, working in hazy Mumbai, whom we left behind.
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<br />Cacti, lantana, neem, palm trees dotted the rocky hill face. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9UoOUSgskfs_b5gah3outMxkuL7Tp3J5TWM-MU11slN5MWuhwNqJCk39ed1fztD_vaBu02ogAfLtyoLJYWMORIsNLC7kybDaAQ7d3duoP1YbZsFBZb8zjg0u0f9HpL8KiwDSUFGbOhEu2usorUFjzF9Ww5dCVKENt7R7Mwbynod3kKu2DY8QkwYdkI5gd/s6000/DSC09493.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9UoOUSgskfs_b5gah3outMxkuL7Tp3J5TWM-MU11slN5MWuhwNqJCk39ed1fztD_vaBu02ogAfLtyoLJYWMORIsNLC7kybDaAQ7d3duoP1YbZsFBZb8zjg0u0f9HpL8KiwDSUFGbOhEu2usorUFjzF9Ww5dCVKENt7R7Mwbynod3kKu2DY8QkwYdkI5gd/w640-h426/DSC09493.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br />
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<br />The Changeable Hawk Eagle was the highlight of our stroll. Sitting in a neem tree, while the babblers moved in agitated fashion all around.<div><br /></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiISHDE5Bj0JL_QIouViuGB5ZNTy9ClTEv7ieIhhy04nhSmDH3yvB1Lyf252QNQYBmwYV7I_co_nWl6-XYWuUm5_Z-0yWpWnz4mEvNs_UfM3tg5crldg1juB_xn0P1vKk3N0izDSYoXwAohCIV3g3L4uJSgSB6RZK4kIrwZFm05qPzIE3QtoywGG69kTqWg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiISHDE5Bj0JL_QIouViuGB5ZNTy9ClTEv7ieIhhy04nhSmDH3yvB1Lyf252QNQYBmwYV7I_co_nWl6-XYWuUm5_Z-0yWpWnz4mEvNs_UfM3tg5crldg1juB_xn0P1vKk3N0izDSYoXwAohCIV3g3L4uJSgSB6RZK4kIrwZFm05qPzIE3QtoywGG69kTqWg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbIK5PnLKZCTnAJ0oMDOP8yNZhGpfdlDIFoGkMP6aLEyMi18vdSo-RpDnHd4yjiUjCqGeTgt09E4wuOvzZDUYkjZcJkts0TyCg-YI2QhlwvTC0OSTkj8dWjxKPj2d4xA3b9DspZNhlrcUuVRG5U3LAw14rpuOYYnh-ZdQmGtG_J8N-pxWXFOt336VFw5eV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbIK5PnLKZCTnAJ0oMDOP8yNZhGpfdlDIFoGkMP6aLEyMi18vdSo-RpDnHd4yjiUjCqGeTgt09E4wuOvzZDUYkjZcJkts0TyCg-YI2QhlwvTC0OSTkj8dWjxKPj2d4xA3b9DspZNhlrcUuVRG5U3LAw14rpuOYYnh-ZdQmGtG_J8N-pxWXFOt336VFw5eV" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRTTrZZO8pV6eZm6Zy7vveWHDi5PY_Qa6TF3TQ1UNhrBNiU5il-DabZRY6C91NtvkwSj5XU6S_iUsunrcCSnGR6I1kt8olFdQWqlqwHn6Fulpvk5r5XM00aeMFlfNgv_hUVQ68k5nqFugEnYru2ExomDhNprwR65Z57gawuUOhV0N8Mtds3X4QABh3XkqP" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRTTrZZO8pV6eZm6Zy7vveWHDi5PY_Qa6TF3TQ1UNhrBNiU5il-DabZRY6C91NtvkwSj5XU6S_iUsunrcCSnGR6I1kt8olFdQWqlqwHn6Fulpvk5r5XM00aeMFlfNgv_hUVQ68k5nqFugEnYru2ExomDhNprwR65Z57gawuUOhV0N8Mtds3X4QABh3XkqP" width="180" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://ebird.org/india/checklist/S155769384">5th December bird checklist</a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>The CHE flew across the nullah - we probably startled it, and fixed us with a glare. The parakeets and babblers feasted on grains put on the temple wall, buffaloes with immense horns made their way up the hillside, and we stayed out of their way.</div><div><br /></div><div>We were off to the other side of Mt Abu - closer to Delwara temples, later in the day. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13583733876810341137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-30448504809172165452023-11-27T21:57:00.006+05:302023-11-27T21:57:59.677+05:30The missing lions of Kuno and the human costPD writes and quotes Ravi Chellam. Only the marginalised and disadvantaged will be treated like this. Both human and animal.<br /><div><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/in-kuno-park-no-one-gets-the-lions-share/?fbclid=IwAR1oqrKSFZ56rcKDVRMp3ZWeUtW-iW2Cub0hIg59vmVDRYKdMz1Llo0sdMg">In Kuno Park – no one gets the lion’s share</a></h2><div>It’s been 23 years since mainly Sahariya Adivasi and Dalit families in forest villages of Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district were displaced from their homes to make way for lions…that have still not arrived</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>You don’t keep the King of the Jungle waiting.</div><div><br /></div><div>The lions were coming. All the way from Gujarat. And everyone else had to move on to make their entry painless.</div><div><br /></div><div>And that seemed a good thing. Even if the villages like Paira inside Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park were uncertain of how it would all go.</div><div><br /></div><div>“After the great cats arrive, this area will become famous. We will get jobs as guides. We can run shops and eateries in this location. Our families will thrive.” That’s Raghulal Jatav, in his 70s, talking to us in Agara village outside the Kuno Park.</div><div><br /></div><div>“We will get good quality irrigated land, all-weather roads, electricity for the whole village, and all civic amenities,” Raghulal says.</div><div><br /></div><div>“That’s what the sarkar [government] assured us, anyway,” he says.</div><div><br /></div><div>And so the people of Paira and some 1,600 families across 24 villages vacated their homes in the Kuno National Park. They were mainly Sahariya Adivasis, and Dalits and poor OBCs. Their journey into exile was a hurried one.</div><div><br /></div><div>Tractors were brought in, and the forest dwellers piled many generations of possessions to hastily leave their functioning homes behind. They also left primary schools, hand pumps, wells, and land they had tilled for generations. Even cattle were abandoned. For they would be a burden to feed without the ample grazing resources of the forest.</div><div><br /></div><div>Twenty-three years later, they’re still waiting for the lions.</div><div><br /></div><div>Raghulal Jatav was among those displaced from Paira village in Kuno National Park in 1999.</div><div>Raghulal (seated on the charpoy), with his son Sultan, and neighbours, in the new hamlet of Paira Jatav set up on the outskirts of Agara village</div><div>Left: Raghulal Jatav was among those displaced from Paira village in Kuno National Park in 1999. Right: Raghulal (seated on the charpoy), with his son Sultan, and neighbours, in the new hamlet of Paira Jatav set up on the outskirts of Agara village</div><div><br /></div><div>“The government lied to us,” says Raghulal, seated on a charpoy outside his son’s home. He’s not even angry anymore. Just tired of waiting for the state to honour its promises. Thousands of poor, marginalised people like Raghulal – himself a Dalit – gave up their lands, their homes, their livelihoods.</div><div><br /></div><div>But Raghulal’s loss was not Kuno National Park’s gain. No one has got the lion’s share. Not even the great cats themselves. They never came.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lions once roamed the forests of central, northern and western India. Today, though, the Asiatic lion ( Panthera leo leo ) can only be found in the forests of Gir. And in its surrounding landscapes covering 30,000 square kilometres in the Saurashtra peninsular region in Gujarat. Less than six per cent of that area – 1,883 sq. km – is their last protected home. A fact that sends wildlife biologists and conservationists into a cold sweat.</div><div><br /></div><div>The 674 Asiatic lions recorded here are listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world’s leading conservation agency. And wildlife researcher Dr. Faiyaz A. Khudsar points to a clear and present danger. “Conservation Biology clearly suggests that if a small population is restricted to a single site, it faces a variety of extinction threats,” he says.</div><div><br /></div><div>Khudsar is referring to multiple threats the great cats face. These include an outbreak of canine distemper virus, forest fires, climate change, local rebellion and more. Such dangers, he says, could swiftly decimate this fragile population. That is a nightmare scenario for India as images of the lion dominate our official state emblems and seals.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is no alternative to Kuno as an additional home for the lions, insists Khudsar. As he puts it: “It is essential to reintroduce a few prides [of lions] throughout their historical geographical ranges to promote genetic vigour.”</div><div><br /></div><div>A police outpost at Kuno has images of lions although no lions exist here.</div><div>Map of Kuno at the forest office, marked with resettlement sites for the displaced</div><div>Left: A police outpost at Kuno has images of lions although no lions exist here. Right: Map of Kuno at the forest office, marked with resettlement sites for the displaced</div><div><br /></div><div>Though the idea goes back much earlier – it was around 1993-95 that a translocation plan was drawn up. Under that plan, some lions would be moved from Gir to Kuno 1,000 kilometres away. Dr. Yadvendradev Jhala, dean of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) says that from a list of nine possible locations, Kuno was found best suited for this plan.</div><div><br /></div><div>The WII is the technical arm of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and state wildlife departments. It has played an important role in the reintroduction of tigers in Sariska, Panna, Gaur in Bandhavgarh, and Barasingha in Satpura.</div><div><br /></div><div>“Kuno’s overall size [a contiguous habitat of around 6,800 sq. km], its relatively low levels of human disturbance, no highways running through it, all these made it a fine location,” says conservation scientist Dr. Ravi Chellam. He has tracked these mighty mammals for four decades.</div><div><br /></div><div>Other positive factors: “Good quality and diversity of habitats – grasslands, bamboo, wet patches. And then there are perennial massive tributaries to the Chambal [river] and diverse species of prey. All these made this sanctuary ready to play host to lions,” he says.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, thousands of people would have first had to be moved out of Kuno sanctuary. Displacing and relocating them miles away from the forests on which they depended, was done in a few years.</div><div><br /></div><div>Twenty-three years later, though, the lions are yet to show up.</div><div><br /></div><div>An abandoned temple in the old Paira village at Kuno National Park</div><div>Sultan Jatav's old school in Paira, deserted 23 years ago</div><div>Left: An abandoned temple in the old Paira village at Kuno National Park. Right: Sultan Jatav's old school in Paira, deserted 23 years ago</div><div><br /></div><div>For the residents of the 24 villages within Kuno, the first hint of a possible displacement came in 1998. That was when forest rangers around here began speaking of the sanctuary turning into a national park – with zero human presence.</div><div><br /></div><div>“We said we have lived with lions [in the past]. Also with tigers and other animals. Why do we have to move?” asks Mangu Adivasi. He is a Sahariya in his 40s, and among those displaced.</div><div><br /></div><div>In early 1999, not waiting for the villagers to be convinced, the forest department began clearing large tracts of land outside the Kuno boundary. Trees were felled and land was levelled with J.C. Bamford excavators (JCBs).</div><div><br /></div><div>“The relocation was voluntary, I personally supervised it,” says J.S. Chouhan. In 1999, he was the district forest officer for Kuno. He is presently the principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) and chief wildlife warden of Madhya Pradesh.</div><div><br /></div><div>To sweeten the pill of displacement, each family was told that their unit would get two hectares of ploughed and irrigated land. All male children above the age of 18 would also be eligible for this. They would also be entitled to Rs. 38,000 to build a new house and Rs. 2,000 to transport their belongings. Their new villages, they were assured, would have all civic amenities.</div><div><br /></div><div>And then the Palpur police station was deactivated. “It set off alarm bells as dacoits are feared in this area,” says Syed Merajuddin, 43. He was a young social worker in the area at that time.</div><div><br /></div><div>The host villages were neither consulted on, nor compensated, for the influx. Nor for the loss of access to forests which had now been levelled</div><div><br /></div><div>Watch video: Kuno's people: displaced for lions that never came</div><div>The summer of 1999 arrived. Just as they were readying to plant their next crop, the residents of Kuno instead began to shift. They arrived in and around Agara and set up homes in blue polythene shacks. They would live here for the next 2-3 years.</div><div><br /></div><div>“The revenue department initially did not recognise the new owners of the land and so records were not given. It took 7-8 years for other departments like health, education, and irrigation to get moving,” says Merajuddin. He went on to become secretary of the Aadharshila Shiksha Samiti. That’s a non-profit which runs a school for, and works with, the displaced community in host village Agara.</div><div><br /></div><div>Twenty-three years later, PCCF Chouhan admits that “Village relocation is not the job of the forest department. The government has to own the relocation, only then will the displaced person get the full package. All departments must reach out to the people. It is our duty,” he says, when asked to comment on the unfulfilled promises.</div><div><br /></div><div>The villages of Umri, Agara, Arrod, Chentikheda and Deori in Vijaypur tehsil of Sheopur district witnessed an influx of thousands of people from the 24 displaced villages. These host villages were neither consulted on, nor compensated, for the influx. Nor for the loss of access to forests which had now been levelled.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ram Dayal Jatav and his family moved into the Paira Jatav hamlet outside Agara in June 1999. A decision that the resident of the original Paira in Kuno Park, now in his 50s, still regrets. “The resettlement was not good for us. We faced a lot of problems and still do. Even today we don’t have water in our wells, fencing for our farms. We have to bear the cost of medical emergencies and it is difficult to secure employment. Besides, there are so many other problems,” he says. His voice trails off as he adds: “They did good only for the animals but did nothing good for us.”</div><div><br /></div><div>Ram Dayal Jatav regrets leaving his village and taking the resettlement package.</div><div>The Paira Jatav hamlet where exiled Dalit families now live</div><div>Left: Ram Dayal Jatav regrets leaving his village and taking the resettlement package. Right: The Paira Jatav hamlet where exiled Dalit families now live</div><div><br /></div><div>Raghulal Jatav says the loss of identity has been the hardest blow: “It has been 23 years and apart from not getting what we were promised, even our independent gram sabhas were merged into existing ones here.”</div><div><br /></div><div>He has been fighting the declassification of the 24 villages including his own Paira. According to Raghulal, when the new gram panchayat was formed in 2008, Paira was stripped of its title as a revenue village. Its residents were then added to existing panchayats in four hamlets. “This was how we lost our panchayat .”</div><div><br /></div><div>A pain that PCCF Chouhan says he has tried to remedy. “I have reached out to many people in the government to give them back their own panchayat . I tell them [state departments], ‘you shouldn't have done this’. Even this year I tried,” he says.</div><div><br /></div><div>Without their own panchayat , the displaced face a complex legal and political battle for their voices to be heard.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mangu Adivasi says that after the displacement “the forest closed down for us. We used to sell grass as fodder, but now we don’t get enough to keep even one cow.” There’s also the loss of grazing, firewood, non-timber forest produce, and more.</div><div><br /></div><div>Social scientist Prof. Asmita Kabra points out the irony: “People were made to leave their homes as the forest department was worried about possible losses to cattle [from the lions thought to be coming]. But ultimately, the cattle were left behind as there was no grazing outside for them.”</div><div><br /></div><div>Mangu Adivasi lives in the Paira Adivasi hamlet now.</div><div>Gita Jatav (in the pink saree) and Harjaniya Jatav travel far to secure firewood for their homes</div><div>Left: Mangu Adivasi lives in the Paira Adivasi hamlet now. Right: Gita Jatav (in the pink saree) and Harjaniya Jatav travel far to secure firewood for their homes</div><div><br /></div><div>The treeline moved further away as land was cleared for cultivation. “Now we have to travel 30-40 kilometres to get firewood. We may have food, but there is no firewood to cook it,” says Kedar Adivasi, a 23-year-old teacher and resident of Aharwani, one of the villages the displaced Sahariyas relocated to.</div><div><br /></div><div>Gita, in her 50s, and Harjaniya, in her 60s, were very young when they wed and left their homes in Sheopur’s Karahal tehsil to live in the sanctuary. “[Now] we have to go up the hills to get wood. It takes us the whole day and we often get stopped by the forest department. So we have to be discrete,” says Gita.</div><div><br /></div><div>In their rush to settle things, the forest department bulldozed valuable trees and scrub, recalls Kabra. “The loss of biodiversity was never calculated,” adds the social scientist whose PhD was on displacement, poverty and livelihood security in and around Kuno. She is regarded as the foremost conservation displacement expert on this region.</div><div><br /></div><div>The loss of access to chir and other trees for collecting gums and resins is a big blow. Chir gond sells at Rs. 200 in the local market, and most families would manage to collect around 4-5 kilos of the resin. “ Gond resin of many different kinds used to be plentiful as were tendu leaves [from which beedis are made ]. So too, fruit like bael, achar, mahua , honey and roots. All this kept us fed and clothed. A kilo of gond we could exchange for five kilos of rice,” says Kedar.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now many like Kedar’s mother, Kungai Adivasi, who has only a few rain-fed bighas of land in Aharwani , are forced to migrate annually to Morena and Agra cities for work. They labour there on construction sites for a few months every year. “Ten or 20 of us go together during the lean season when there is no agricultural work available here,” says Kungai, who is in her 50s.</div><div><br /></div><div>Kedar Adivasi and his mother, Kungai Adivasi, outside their home in Aharwani, where displaced Sahariyas settled.</div><div>Large tracts of forests were cleared to compensate the relocated people. The loss of biodiversity, fruit bearing trees and firewood is felt by both new residents and host villages</div><div>Left: Kedar Adivasi and his mother, Kungai Adivasi, outside their home in Aharwani, where displaced Sahariyas settled. Right: Large tracts of forests were cleared to compensate the relocated people. The loss of biodiversity, fruit bearing trees and firewood is felt by both new residents and host villages</div><div><br /></div><div>On August 15, 2021, Prime Minister Modi announced ‘ Project Lion ’ in his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort. This would “secure the future of Asiatic lions in the country,” he said.</div><div><br /></div><div>The prime minister had been the chief minister of Gujarat in 2013 when the Supreme Court had ordered the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to translocate the lions. That should happen, the court said, “within a period of 6 months from today.” And for the same reason cited in the speech from Red Fort. That is, to secure the future of the Asiatic lions in the country. Then and now, there is no explanation for the Gujarat government’s failure to comply with the order and send some lions to Kuno.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Gujarat Forest Department website is also silent on any translocation. And an MoEFCC press release in 2019 announced funds of Rs. 97.85 crores for an ‘Asiatic Lion Conservation Project’. But it mentions only the state of Gujarat.</div><div><br /></div><div>April 15, 2022 marked the ninth year since the Supreme Court judgement in response to a public interest petition filed in 2006 by a Delhi-based organisation. The PIL sought “direction to the Gujarat government for sharing a few prides of Asiatic lions to Kuno.”</div><div><br /></div><div>“After the Supreme Court's 2013 judgement, an expert committee [was set up] to oversee the reintroduction of lions in Kuno. However, the expert committee has not met for the past two and a half years. And Gujarat has not accepted the action plan,” said WII’s Jhala.</div><div><br /></div><div>In January 2022, the government announced that African cheetahs would be brought to Kuno as there were no Asiatic cheetahs left in India.</div><div>A poster of 'Chintu Cheetah' announcing that cheetahs (African) are expected in the national park</div><div>Left: In January 2022, the government announced that African cheetahs would be brought to Kuno as there were no Asiatic cheetahs left in India. Right: A poster of 'Chintu Cheetah' announcing that cheetahs (African) are expected in the national park</div><div><br /></div><div>Instead, Kuno has been named as the location for the arrival of African cheetahs this year. Despite the same SC judgement saying, “The order of MoEFCC to introduce African Cheetahs into Kuno cannot stand in the eye of Law and the same is quashed.”</div><div><br /></div><div>The dire warnings of conservationists are already coming true as a 2020 report on Project Lion suggests. The report by the WII and the governments of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, is quite worried about the situation. It says the “recent outbreak of Babesiosis and CDV [canine distemper virus] in Gir has already resulted in mortality of at least more than 60 lions during [the] past two years.”</div><div><br /></div><div>“Only human hubris is stopping the translocation,” says wildlife biologist Ravi Chellam. He had served as the expert scientific adviser to the forest bench of the apex court in deciding the translocation. A conservation scientist and CEO of Metastring Foundation, Chellam has watched and waited for the lions to be translocated.</div><div><br /></div><div>“Lions have been through a period of high risk, and now the population has built up. But in conservation, unfortunately, you can never relax. Especially with endangered species – because the threats are ever present. This is a science of eternal vigilance,” says Chellam, who is also a member of the Biodiversity Collaborative.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Left: A signboard of the old Paira village in the national park. Right: Most of the homes in the emptied village have crumbled, but a painted doorway is still standing</div><div><br /></div><div>“Manushya ko bhaga diya par sher nahin aaya! [Humans were chased out, but no lions came].”</div><div><br /></div><div>Mangu Adivasi makes jokes about losing his home in Kuno, but there is no laughter in his voice. He has even taken a few blows to the head at a protest demanding that the government fulfil its promises or let them return. “Many times we thought we would go back.”</div><div><br /></div><div>The protest, on August 15, 2008, was a final attempt to nudge the needle on rightful compensation. “[Then] we decided that we would leave the land given to us, and we wanted our old land back. We knew there was a law that allowed us to go back within 10 years of displacement,” says Raghulal.</div><div><br /></div><div>Having lost that chance, Raghulal has not given up and has spent his own money and time to correct the situation. He’s gone to the district and tehsil offices multiple times. He’s even been to the election commission in Bhopal to plead the case of their panchayat . But nothing has come of it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not having a political voice has made it easier to ignore and silence those displaced. “No one has even asked us how we are, if we have any problems, or anything. No one comes here. If we go to the forest office, we don’t find any officials there,” says Ram Dayal. “When we do meet them, they assure us that they will immediately do our work. But nothing has been done for 23 years.”</div><div><br /></div><div>Cover photo: Sultan Jatav sitting at the site of his family's home that no longer exists in the old Paira village.</div><div><br /></div><div>The reporter would like to thank Saurabh Chowdhury for his invaluable help in researching this piece and with translations.</div></div>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-35987278824042592592023-11-27T21:10:00.005+05:302023-11-27T21:22:52.770+05:30Peregrine hunting along OMR - eBird Trip Report<div>26th Nov '23</div><div><br /></div><a href="https://ebird.org/india/tripreport/174661">Peregrine hunting along OMR - eBird Trip Report</a><div><br /></div><div>What an interesting morning with Ramraj, Anitha and Sagarika. <a href="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMqb2EVY3phOJj3HshVVr5DMiICWo-GkRvIU94hOhZVVSuvMTT3wrc7MU14BUxDQQ?key=bmFLX3dkV2NjOWcxNFJNM3FpQWpFZEowam5QajhR">Pictures here. </a> </div><div><br /></div><div>Three Peregrines, </div><div>on three towers, </div><div>up high </div><div>in very urban locations. </div><div><br /></div><div>We craned our necks,</div><div>Peered through our binoculars </div><div>and yes there they were!</div><div><br /></div><div>Ferrari Falcons</div><div>sitting motionless</div><div>on nondescript ledges. Noiseless</div><div><br /></div><div>Pigeons and parakeets</div><div>which one would it be today, </div><div>at the end of that famous dive</div><div>would breakfast be green or grey?</div><div><br /></div><div>*****</div><div><br /></div><div>An Osprey and a Black Shouldered Kite </div><div>We saw them too.</div><div>And those fabulous Blue Tailed Bee Eaters </div><div>Shimmering in the sun.</div><div>Green marsh. Sky so blue.</div><div><br /></div><div>The waders (Ruffs most likely) - a large flypast</div><div>Probably even more skittery </div><div>because of the soaring Osprey.</div><div><br /></div><div>*******</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>27th Oct '23</div><div><br /></div><div>An odd looking shadow on the Leela Business Towers had me scurrying for the binoculars at MRC Nagar. </div><div>Even through those dimmed, old lenses I could see that it was no crow, no pigeon, but a falcon.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDjQJUG3RnIwvIt-q1kKhPtYZ5rSc7GvYUF1ZMWZptJ9xAW3xPdAg_w-OdaWohARQ7EcJ7EILxY8OUxfbarrQGvggorUsd9VIW4qWvWxgGPypEQMsHO3mGuTf9WjCNm9iikOjABSw3oApsVMx5IsQgXOjNgE4FCUShAOKp7QMGvJT88keB3GIe7ZOiWuZS" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDjQJUG3RnIwvIt-q1kKhPtYZ5rSc7GvYUF1ZMWZptJ9xAW3xPdAg_w-OdaWohARQ7EcJ7EILxY8OUxfbarrQGvggorUsd9VIW4qWvWxgGPypEQMsHO3mGuTf9WjCNm9iikOjABSw3oApsVMx5IsQgXOjNgE4FCUShAOKp7QMGvJT88keB3GIe7ZOiWuZS=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It sat motionless in that pose, from 130 in the afternoon, until 6 in the evening. I wondered why this peculiar and precarious position at the edge? She preened, cleaned her talons and feathers, but did not move an inch.</td></tr></tbody></table>.<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4UXhFLYT6y2K5bMGJ1oOKs1x0L8Zh2qU9pCNvM9t1Q1qgLAoJAx1ayILiY5fyl24gjQdsOnup7OgSDp_9OJj1dS0oj3Nc2aPIF2I5VvPhdYCRlI7X0okMPW8h9lIsz4QmGkQ_MfVW5N2TMkfQQngn9jvpUxBOpakx5gP0Gd9ZTzGwy3r6-x9GfpedGvmj" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4UXhFLYT6y2K5bMGJ1oOKs1x0L8Zh2qU9pCNvM9t1Q1qgLAoJAx1ayILiY5fyl24gjQdsOnup7OgSDp_9OJj1dS0oj3Nc2aPIF2I5VvPhdYCRlI7X0okMPW8h9lIsz4QmGkQ_MfVW5N2TMkfQQngn9jvpUxBOpakx5gP0Gd9ZTzGwy3r6-x9GfpedGvmj=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sanjeev hurried down and took this picture - yes Peregrines get that kind of attention.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />At 605pm Vismaya (as she has been named) , took off, circled the building and flew off south.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPY0fNE3BmuV4UgUgsDSV57JiyzFqZ_gGqnwytqI7Al97btydquljETYX_wghIYguW7Dmua7c-Fq2eDK7QqZ8hkH6BXbk6yR7LC7bQZQ-JglSkznxu6tbVzqm8aADggPLWUD2WOzhyGm7bh7_x20ZjugMJWuvUTnOn_vrB4jMGePrky19ZcXZn5Wweo9Qt" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPY0fNE3BmuV4UgUgsDSV57JiyzFqZ_gGqnwytqI7Al97btydquljETYX_wghIYguW7Dmua7c-Fq2eDK7QqZ8hkH6BXbk6yR7LC7bQZQ-JglSkznxu6tbVzqm8aADggPLWUD2WOzhyGm7bh7_x20ZjugMJWuvUTnOn_vrB4jMGePrky19ZcXZn5Wweo9Qt=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oct 31st - seen again by Sekar, while I was away at Bangalore. Same perch, same position. </td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>And then the rains came and Deepavali came...and we have not seen it on this side of the building since.</div><div><br /></div><div>I loved this description - <a href="https://roundglasssustain.com/species/falcons">Fantastic Falcons: Streamlined, Superfast Raptors in Many Avatars</a> by Ranjit Lal</div><div><br /></div><div><i><blockquote>The peregrine is a cosmopolitan hunter — even found nesting on skyscraper ledges in New York City and other metropolises, from which vantage point it picks up pigeons. The shaheen has been observed doing the same in Mumbai. Having selected a victim, the peregrine, with its fastback wings gives swift chase, with the pigeon twisting and turning to avoid being caught. If the falcon fails to capture its prey, it will rise to its “pitch” (the highest point) and then fold its wings to its side and whistle down like a missile straight at its victim in a “stoop” or high-speed dive. The fastest stoop has been clocked at 390 kmph, faster than most Formula 1 racing cars, which peak at around 320 kmph. A special membrane protects its eyes from the rush of air, and the bird will often dive beneath its victim and then rise up and grasp it in its talons. Or it simply attacks from behind, the force of the impact often killing the bird mid-air. Watching a peregrine stoop is a never-to-be-forgotten experience. This guided missile of a bird was once in serious trouble in the West when the rampant use of DDT and other organochlorine pesticides caused their numbers to plummet. Thanks to conservation efforts, the birds seem safe for now.</blockquote></i><br />MRC Nagar unknowingly plays host to both - the Shaheen and the Peregrine!</div><div>Next goal is to somehow catch it at its hunt</div>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-74826099139282866852023-11-17T20:15:00.001+05:302023-11-17T20:15:25.636+05:30Artsy birding<div><br /></div><div><h1 class="title" data-reader-unique-id="titleElement" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.95552em; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><a href="What%u2019s%20special%20for%20%23birdNov%20this%20year%3F%20Meet%20birders%20who%20combine%20art%20and%20their%20love%20for%20Nature%20-%20Bharat%20Times">What’s special for #birdNov this year? Meet birders who combine art and their love for Nature</a></h1><div class="metadata singleline" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.45em; margin-top: -0.75em; max-width: 100%;"><div class="byline" data-reader-unique-id="66" style="display: inline !important; font-size: 1em !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><div data-reader-unique-id="67" style="display: inline !important; font-size: 1em !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><a data-reader-unique-id="68" href="https://news.bharattimes.co.in/whats-special-for-birdnov-this-year-meet-birders-who-combine-art-and-their-love-for-nature/" style="color: var(--body-font-color); display: inline !important; font-size: 1em !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-decoration: none;" title="What’s special for #birdNov this year? Meet birders who combine art and their love for Nature">November 9, 2023</a></div><div data-reader-unique-id="69" style="display: inline !important; font-size: 1em !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><a data-reader-unique-id="70" href="https://news.bharattimes.co.in/author/" style="color: var(--body-font-color); display: inline !important; font-size: 1em !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-decoration: none;"></a></div></div></div><p data-reader-unique-id="64" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;">November is a birder’s favourite month. It heralds the visit of winter migratory birds to the Indian subcontinent, and is also the birth month of the late ornithologist Salim Ali. Social media has been abuzz with bird trivia under #birdNov and #birdNov2023, with enthusiasts sharing photos, write-ups, artwork and data on birding hotspots.</p><p data-reader-unique-id="2" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;">Among them is S Senthil Kumar, a school headmaster from Salem, who is posting crisp write-ups in Tamil every day, while K Selvaganesh, a birder from Valparai is creating informative posters. Surendhar Boobalan, a school teacher, is sharing Tamil riddles about birds on a WhatsApp group, and S Jayaraj, a Chennai artist is keeping with the theme and making watercolour paintings and sketches. </p><p data-reader-unique-id="3" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;">We talk to three people who are combining their love for birding, and art. </p><h4 data-reader-unique-id="4" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px; max-width: 100%;">Block by block</h4><p data-reader-unique-id="5" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;">P Jeganathan, a scientist with the Nature Conservation Foundation, is an expert birder who participates in #birdNov with interest every year. This year, he is arranging jenga blocks to create shapes of commonly-spotted birds. “This is something I do at home to keep my seven-year-old son occupied,” says Jeganathan, who is based in Tiruppur. He posts a jenga bird a day, on Instagram. “Jenga blocks are supposed to be stacked,” he points out, adding that he decided to give this a spin and come up with something creative for #birdNov. “With jenga, I am limited to creating only a handful of birds, but my son and I find this practice soothing,” he says. </p><figure data-reader-unique-id="6" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 1.4em 0px; max-width: 100%;"><img alt="P Jeganathan’s jenga creation of the Indian Courser" data-lazy-src="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/giw54d/article67507729.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpBird1.jpg" data-ll-status="loaded" data-original="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/giw54d/article67507729.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpBird1.jpg" data-reader-unique-id="7" decoding="async" height="100%" src="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/giw54d/article67507729.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpBird1.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; margin: 0.5em auto; max-width: 100%;" title="P Jeganathan’s jenga creation of the Indian Courser" width="100%" /><p data-reader-unique-id="14" style="margin-bottom: 0.4em; margin-top: 0.4em; max-width: 100%;">P Jeganathan’s jenga creation of the Indian Courser<br data-reader-unique-id="15" style="max-width: 100%;" />| Photo Credit:<br data-reader-unique-id="16" style="max-width: 100%;" />Special arrangement</p></figure><p data-reader-unique-id="17" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;"><span data-reader-unique-id="18" itemprop="image" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="max-width: 100%;"></span></p><p data-reader-unique-id="19" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;">Jeganathan also collects stamps featuring birds, and is posting about them on social media as well. This includes stamps featuring the paradise flycatcher, wagtail, rosy pastor, and other birds. </p><figure data-reader-unique-id="20" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 1.4em 0px; max-width: 100%;"><img alt="From P Jeganathan’s stamp collection" data-lazy-src="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/jrvlj6/article67507797.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpIndia_Paradise%20Flycatcher.jpg" data-ll-status="loaded" data-original="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/jrvlj6/article67507797.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpIndia_Paradise%20Flycatcher.jpg" data-reader-unique-id="21" decoding="async" height="100%" src="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/jrvlj6/article67507797.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpIndia_Paradise%20Flycatcher.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; margin: 0.5em auto; max-width: 100%;" title="From P Jeganathan’s stamp collection" width="100%" /><p data-reader-unique-id="24" style="margin-bottom: 0.4em; margin-top: 0.4em; max-width: 100%;">From P Jeganathan’s stamp collection<br data-reader-unique-id="25" style="max-width: 100%;" />| Photo Credit:<br data-reader-unique-id="26" style="max-width: 100%;" />Special arrangement</p></figure><p data-reader-unique-id="27" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;"><span data-reader-unique-id="28" itemprop="image" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="max-width: 100%;"></span></p><h4 data-reader-unique-id="29" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px; max-width: 100%;">Dots and lines </h4><p data-reader-unique-id="30" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;">Vidhya Sundar, a birder based in Texas, USA, manages to create complicated shapes of birds using the deceptively simple lines of the traditional <i data-reader-unique-id="31" style="max-width: 100%;">pulli kolam</i>. All it takes is one look, for someone to guess the bird from her kolams. She achieves the shape of the red-headed vulture and Asian bee-eater, for instance, to the T, and also does elaborate <i data-reader-unique-id="32" style="max-width: 100%;">nelivu </i>kolams. </p><figure data-reader-unique-id="33" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 1.4em 0px; max-width: 100%;"><img alt="Vidhya Sundar’s elaborate nelivu kolam" data-lazy-src="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/mdn9ny/article67507727.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpKolam.jpg" data-ll-status="loaded" data-original="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/mdn9ny/article67507727.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpKolam.jpg" data-reader-unique-id="34" decoding="async" height="100%" src="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/mdn9ny/article67507727.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpKolam.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; margin: 0.5em auto; max-width: 100%;" title="Vidhya Sundar’s elaborate nelivu kolam" width="100%" /><p data-reader-unique-id="37" style="margin-bottom: 0.4em; margin-top: 0.4em; max-width: 100%;">Vidhya Sundar’s elaborate nelivu kolam<br data-reader-unique-id="38" style="max-width: 100%;" />| Photo Credit:<br data-reader-unique-id="39" style="max-width: 100%;" />Special arrangement</p></figure><p data-reader-unique-id="40" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;"><span data-reader-unique-id="41" itemprop="image" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="max-width: 100%;"></span></p><p data-reader-unique-id="42" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;">“I draw kolams every day, and do elaborate ones for festive occasions such as Margazhi,” says Vidhya, adding that she experimented with bird rangoli earlier this year for Navaratri. She came to know of #birNov last year and has been hooked ever since. “I live in Austin where it gets quite cold during this time of the year, so I came up with small kolams of birds that I can do from home,” says the 47-year-old. Vidhya has been birding from 2012 when she lived in Bengaluru, and says that Bird Count India’s regular challenges and the eBird platform are among her motivators. “I have been birding every day from 2017 after Bird Count India announced the ‘Last Birder Standing’ challenge,” she says. </p><figure data-reader-unique-id="43" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 1.4em 0px; max-width: 100%;"><img alt="Vidhya Sundar’s kolam" data-lazy-src="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/kjrrf5/article67507992.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpBird2.jpg" data-ll-status="loaded" data-original="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/kjrrf5/article67507992.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpBird2.jpg" data-reader-unique-id="44" decoding="async" height="100%" src="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/kjrrf5/article67507992.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpBird2.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; margin: 0.5em auto; max-width: 100%;" title="Vidhya Sundar’s kolam" width="100%" /><p data-reader-unique-id="47" style="margin-bottom: 0.4em; margin-top: 0.4em; max-width: 100%;">Vidhya Sundar’s kolam<br data-reader-unique-id="48" style="max-width: 100%;" />| Photo Credit:<br data-reader-unique-id="49" style="max-width: 100%;" />Special arrangement</p></figure><p data-reader-unique-id="50" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;"><span data-reader-unique-id="51" itemprop="image" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="max-width: 100%;"></span></p><h4 data-reader-unique-id="52" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; margin: 1em 0px; max-width: 100%;">Feathers and folds </h4><p data-reader-unique-id="53" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;">Angeline Mano is getting back home from a birding expedition in her hometown of Salem when we speak over phone. “I’m out in the field every day,” says the 25-year-old research assistant and Nature educator with the Salem Ornithological Foundation. She saw that several experts were sharing information about birds – the Salem Ornithological Foundation, for instance, is posting on birding hotspots in the city, with information regarding the birds that can be seen in these places – and decided to try something different. </p><figure data-reader-unique-id="54" style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 1.4em 0px; max-width: 100%;"><img alt="Angeline’s flamingo made with paper quilling technique " data-lazy-src="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/6gkru8/article67507726.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpFlamingo.jpg" data-ll-status="loaded" data-original="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/6gkru8/article67507726.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpFlamingo.jpg" data-reader-unique-id="55" decoding="async" height="100%" src="https://th-i.thgim.com/public/life-and-style/6gkru8/article67507726.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/08mpFlamingo.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; margin: 0.5em auto; max-width: 100%;" title="Angeline’s flamingo made with paper quilling technique " width="100%" /><p data-reader-unique-id="58" style="margin-bottom: 0.4em; margin-top: 0.4em; max-width: 100%;">Angeline’s flamingo made with paper quilling technique<br data-reader-unique-id="59" style="max-width: 100%;" />| Photo Credit:<br data-reader-unique-id="60" style="max-width: 100%;" />Special arrangement</p></figure><p data-reader-unique-id="61" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;"><span data-reader-unique-id="62" itemprop="image" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="max-width: 100%;"></span></p><p data-reader-unique-id="63" style="caret-color: rgb(27, 27, 27); color: #1b1b1b; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 18px; max-width: 100%;">“As an educator, I spend a lot of time with school children, teaching them about birds,” she says. “Origami is one of the tools I use, and I can fold paper into the shapes of many birds,” she adds. Angeline posts an origami bird a day, apart from birds crafted using the paper quilling technique. She has so far made a flamingo, peacock, swallow, and dove, and has more on the cards.</p></div>flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13583733876810341137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-73941108964162471912023-11-10T11:44:00.003+05:302023-11-10T11:44:16.870+05:30The Attenborough echidna<p>The link has a little video clip of the creature.</p><p><b><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67363874">First ever images prove 'lost echidna' not extinct</a></b></p><p>By Jonah Fisher and Charlie Northcott</p><p>Scientists have filmed an ancient egg-laying mammal named after Sir David Attenborough for the first time, proving it isn't extinct as was feared.</p><p>An expedition to Indonesia lead by Oxford University researchers recorded four three-second clips of the Attenborough long-beaked echidna.</p><p>Spiky, furry and with a beak, echidnas have been called "living fossils".</p><p>They are are thought to have emerged about 200m years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.</p><p>Until now, the only evidence that this particular species 'zaglossus attenboroughi' existed was a decades-old museum specimen of a dead animal.</p><p>"I was euphoric, the whole team was euphoric," Dr James Kempton told BBC News of the moment he spotted the Attenborough echidna in camera trap footage.</p><p>"I'm not joking when I say it came down to the very last SD card that we looked at, from the very last camera that we collected, on the very last day of our expedition."</p><p>Dr Kempton headed a multi-national team on the month-long expedition traversing previously unexplored stretches of the Cyclops Mountains, a rugged rainforest habitat more than 2,000m (6,561ft) above sea level.</p><p>In addition to finding Attenborough's "lost echidna" the expedition discovered new species of insects and frogs, and observed healthy populations of tree kangaroo and birds of paradise.</p><p>Aside from the duck-billed platypus, the echidna is the only mammal that lay eggs. Of the four echidna species three have long beaks, with the Attenborough echidna, and the western echidna considered critically endangered.</p><p>Previous expeditions to the Cyclops Mountains had uncovered signs, such as 'nose pokes' in the ground, that the Attenborough echidna was still living there.</p><p>But they were unable to access the highest reaches of the mountains and provide definitive proof of their existence.</p><p>That has meant that for the last 62 years the only evidence that Attenborough echidna ever existed has been a specimen kept under high security in the Treasure Room of Naturalis, the natural history museum of the Netherlands.</p><p>"It's rather flat," Pepijn Kamminga the collection manager at Naturalis says as he holds it for us to see.</p><p>To an untrained eye it's not dissimilar to a squashed hedgehog because when it was first gathered by Dutch botanist Pieter van Royen it wasn't stuffed.</p><p>The importance of the specimen only became clear in 1998 when x-rays revealed it wasn't a juvenile of another echidna species but in fact fully grown and distinct. It was then that the species was named after Sir David Attenborough.</p><p>"When that was discovered, people thought, well, maybe it's extinct already because it's the only one," Mr Kamminga explains. "So this [the rediscovery] is incredible news."</p><p>Dr James Kempton lead the expedition to the Cyclops Mountains</p><p>The Cyclops Mountains are precipitously steep and dangerous to explore. To reach the highest elevations, where the echidna are found, the scientists had to climb narrow ridges of moss and tree roots - often under rainy conditions - with sheer cliffs on either side. Twice during their ascent the mountains were hit by earthquakes.</p><p>"You're slipping all over the place. You're being scratched and cut. There are venomous animals around you, deadly snakes like the death adder," Dr Kempton explains.</p><p>"There are leeches literally everywhere. The leeches are not only on the floor, but these leeches climb trees, they hang off the trees and then drop on you to suck your blood."</p><p>Dr Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou looks at an insect on a treeImage source, EXPEDITION </p><p>Once the scientists reached the higher parts of the Cyclops it became clear the mountains were full of species that were new to science.</p><p>"My colleagues and I were chuckling all the time," Dr Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou a Greek insect specialist said.</p><p>"We were so excited because we were always saying, 'this is new, nobody has seen this' or 'Oh my God, I can't believe that I'm seeing this.' It was a truly monumental expedition."</p><p>Dr Davranoglou broke his arm in the first week of the expedition but remained in the mountains collecting samples. He says they have already confirmed "several dozen" new insect species and are expecting there to be many more. They also found an entirely new type of tree-dwelling shrimp and a previously unknown cave system.</p><p>Local scientist Gison Morib, a PhD student from Cenderawasih University, who was on the expedition, said: "The top of the Cyclops are really unique. I want to see them protected.</p><p>"We have to protect these sacred mountains. There are so many endemic species we don't know."</p><p>Sacred mountains</p><p>Previous expeditions had struggled to reach the parts of the Cyclops mountains where the echidnas live because of the belief of local Papuans that they are sacred.</p><p>"The mountains are referred to as the landlady," Madeleine Foote from Oxford University says. "And you do not want to upset the landlady by not taking good care of her property."</p><p>This team worked closely with local villages and on a practical level that meant accepting that there were some places they couldn't go to, and others where they passed through silently.</p><p>The Attenborough echidna's elusiveness has, according to local tradition, played a part in conflict resolution.</p><p>When disputes between two community members arose one was instructed to find an echidna and the other a marlin (a fish).</p><p>"That can sometimes take decades," Ms Foote explains. "Meaning it closes the conflict for the community and symbolizes peace."</p><p>Dr Kempton says he hopes that rediscovery of the echidna and the other new species will help build the case for conservation in the Cyclops Mountains. Despite being critically endangered, Attenborough's long-beaked echidna is not currently a protected species in Indonesia. The scientists don't know how big the population is, or if it is sustainable.</p><p>"Given so much of that rainforest hasn't been explored, what else is out there that we haven't yet discovered? The Attenborough long-beaked echidna is a symbol of what we need to protect - to ensure we can discover it."</p><p>Map showing Cyclops Mountains</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-83522265437469415862023-11-09T18:31:00.002+05:302023-11-09T18:31:46.226+05:30Monkey Baat from Talakona<p>Our Talakona trip reacquainted me with all sorts of monkey business. Bonnet macaques (<i>Macaca radiata), </i>everywhere in the camp, but not in the forests! The forests belonged to the Grey Langurs. It was fascinating to see this clear division between the omnivorous macaques and the leaf-eaing langurs.</p><p>In the same way. it was only MNS members of the <i>Homo sapiens</i> who seemed to go into the forests around - others stayed in camp!<br /></p><p>It is the tuft of hair on the head that has led to their naming, I learnt. </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgho32NqNSnKeH_liwyMDkhWnHOVjmcXzV3jqdm6XoYPe-YA7RLmCs_p36kH3WzMXAYuaEF4w-UzrQ_67XCZ9MgKHNGpHAcAB0sNR4lsFRtjYxIhpqWbmLqHAORkKSQ_qPSw16wcokAJN8FK7TXggKd-AgS8nz92FDqpEf3dirA3SAb-KtWRyglRV6i6S02/s1280/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-10-25%20at%204.59.45%20PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="1280" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgho32NqNSnKeH_liwyMDkhWnHOVjmcXzV3jqdm6XoYPe-YA7RLmCs_p36kH3WzMXAYuaEF4w-UzrQ_67XCZ9MgKHNGpHAcAB0sNR4lsFRtjYxIhpqWbmLqHAORkKSQ_qPSw16wcokAJN8FK7TXggKd-AgS8nz92FDqpEf3dirA3SAb-KtWRyglRV6i6S02/w640-h296/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-10-25%20at%204.59.45%20PM.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Baskar. The Accommodation area, when serene and quiet, early in the morning or late in the evenings. Through the weekend and the holidays, the whole area was packed with families and shrieking, excited homo sapiens, playing and bonding on the swings and slides in the play area.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='671' height='558' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwdtZWpY83MSzcUC2zUuFla4blKUe0wXaEAG2jjAD9enkp7EL-Tn4-tnWBZcViPtJgKyE7IyyUM8Gn3QZFISw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr></tr></tbody></table></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"> </td><td style="text-align: center;"> The macaque children also enjoyed the slides. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIYi1Ea8Ni1fl8Gvq-XZIY4JZpLKV0M53ut9cANfKrb4WnFlFTpgkySjGCU_w_Sz2tXgqoRuvYW_4esQ_n8XN0Il-3eAI7aXkCQ_pcQxVvA8iHbfJynOBS8uqvqBNHJoeJKFhdeJyqnn8IWMa5QQ0pTNPmGRsXtzusiwRzqHKzSS93MLsONJOodGmWJw9Z/s1280/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-10-25%20at%204.59.45%20PM(1).jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="1280" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIYi1Ea8Ni1fl8Gvq-XZIY4JZpLKV0M53ut9cANfKrb4WnFlFTpgkySjGCU_w_Sz2tXgqoRuvYW_4esQ_n8XN0Il-3eAI7aXkCQ_pcQxVvA8iHbfJynOBS8uqvqBNHJoeJKFhdeJyqnn8IWMa5QQ0pTNPmGRsXtzusiwRzqHKzSS93MLsONJOodGmWJw9Z/w640-h298/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-10-25%20at%204.59.45%20PM(1).jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Baskar. It is a beautiful camp area, with a river running though it, and the tall riverine trees, so majestic!</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Under these trees, we witnessed many an interesting macaque interaction. As Tara walked along cheerfully chocolate in hand, a cheeky juevnile came and snatched at her hand, and as Bhuvanya told her to drop it, the monkey continued to pursue her...until chased away by the others, leaving Tara alarmed and shocked.</p><p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTe3_vKSAXNEHUsq8Uy70Zh5d6WBLU7V2tLR9yHdABDH1nk-N9rMJPmFWO072A81szqqS0QS2Unh4GCpaBQZS6c3qzLpbqjg8wvbcsh032b66H1gSkOjZXMpDs2UymBxZJbo0aeMD9-zy8ibifn74kEqQmltD15u251-YMcGgANubvQgzyzNaoQ1O5hcMo/s1280/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-10-25%20at%204.59.45%20PM(2).jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="1280" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTe3_vKSAXNEHUsq8Uy70Zh5d6WBLU7V2tLR9yHdABDH1nk-N9rMJPmFWO072A81szqqS0QS2Unh4GCpaBQZS6c3qzLpbqjg8wvbcsh032b66H1gSkOjZXMpDs2UymBxZJbo0aeMD9-zy8ibifn74kEqQmltD15u251-YMcGgANubvQgzyzNaoQ1O5hcMo/w640-h296/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-10-25%20at%204.59.45%20PM(2).jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Baskar. These were the rooms used by us ladies, all the balconies had grill protection from the monkeys, which emerged and swarmed the place when the tourists congregated.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>It was like a regular jungle gym experience to see them clambering up and down the bars and stair cases. Our dining area was also "caged" - we were within the cage, and the monkeys were out looking in on us. They seemed especially fond of puris. The morning when we had puris for breakfast, there were half a dozen monkey babies on the bars looking in, trying to make eye contact, make sad faces, cooing sounds, and actually beg for morsels. I was so astonished to see this learned behaviour. The bigger males, were on the roof, banging on the tin and making a god awful racket. </p><p>On my return, I came across this article, which more or less sums up what we saw: <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2018/05/novel-begging-behaviour-observed-in-bonnet-macaques-at-bandipur/">Novel ‘begging’ behaviour observed in bonnet macaques at Bandipur </a><br /></p><p><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='674' height='560' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxKmdBCusx08a56BqHMUdTZVsfAtvq688L5ohb6LWUo79wWQ3mnQxah7f_g0TB5QGtPnDXz-2ggX6HgMI-Wxg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr></tr></tbody></table></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: left;"><br /></td><td style="text-align: left;"><br /></td><td style="text-align: left;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1A1J7KXBFDfU-xkau_FtoTkAT5uwyL8Ol7_bpG7xhvEHaBAAVDuSIZVrpnqPyYD6CaGkCLZivaP6LjUs4Hk4X2S0HoSfFLaeIKNMp97Au7H4bvK-i-cEUYiIoqUPWJuwTeqelLXGxgDtvBa5ohpXdBGrRNmlLyE1q2pN7FQlcWaEsxfFAWfl4UqTKKwE7/s1280/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-10-25%20at%204.59.46%20PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="1280" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1A1J7KXBFDfU-xkau_FtoTkAT5uwyL8Ol7_bpG7xhvEHaBAAVDuSIZVrpnqPyYD6CaGkCLZivaP6LjUs4Hk4X2S0HoSfFLaeIKNMp97Au7H4bvK-i-cEUYiIoqUPWJuwTeqelLXGxgDtvBa5ohpXdBGrRNmlLyE1q2pN7FQlcWaEsxfFAWfl4UqTKKwE7/w640-h296/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-10-25%20at%204.59.46%20PM.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Baskar. The men's dorm was set back at the far end of the camp space, with lovely wooded walking trails behind it.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga885Dt28vBbkft71CIYUDeHOGQJD-VIxlBiBWMmkwIRvUqFTB-IXOqJLDZzSp9NLms7HHyydnIxhhvAoyMJkO5ufMaz22WgDVUEBsMkr9mJH7cjftJqKqQF17YIn-RcM_g7jxTS0mqUUlLsg-5z6sV-VwiSZR6oMIJBShYcnAh_6yhfVM24scpPjN0wr6/s1024/AD0EF9AF-8798-4BF0-9D94-D98EF3120280_1_105_c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga885Dt28vBbkft71CIYUDeHOGQJD-VIxlBiBWMmkwIRvUqFTB-IXOqJLDZzSp9NLms7HHyydnIxhhvAoyMJkO5ufMaz22WgDVUEBsMkr9mJH7cjftJqKqQF17YIn-RcM_g7jxTS0mqUUlLsg-5z6sV-VwiSZR6oMIJBShYcnAh_6yhfVM24scpPjN0wr6/w640-h480/AD0EF9AF-8798-4BF0-9D94-D98EF3120280_1_105_c.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The little stream that was the life force of the area, and created the riverine ecosystem on either side. There were huge wild mango trees and Shorea species. Arjuna and Elephant apple as well.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijt64zNp3qcAEdeuQ0BLPOSCnCXAZR1KQczsOlQNPJ_nElyhf6npVQB6gxgbH5r_gzksZwlh3DtD-kNIWDA5YgGqdz8RqMbQhVavZ8YCQGpU3kBUcbJMIO0Gerv7eBTuDTq8JgJmXVZ7jUHH8pysZydGguh8fXh3SLgSi9RJneFgzeCwAr6Pf_dabhDuso/s1024/2342EA6C-2FE6-450A-9E5D-4115C4FE43CB_1_105_c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijt64zNp3qcAEdeuQ0BLPOSCnCXAZR1KQczsOlQNPJ_nElyhf6npVQB6gxgbH5r_gzksZwlh3DtD-kNIWDA5YgGqdz8RqMbQhVavZ8YCQGpU3kBUcbJMIO0Gerv7eBTuDTq8JgJmXVZ7jUHH8pysZydGguh8fXh3SLgSi9RJneFgzeCwAr6Pf_dabhDuso/w640-h480/2342EA6C-2FE6-450A-9E5D-4115C4FE43CB_1_105_c.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The temperature in the camp under the tall trees was significantly lower than when we went say 500m away, where it became more scrub-like rocky, and dry.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKua-1uuLvKEvxzpd6JFQvEERVwbuN_XAnUZYZ-SZnGjZ7_SKWy81AOS_wbkpONfRWdoAT6TneaD8PtLqFfp1ZsGPbS4fSMUWtz09sQ3R1-DKG79PinzhM41lXKvOaI3D_3925TfoL9DPptHMatauAww3QbcCOuDOjjPMT0phjzM8DzhXALSgR1ZMvCBbh/s1024/5776CC33-7774-4C99-81C0-B205493DE7F9_1_105_c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKua-1uuLvKEvxzpd6JFQvEERVwbuN_XAnUZYZ-SZnGjZ7_SKWy81AOS_wbkpONfRWdoAT6TneaD8PtLqFfp1ZsGPbS4fSMUWtz09sQ3R1-DKG79PinzhM41lXKvOaI3D_3925TfoL9DPptHMatauAww3QbcCOuDOjjPMT0phjzM8DzhXALSgR1ZMvCBbh/w480-h640/5776CC33-7774-4C99-81C0-B205493DE7F9_1_105_c.jpeg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I loved to sit on the benches by the side of the stream. We saw a pair of Common Kingfishers one morning, while sitting on a bench. They were on a fallen tree branch on the opposite side. They called and bonded, fished and seemed to feed each other as well. Such a lovely experience in the morning quiet.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gKMxfnyJWdLOlJO_J3pa9VLL33J8MWJghpGwFsLQ3b6yeAEwWyh0ZxZV3pes0p2WfSCQEtwZs4k-sPIgmmx_KN4b7UiHgMkodvgA5M2C3HZc50TKPxWFCBZbVsJmdGZZJc6F15-8Kn6lmF3Yz3UMUMoDqaCUZ8dPw1sblOKjPzzHHzuZDe34036JPYgi/s1343/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-11-09%20at%202.38.11%20PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="807" data-original-width="1343" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gKMxfnyJWdLOlJO_J3pa9VLL33J8MWJghpGwFsLQ3b6yeAEwWyh0ZxZV3pes0p2WfSCQEtwZs4k-sPIgmmx_KN4b7UiHgMkodvgA5M2C3HZc50TKPxWFCBZbVsJmdGZZJc6F15-8Kn6lmF3Yz3UMUMoDqaCUZ8dPw1sblOKjPzzHHzuZDe34036JPYgi/w640-h384/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-11-09%20at%202.38.11%20PM.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rajaram captured the kingfisher pair (<i>Alcedo atthis</i>), and the one with the orange lower mandible is likely the female.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb49EPIUJeOsm1zEBT6zvAoDZ6qr5YMS4Q0fMWtuHRAXQ8GT7GjvGh0hGe1gMeSxhm1x9LOl5BVgRN2BqSaHbJtp6YsHPDO6Cbvyvpx1cJ1yMenjGllwMOgijb9mZp4Hs88FHb6WRRBZqzOR5l4jx5Qk5K8sbL_5I6804iDetOK5ikYnltfmu3fwDX_V_r/s1024/EF57CBC6-C412-4C6F-9910-982AE178CD66_1_105_c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb49EPIUJeOsm1zEBT6zvAoDZ6qr5YMS4Q0fMWtuHRAXQ8GT7GjvGh0hGe1gMeSxhm1x9LOl5BVgRN2BqSaHbJtp6YsHPDO6Cbvyvpx1cJ1yMenjGllwMOgijb9mZp4Hs88FHb6WRRBZqzOR5l4jx5Qk5K8sbL_5I6804iDetOK5ikYnltfmu3fwDX_V_r/w640-h480/EF57CBC6-C412-4C6F-9910-982AE178CD66_1_105_c.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Near the check dam, the cement wall was a favourite perch for the monkeys, they would sit and preen, sun bathe, meditate, groom, fight, love, beg, play and explore here. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqgn0nmK-jKu1ZIDfs65j6YEG2B5b33ShgV9FXG4tK2T50uUpVf_AxgelWyCqfDdbfsak6SSt3YKtdksUWw6Vb2wAmqgqlI7koLC0m3ukvRhM7RvHwul4v7FAWmFBMbLBMHD3-oC5VTWKK5R8kaofOI-PYJkyTbO_36oQxH4v-bcQ4glo_S91SNYdzY-Wh/s1024/E1258BA1-E9CD-48B1-9224-E10F865990FC_1_105_c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqgn0nmK-jKu1ZIDfs65j6YEG2B5b33ShgV9FXG4tK2T50uUpVf_AxgelWyCqfDdbfsak6SSt3YKtdksUWw6Vb2wAmqgqlI7koLC0m3ukvRhM7RvHwul4v7FAWmFBMbLBMHD3-oC5VTWKK5R8kaofOI-PYJkyTbO_36oQxH4v-bcQ4glo_S91SNYdzY-Wh/w640-h480/E1258BA1-E9CD-48B1-9224-E10F865990FC_1_105_c.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Singapore cherry (?) was a favourite spot with the juveniles - they would sunbathe and pick fruits and play, all on its canopy, while the mother sat on the bund, appearing disinterested and meditative.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The <a href="https://neprimateconservancy.org/bonnet-macaque/">Primate Conservancy</a> site had this nice summary of their status and the human interactions we see. <br /></div><br /><blockquote>"Having learned to thrive in a wide range of habitats, the bonnet macaque (macaca radiata) is highly visible throughout India’s southern peninsula. The scrappy bonnet macaque’s ability to live commensal with humans presents perhaps its greatest vulnerability: although the species appears abundant and at ease among humans, recent studies suggest its numbers may be declining faster than previously thought and conflicts with humans further plague this resourceful Asian monkey.<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Diet<br /><br />The bonnet macaque spends much of his time inhabiting temples and other urban places where he can readily consume human food. Although he prefers fruits and plant materials, he’s an omnivore and will resourcefully rummage for nourishment in nearby houses, food stalls, gardens, and trash piles. Sometimes, tourists will find entertainment in feeding the monkeys, making the foraging work all the easier. Pale-bellied bonnet macaques and other forest-dwelling bonnet macaques eat fruits, soil, insects, and sometimes small invertebrates and reptiles.<br /><br />Consuming high concentrations of fruits, plant materials, and certainly human foods can upset even the most robust of digestive systems, but the bonnet macaque appears to have a way to alleviate indigestion, nausea, and diarrhea. A study conducted in the Marakkanam Reserve Forest of southern India found that bonnet macaques ate the soils of termite nests, known as termitaria, which are rich in kaolin and smectite. The combination of these materials, when consumed, mimics the mineralogy of eko, an African remedy for stomach ailments, and Kaopectate™, a western anti-diarrheal preparation."</div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /><br /></div><br /> This macaque is picking termites of the tree. Another one, having ingested something it did not like, was making puking sounds. <br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='541' height='449' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dygZOsULeF4ft9Ayu9Gl1SGViRwUUCzo1azsuZ6Y0tJurpHqJmZf76ElTahBytjGGMtSlpKyyucFPb4msKpdQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='545' height='454' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx0SH2-vITcjlhArOp-1ISZS9iu2jCigE_MpU_LLeKy9e3GAmFU88JP719PtzFR1E-PaKOO_Hkn1QYVio7_pw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />Their climbing skills are remarkable even at a young age. <br /> <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='601' height='501' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyH7fIsXYZ7CLFU4xP3cTmZjgipTHCUyRiRpzMzXhseugvp4lRLIIN1Itlz8hFX2ddm6sVkoDT9A7C42kcQcw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p><br /><b> Two Alpha Male incidents</b></p><p>Yuvan observed a grown man hand-feeding Madras mixture to a grown monkey. The man had a pleased look, as he held out his hand with mixture, and the monkey picked it up and ate. This went on for some time, as the man dug into the mixture pack and refilled his hand, and the monkey ate. The man looked gratified and the monkey ate. Until the mixture ran out. At this point, the monkey slapped the man, and stalked off, leaving a shattered and disillusioned man, whose visions of a man-animal bond had just crumbled.</p><p>The other incident also involves this same Alpha Male. Prologue - I did not enjoy this caged eating, and so used to take my cup (or rather thimble) of tea, and sit by the water and enjoy the moment. It seemed like the monkeys did not care for tea, and all was peaceful to woman and animal. </p><p>Until the time I encouraged Bhuvanya and Minni to also bring their tea cups out and sit on a bench. So a little MNS session was in progress, when the said Alpha Male, came up to Minni on the extreme left and tapped her leg, in a not-very-gentle fashion. Our own not-so-alpha Male Yuvan then stomped his foot in a symbolic gesture of "be off with you". But the real Alpha Male was having none of it, and went up to Yuvan and bared his teeth and let out a growl, causing Yuvan to be taken aback, quite literally. In this fracas, Minni slipped away into the Caged Dining area with her tea, I sat transfixed and Bhuvanya jumped out of her seat. The Monkey Male then turned its attention on me, and I (not wanting to share my tea), quickly drank the last dregs, and also fled, with empty cup. And so ended that monkey encounter.</p><p><b>Langur vs Macaque</b></p><p>I have been a bit obsessed about understanding the difference between the two, and Ravi Chellam pointed me to two major differences - The macaques are omnivrous and have cheek pouches and the langurs are herbivores and have sacculated stomachs.</p><p>The link on <a href="https://www.palomar.edu/anthro/primate/prim_6.htm">Old World Monkeys </a>describes it well. There are at least 78 species of Old World monkeys in two subfamilies---the Cercopithecinae (that includes Macaques) and the Colobinae (that includes langurs).</p><p>The macaques have cheek pouches - "cheeks that expand rather like those of hamsters to allow the secure temporary storage of food. This is a useful trait for these omnivorous monkeys since they compete with each other for desirable foods and are not inclined to share. Fruit and meat are particularly prized."</p><p>The langurs are all herbivores - "lack cheek pouches. They also share in common the fact that they have sacculated click this icon to hear the preceding term pronounced stomachs. That is to say, their stomachs have "saccules," or sack-like compartments, in which bacteria and unusual combinations of enzymes break down plant cellulose, thereby providing more useable calories. Their stomachs also contain more acid than do those of other monkeys. This speeds up digestion but results in delicate stomachs. The Colobinae have unusually long intestines that increase the absorption of nutrients. These are all adaptations to a predominantly low protein, fibrous leaf diet. Not surprisingly, the Colobinae are also referred to as the "leaf-eating monkeys." "</p><p><b>To Feed or not? <br /></b></p><p><a href="https://www.theindiaforum.in/article/why-feeding-monkeys-bad-forests">Why Feeding Monkeys is Bad for Forests</a> provides an opinion for all sorts of animal feedng, city dogs inclued, and how adoption is the better thing than street feeding. And the problems from various places reflects the same behaviour we saw at Talakona. <br /></p><p></p><blockquote><p>"a video from Lopburi, in Thailand, depicted a more apocalyptic scene. It showed hundreds of long-tailed macaques roaming the streets and chasing down any hapless human they could find, hoping to scavenge scraps of food. These monkeys were used to being fed by tourists, and a thriving “animal feeding” industry had sprung up around the temple ruins. With the pandemic-induced lockdowns and travel bans, these easy sources of food vanished. The monkeys, completely dependent on humans, literally took to the streets.......</p><p>Near the Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal, residents have expressed their woes about macaques’ looting’ shops and wreaking havoc in fields. These incidents started occurring mainly after the lockdown. Like in Lopburi, the Buxa macaques too were accustomed to being provisioned by tourists.....</p><p>Animals fed on high calorie-low nutrient human food such as bread usually are obese, have alopecia, and have increased physiological stress and parasitic loads....As for the macaques, they are far too ecologically resilient to need any help from us."</p></blockquote><p>Earlier this year, the monkey business got so out of hand in Chandigarh that the city put <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/feeding-monkeys-could-land-you-in-jail-for-3-yrs/articleshow/98531258.cms">a fine and even imprisonment for anyone caught feeding monkeys. </a><br /></p><p>In my aunt's home at Jayanagar in Bangalore, a large troop of monkeys reside in her garden, and the humn residents all stay within their home, caged and locked in. I know that they used to feed earlier, and not any more.</p><p></p><p>It is in the wider interest then, for the AP Forest Department to actively discourage monkey feeding, either by disallowing eating and picnicking in their camp site in the outdoors, or by active monitoring and education of the visiting homo sapiens.</p><p></p><p></p>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-89506572255025681182023-11-07T21:58:00.001+05:302023-11-07T21:58:40.437+05:30Buried seeds are viable after 144 years, but mystery remains - Futurity<div dir="ltr"><base href="https://www.futurity.org/buried-seeds-viable-2995582-2/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=topic%2Fscience"><style id="print"></style><title>Buried seeds are viable after 144 years, but mystery remains - Futurity</title><div class="original-url"><br><a href="https://www.futurity.org/buried-seeds-viable-2995582-2/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=topic%2Fscience">https://www.futurity.org/buried-seeds-viable-2995582-2/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=topic%2Fscience</a><br><br></div><div id="article" role="article" style="-webkit-locale: "en"; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="system exported"> <!-- This node will contain a number of div.page. --> <div class="page" style="text-align: start; overflow-wrap: break-word; max-width: 100%;"><h1 class="title" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.95552em; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: start; display: block; max-width: 100%;">Buried seeds are viable after 144 years, but mystery remains</h1><div class="metadata singleline" style="text-align: start; display: block; margin-bottom: 1.45em; margin-top: -0.75em; max-width: 100%;"><a href="https://www.futurity.org/author/michigan-ward/" rel="author" class="byline" style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 1em !important; font-weight: normal !important; font-style: normal !important; display: inline !important;">Kim Ward-Michigan State</a></div><div class="leading-image" style="max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 1.15em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);"><img srcset="https://www.futurity.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/buried_seeds_mystery_1600.jpg" alt="" class="" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; margin: auto; display: block; clear: both;" src="" data-unique-identifier=""></div> <p style="max-width: 100%;">How long can seeds remain viable? New findings hold an answer, but the mystery continues.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">In April 2021, four plant scientists met at an undisclosed area of the Michigan State University campus to dig up a bottle containing seeds buried more than 144 years ago by botanist William J. Beal.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">Fast forward to 2023, more than two years after the seeds were excavated from their secret location, molecular genetic testing has confirmed a hybrid plant was accidentally included among the <a href="https://www.futurity.org/witch-hazel-shoots-seeds-2964722-2/" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">seeds</a> in the bottle—a discovery that would have surprised and amazed Beal because DNA was unknown at the time.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">During his time on campus, Beal wanted to help farmers increase crop production by eliminating weeds from their farms, so he was determined to find out how long the seeds of these undesirable plants could remain viable in soil.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">He filled 20 glass pint bottles with sand and 50 seeds from 23 weed species. Beal buried the bottles with their mouths slanting downward so water wouldn't collect, replicating as best he could the natural seed and soil conditions. And so began the Beal Seed Experiment.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">Beal originally excavated every five years to test the <a href="https://www.futurity.org/neonicotinoids-predatory-insects-1312412-2/" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">seeds</a>, which grew each time they were excavated. However, in 1920, it was decided to change the interval to 10 years to prolong the study. Then, in 1980, the interval was extended to 20 years. With four bottles still buried, the experiment will continue until 2100.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">In 2021, the current team of Beal researchers excavated the 14th bottle of seeds buried on campus to see if they could finally answer the question: How long can seeds remain viable to grow?</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">"The biggest surprise to me is that the seeds germinated again," says Frank Telewski, professor emeritus, plant biologist, and Beal team leader. "It's amazing that something so old can still grow."</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">Since April 2021, the Beal experiment team members, including Telewski; Lars Brudvig, assistant professor of plant biology; and David Lowry, associate professor of plant biology, have been sequencing genomic DNA to confirm the plant species' identities for the first time in the history of the experiment. The Beal team's work appears in the <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16250" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><em style="max-width: 100%;">American Journal of Botany</em></a>.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">The team always thought a hybrid was somehow mixed in with the original seeds but never had the tools to confirm it, until now.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">"The molecular genetics work confirmed the phenotypes we saw, which is that the plants were <em style="max-width: 100%;">Verbascum blattaria</em>, or moth mullein, and one hybrid of <em style="max-width: 100%;">Verbascum blattaria</em> and <em style="max-width: 100%;">Verbascum thapsus</em>, or common mullein," Fleming says. "Beal stated that he included only <em style="max-width: 100%;">Verbascum thapsus</em> seeds, so some mix-up must have happened while the bottles were being prepared.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">While most species in the Beal experiment lost all seed viability in the first 60 years, the persistence of <em style="max-width: 100%;">Verbascum</em> seeds provides invaluable information about seed viability in natural soil conditions, Brudvig says.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">"In the 140-plus years since the experiment's start, the question of seed bank longevity has gained new relevance, including for rare species conservation and ecosystem restoration; for example, prairie plantings on former farmland," Brudvig says. "Our findings help to inform which plant species, like <em style="max-width: 100%;">Verbascum</em>, might be problematic weeds for a restoration project like this, and which other species may not, depending on how long a field was farmed before being restored."</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">Beal hoped to help farmers eliminate weeds by determining how long seeds would remain viable. After 144 years, that question remains unanswered.</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;">"The Beal experiment will ultimately end when we run out of bottles," Lowry says. "If seeds germinate again from our next dig, we may need to consider extending the time between bottle extractions to every 30 years. It's still a little early to put it on my calendar, but I am looking forward to seeing if we can wake up any more seeds in 2040."</p> <p style="max-width: 100%;"><em style="max-width: 100%;">Source: <a href="https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2023/msu-plant-biologists-shed-light-on-144-year-old-seedy-mystery" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Michigan State University</a></em></p> </div></div></div><div dir="ltr"></div>flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13583733876810341137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-27705226476806412002023-11-05T21:31:00.001+05:302023-11-05T21:31:19.192+05:30eBird India Checklist - 5 Nov 2023 - Saul Kere / Sowl Kere - 41 species<a href="https://ebird.org/india/checklist/S153805861">eBird India Checklist - 5 Nov 2023 - Saul Kere / Sowl Kere - 41 species</a><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0PG9Wn-_vM2WFDP-hAcg4jLvQfMXEqqZlP2GSlsTGOlx5AF6-IY22TrhEQWJkh23YRXGTB4dKfvFkf3why3zL4s2V9Gu_Ys65ZKBIpXUJigYfbfJtV98gYl6LGv-Rt6acDSjlPjPz7X7VVi5docENLKADZuOPcHnoFfyDTJ6Uec4gysCqDqKSc91XAoBE" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0PG9Wn-_vM2WFDP-hAcg4jLvQfMXEqqZlP2GSlsTGOlx5AF6-IY22TrhEQWJkh23YRXGTB4dKfvFkf3why3zL4s2V9Gu_Ys65ZKBIpXUJigYfbfJtV98gYl6LGv-Rt6acDSjlPjPz7X7VVi5docENLKADZuOPcHnoFfyDTJ6Uec4gysCqDqKSc91XAoBE=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Overnight rains, a cloudy day and my dear friend Neeta for company - quite a perfect start to a birding morning. </div><div><br /></div><div>It started with a sight of these piggies snuffling in the mud, surprising and amusing me.</div><div><br /></div><div>The yellow tacoma bushes were a riot of yellow, and just past them, we saw the usual pond herons and swamp hens in plenty.</div><div><br /></div><div>Today's surprises included a dozen pelicans - I did not see them on my last visit - and some Garganeys!</div><div><br /></div><div>Also bumped into the bangalore birders in full strength including Garima.</div><div><br /></div><div>The best moment was a pair of white-cheeked barbets, knocking on a dead tree, possibly nest building.</div><div><br /></div><div>And oh yes, another checkered keel back - this one in the water, swimming away and into the hyacinth.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4673354812294353579.post-1340614027295507342023-11-04T15:04:00.000+05:302023-11-04T15:04:56.739+05:30Talakona - 2002<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our visit To Talakona, and these previous reports surfaced. This one by V Santharam who took the Rishi Valley kids, and despite the chattery cheerful teenagers, he managed to see such an amazing variety of flora and fauna.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I enjoyed the writing. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">No Monkeys mentioned though... Interesting. Watch my next post.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHiKhM1-E7VIWLSFGMbPGiOPZvJhHhvxcGnoAy6cMsO4ldOvxgeMc679QnLJyMj4fi6BKtzTm65iIQ0Q-TjrPr-2-eOB8puB7ghm0G3ncWU_R69AP9xLGufwZljE9d1Aj2ZZyoQXRuf5kI1DkrxuLA1KfkVFtqNSNiCte8YHRNKDpxcGuDq8GqdSBfNhq6" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="698" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiHiKhM1-E7VIWLSFGMbPGiOPZvJhHhvxcGnoAy6cMsO4ldOvxgeMc679QnLJyMj4fi6BKtzTm65iIQ0Q-TjrPr-2-eOB8puB7ghm0G3ncWU_R69AP9xLGufwZljE9d1Aj2ZZyoQXRuf5kI1DkrxuLA1KfkVFtqNSNiCte8YHRNKDpxcGuDq8GqdSBfNhq6=w640-h268" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiVdpHQvt37ENcD9eOCOuMqRNW50BIHsYbLinW_P1MvnYwhM1GcX6PXSBNisBjCUpJZRgnox1AdjtQ-mCdY-RO8hAt19Ch04EfxvEH2eCHhHyke6wBkgzC_X9FwFUiN52KIhAxuV9C3lbNYsyca5W3FGLqCdyd-qIMXm6W-70rCzhw-HJxwvPA61vUObRU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="694" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiVdpHQvt37ENcD9eOCOuMqRNW50BIHsYbLinW_P1MvnYwhM1GcX6PXSBNisBjCUpJZRgnox1AdjtQ-mCdY-RO8hAt19Ch04EfxvEH2eCHhHyke6wBkgzC_X9FwFUiN52KIhAxuV9C3lbNYsyca5W3FGLqCdyd-qIMXm6W-70rCzhw-HJxwvPA61vUObRU=w520-h640" width="520" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><br /> <p></p>Flowergirlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14624427706085199666noreply@blogger.com0