Day 7 - Red and Black

 4th of July

A Common Mormon female I spied

Her mimicry skill cannot be denied

She disguises as a toxic Rose

Right under your very nose

Predators give her a berth a mile wide. 

She nectared on the ixora so red 

Moving  from flower head to head

I watched in delight 

Her fluttering flight

Black, red and white wings outspread. 

She could be Cyrus, Stichius  and Romulus

The disguises of female Papilio poly-tes 

She seems to dwarf 

the male of one morph

And all this she does with no fuss!

*******

Papilio polytes- Common Mormon female in Romolus morph, where it mimics the poisonous Crimson Rose

Refer Batesian mimicry for more fascinating stuff.

BeetleMania 2024

28th Sept 2024

Chennai

I wrote this for Creative Expressions of Monsoon Beauty / Beetles.  

The Beetle Verse

Let me write you some beetle limericks
Each one - a bag full of tricks

All Coleoptera
Check for elytra
And here are my current favourite picks.

The Tiger beetle is now top of my shortlist
Unaware was I such a nifty predator exists
Running with speed
Huge appetites indeed 
In my mum’s sand garden, its territory persists.

The Dung beetle I saw was quite the roller
Hardworking nutrient recycling tiny soldier
With hind legs so strong 
That dung ball moved along
Dodging that “helper” who was a robber!

Now there are Jewel bugs and beetles iridescent
How to distinguish - my perennial lament 
The bug is a sucker
The beetle a chewer
Whichever, Jewel spotting will leave you content.

Rhino beetles, large, dark-coloured and horned
The males stage mating battles, be warned
They look so ferocious
But really that’s atrocious 
‘Cos they’re plant eating, non-biting - that’s confirmed!

At the bottom of my list are those Weevils
I must admit I saw them as pests and evil
Eating my channa and rice
Is really not nice
But my viewpoint is maybe medieval?

And those are only the beetles that I have seen
Others, like the Dermestids keep the skeletons clean
Stags, Ground Beetles and  Blisters
Whirligigs, Water and Algae-feeders
So many more nature’s wonders  remain, to me, unseen.

****

The India Nature Group were so delighted 

by my verse on Beetles, always so blighted

It won a prize

much to my surprise

Leaving me ever so astonished and excited!

Rewards for my labour!

Vismaya - the Peregrine of MRC Nagar

Vismaya - so named by Sanjeev - a Peregrine Falcon whom he had day-to-day eyes on; Vismaya, who came when Maya the Shaheen left, or so it seemed.

10th April sightings

Vismaya - Falco peregrinus peregrinus,

Let me tell you about her, why the fuss.

CSK bus below

Bedecked in yellow

And most miss this raptor in plain sight, thus.

Off to the marsh at dusk and dawn

From this perch, she will be gone

Pigeon  stunned

with fist, not gun

Cleaned and eaten on the adjacent pylon.

A Chennai Life lived in solitude

Not even the crow dare intrude

Back north for the summer

She may meet a Tiercel partner

And hopefully eyases, they will together brood.

We wish you safe travels up north

And hope you come back, as you go forth

Maybe next time as a pair?

Chennai does treat you so fair

with enough prey through our winter for you both!

 

Andaman journeys - Lucky last day

Feb 16th 2024

Continued from here.

Our last day at Port Blair was filled with action, centred around Chidiyatapu.  I loved Chidiyatpu during our last visit in 2017, when we climbed Mundapahar.  

This time, we birded in the reserved area and fields, below.  Almost as soon as we got off our cars on the hilly roads of the forest, we saw an Andaman Serpent Eagle, sitting in solitary splendour, quiet, still; while we humans buzzed around with hushed excitement, not wanting to disturb it, but yet trying to get the best possible sightings and photographs.  

Andaman Serpent-Eagle (Spilornis elgini) Brown, on brown.  What a beautiful sight!

They are smaller than the mainland Crested Serpent Eagles, more brown, and with a single tail bar rather than two.  

As we watched it suddenly dropped out of sight, gone in a nano second.  Did it spot prey or was it getting away from us?  It did not return to this perch.

And then we heard the Shama!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sureshkumar (@suresh0117)

 

Andaman shama (Copsychus albiventris) - sighted more or less in the same place as during my last visit!  

As I watched, enchanted through my binoculars, the Shama moved from one branch to another - and continued its singing.  Did not seem to mind us at all, it was too busy with its own daily routine.  When it had to, it flitted away into the undergrowth, and so the Shama show ended for me.

Up above, a lipstick red beak whizzed past - a Dollarbird - the same thing happened at Kalatang too.  But here, Suresh followed it to the same tree perch and photographed a pair.

The Dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis), with the round dollars on its underwings - quite mynah like, though those beaks are a giveaway.  I read that they love the top of bare/dead trees.

These birds have a lovely "short" colour (to use saree parlance), with the sun causing the blue-black to shimmer.

We moved on from the hilly, forested road, to a track between farming lands.  It was past 7 in the morning, and the sun slanted in from above the nearby hills.  

A spider's nest created a lovely "kolam" on a wild plant.

By the side of the road, a happy jumble of weeds, including Touch-Me-Nots harboured grasshoppers and other little critters.
 

An Indian Wanderer rested on a leaf, that seemed eaten by caterpillars. I couldn't figure which plant - the leaves look a bit like my home jasmine plant.

 

Plume-toed swiftlets - we saw them everywhere, everyday.  But here, there was a huge cloud of them.  Squarish tail and white bellies - that's the extent of features I could identify - 10x binoculars notwithstanding - so swift are these swiftlets.  Collocalia affinis affinis is the Andaman subspecies.  It gets its name from a tuft of feathers close to the rear-facing toe - the hallux.  So, the toe is not plumed, but it has a plume, if you know what I mean.

While the swiftlets flew, the mynas were busy with their nest building.  I love mynas - they have so much "personality".  They were busy going in and out with sticks and twigs - no time for us.

I watched with delight.  Suresh clicked away - he has a whole series of pictures.

Jabili gently suggested we move on - to "walk a bit up an incline" - I later realised we walked about 200m! 😅

Monkey Jack trees all around.

We reached this point - that was Bada Balu beach down there.  

This was where I was convinced that the Violet Cuckoo had some violet.  We had seen it earlier, up in the canopy, backlit and dark - I was so unimpressed that I did not even add it to the list.

But here - this post by Suresh sums it up.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sureshkumar (@suresh0117)

And this one by Desigan - 

 

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A post shared by Desigan A G V (@desiganagv

High up in the tree was the Cuckoo

Violet he was, not green not blue

White barred belly

Seen in Andamans, not Delhi

A lifer then from Chidiyatapu.

 A WBSE searched for his breakfast, while we had ours. 

With views like this - what's to complain?

Post-breakfast, and it was on to the Chidyatapu Biological Park.  Coming up in the next ultimate post.

January wanderings on ECR

 Jan 10th 2024

Indian Maritime University Recce visit - eBird Trip Report

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.

There was once a trio of MNSers

Nothing in common, but all birders

To IMU we drove

And found a treasure trove

A marsh full of Warblers and Plovers.

There were Egrets and Pelicans galore

Garganeys, Pintails, Ibis and more

so much joy and delight 

Spoonbills in flight

Oh wait!  Godwits in 100s, furthermore!

Then the dogs, who felt ignored

Into the marsh, they  crashed, quite bored

The Godwits flew off

And the Lapwings did scoff

“Did you do it”, they called, and soared.

And how can I forget those Grey Francolins, endearing

Across the road they went. to the edge of the clearing

I counted seven

Quite a procession

And all through our walk we heard them calling.

Openbills flew across along with Painted Stork

Drongo, Coucal, Treepies did disembark

A Roller flashed blue

And the Kingfisher flew

Oh that sweet call - a Jerdon’s Bush Lark!

Powder Puffs played host to many Purple Sunbirds aglow

A Solitary, stock-still Thickknee in the scrub below

We rounded the corner

And there found a charmer

An Oriole above, a flash of sunshiny yellow.

And then as a finale, on a faraway stone

A raptor for sure, that did our goodbyes postpone

A Falcon, a Peregrine

Its claws it did preen

Enjoying the sun and solitude, but no not alone.

We will be back at IMU, that is for sure

The AWC will be a joy and a sinecure

When we go birding

The uncertainty is rewarding

And the company brings laughter in good measure.

And here are the photos:

From Sunbird

From Ramesh

Bauhinia

Rosy Milkweed Vine

Powder Puff - Calliandra

The Sunbird

 

Blue Skies
greens and browns
my window frames.

Quiet sunbird!
Yellow breast reflecting in
my window frames.

Watching sunbird
Catching her reflections, in
my window panes.

Working moms
exchanging glances, through
my window frames.

A moment's experience
a connection in a blink, through
those window frames.

Female, Purple-rumped Sunbird Leptocoma zeylonica

Those painted grasshoppers are back

 Sept 6th and 7th

Poekilocerus pictus 

On Calotropis

Coloured and painted, you'd think it would cheer us

but beware, that toxicity cld afflict us

23, chewing Calotropis poisonous

So, we can squirt you, dont you mess with us

I know, I shall leave, I'm no ignoramus!

Thiruvanmyur 4th seaward road thickets - the milkweed are filled with painted grashopperss.

Watch out for those geckos!

 

2022 - the birding year that was

The birding year that was - A hat tip to my MNS Backbenchers

A trip to Perumbakkam in early Jan

Wigeons and Shovelers, was how it began.

Kentish plover in February 

at the mouth of the estuary,

The sea shells were not part of the plan. 

Nanmangalam was the highlight in March

When I spied the Jerdon’s Bush lark

Valparai,  in April

Pitta,  Thrush thrills,

And the Flameback hammering at the bark. 

Thiruvanmyur in the heat, all of May

Hellos to those red vented bulbuls, everyday

The koel all through June

matched my mood with its maddening tune

A life’s journey ended that day. 

The TS brought some cheer in July

I watched the beeeaters swoop and fly

Soil, earth - TTUF in August

lapwings shrieked and fussed, 

As though we were there to pry. 

Already it is September

and the pelicans on pylons I remember

Rain-drenched Mishmi in October

That Sultan Tit and Red-headed trogon, not at all sober, 

Those colours!  In my memory forever.

ECR outings and friends in late October

Terns, Whimbrels, pied kingfishers and laughter, still linger, 

marshlands in November

Osprey and Marsh Harrier

My raptor watch attempts I confess were meagre 

While Our fledged offspring took precedence in December

But still, those 3 score Black Kites in Andheri, soared in splendour

And so the year ended, 

My heart will be mended

Wigeons and Shovelers, at the wetlands once more. 

 *****

The first birding year where I have seen 200+ species.  

2022 list

• Rock Dove
• Rose-ringed Parakeet
• Common Myna
• House Crow
• Spot-billed Pelican
• Indian Peafowl
• Garganey
• Northern Shoveler
• Eurasian Wigeon
• Indian Spot-billed Duck
• Northern Pintail
• Jacobin Cuckoo
• Common Moorhen
• Eurasian Coot
• Grey-headed Swamphen
• White-breasted Waterhen
• Little Grebe
• Red-wattled Lapwing
• Pheasant-tailed Jacana
• Bronze-winged Jacana
• Common Sandpiper
• Painted Stork
• Asian Openbill
• Oriental Darter
• Little Cormorant
• Black-headed Ibis
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Indian Pond Heron
• Eastern Cattle Egret
• Grey Heron
• Purple Heron
• Great Egret
• Intermediate Egret
• Little Egret
• Eastern Marsh Harrier
• White-throated Kingfisher
• Common Kingfisher
• Blue-tailed Bee-eater
• Brown Shrike
• Barn Swallow
• Blyth's Reed Warbler
• Pied Bush Chat
• Purple Sunbird
• Paddyfield Pipit
• Shikra
• Greater Flameback
• Rufous Treepie
• Common Tailorbird
• Yellow-billed Babbler
• Red-vented Bulbul
• Spotted Dove
• Kentish Plover
• Black-tailed Godwit
• Common Redshank
• Common Greenshank
• White-browed Bulbul
• Watercock
• Spotted Redshank
• Caspian Tern
• Whiskered Tern
• Black-winged Stilt
• Grey-headed Lapwing
• Little Stint
• Wood Sandpiper
• Brown-headed Gull
• Pied Kingfisher
• House Sparrow
• Fulvous Whistling Duck
• Ruddy Shelduck
• Eastern Spot-billed Duck
• Grey Francolin
• Greater Coucal
• Common Hawk-Cuckoo
• Ruddy-breasted Crake
• Greater Flamingo
• Pied Avocet
• Ruff
• Common Snipe
• Marsh Sandpiper
• Glossy Ibis
• Eurasian Spoonbill
• Black-winged Kite
• Booted Eagle
• White-eyed Buzzard
• Eurasian Hoopoe
• Peregrine Falcon
• Indian Golden Oriole
• Indian Paradise Flycatcher
• Blyth's Leaf Warbler
• Clamorous Reed Warbler
• Zitting Cisticola
• Plain Prinia
• Oriental Magpie-Robin
• Streaked Weaver
• Indian Silverbill
• Scaly-breasted Munia
• Black-throated Munia
• Tricolored Munia
• Western Yellow Wagtail
• Citrine Wagtail
• Blue-faced Malkoha
• Laughing Dove
• Ashy Woodswallow
• Jerdon's Bush Lark
• Red-whiskered Bulbul
• Common Babbler
• Indian Robin
• Forest Wagtail
• Striated Heron
• Indian Pitta
• Malabar Whistling Thrush
• Pale-billed Flowerpecker
• Indian Swiftlet
• Crested Serpent Eagle
• Black Eagle
• Chestnut-headed Bee-eater
• Streak-throated Woodpecker
• Plum-headed Parakeet
• Orange Minivet
• Long-tailed Shrike
• Indian Black-lored Tit
• Black-headed Bulbul
• Indian White-eye
• Velvet-fronted Nuthatch
• Brown-breasted Flycatcher
• Eurasian Tree Sparrow
• Asian Palm Swift
• Crested Honey Buzzard
• Chestnut-tailed Starling
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• Ashy-headed Green Pigeon
• Common Buzzard
• Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike
• Common Iora
• Grey-chinned Minivet
• Scarlet Minivet
• White-throated Fantail
• Striated Bulbul
• Golden Babbler
• Yellow-throated Fulvetta
• Small Niltava
• Verditer Flycatcher
• Blue Rock Thrush
• Orange-bellied Leafbird
• Streaked Spiderhunter
• Russet Sparrow
• Grey Wagtail
• Olive-backed Pipit
• Maroon Oriole
• Marsh Babbler
• Grey Bush Chat
• White-rumped Munia
• Whiskered Yuhina
• White-naped Yuhina
• Stripe-throated Yuhina
• Little Forktail
• Plumbeous Water Redstart
• White-capped Redstart
• White-browed Wagtail
• Black Drongo
• Brahminy Starling
• Green-billed Malkoha
• Besra
• Red-headed Trogon
• Great Hornbill
• Blue-eared Barbet
• Rufous Woodpecker
• Pied Falconet
• Large Woodshrike
• Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
• Common Green Magpie
• Sultan Tit
• White-throated Bulbul
• Ashy Bulbul
• Black-crested Bulbul
• Jungle Myna
• Lesser Whistling Duck
• Swamp Francolin
• Yellow-footed Green Pigeon
• Temminck's Stint
• Grey-headed Fish Eagle
• Black-hooded Oriole
• Red-rumped Swallow
• Striated Grassbird
• Siberian Stonechat
• Purple-rumped Sunbird
• Eastern Yellow Wagtail
• Rosy Pipit
• Oriental Pratincole
• Little Ringed Plover
• Asian Green Bee-eater
• Pacific Golden Plover
• Indian Cormorant
• Eurasian Golden Oriole
• Black Kite
• Brahminy Kite
• White-spotted Fantail
• Loten's Sunbird
• Great Cormorant
• Yellow Bittern
• Ashy Prinia

A limerick ode to Purple Rain

A tree stands, hungover,
wanting, it seems, to be here
moreover.

Syzygium cumini
Branches untidy
Fruits aplenty.

Drops purple squish, in season
beyond belief and reason.
Ignored by birds, bees and humans
and watching it go waste, such treason.

I try to pick them off the floor

but alway the grit is more.

Damaged and bruised are they by the fall.

I need a net, to catch them all!

Thanks to my faithful reader Sagarika

From the land of Jambudvipa

through these lines I proclaim-a

the plentiful and wild, purple rain-a.

Parakeets

 

Rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri) - female and a juvenile, judging by their lack of the rose-ring.

The one on the right was feeding the scruffy one on the left

Rose-ringed parakeet
but they were not ringed,

mother and chick, my gaze they meet.

Everyday they screech and whizz by

a green flypast,

red strong beak, my oh my.

Excitable and grumpy, scrumpy and plumpy,

they gather together

on badam tree, colours funky.

Bulbuls and munias, barbets I see

mynahs and crows, more than twenty three.

And now a peacock has been added to the mix

My balcony birding

gives me quite a kick and a fix!

My fitness coach - A Lazy jumbled verse

He's dark and handsome
Like a shadowy phantom
This fitness coach
of mine

He caws his approval
As I work up a sweat 

Exhorting me, to situp 

number twenty nine.

As I huff and I puff, burning
those  calories 
My coach shows no mercy,
Oh to stop would be divine! 



His high standards I do not meet,
Or so I am guessing,
from the dish that is  resounding
beneath his disapproving feet.



Ah the relief, I am finally done!
but hey, the phantom, 

In a blink he is gone.

A fleeting shadow across my face
As he takes to the skies
And the wide open space.

A caw in goodbye

till we meet again!

Lost Words and Lost Spells

Lost Words and Lost Spells - YouTube

Lockdown diaries - A tree lifer

April 2nd 2020

Morning perambulations

Turn the corner

A sweet fragrance

Joy!

Shenbagham flower - Magnolia champaca - the heady and sweet floral fragrance that perfumers love - blooming here and now.

I thought of Janani and of Tanya and of our fragrance testing and the emotions of smell.  In Nature, the fragrance of the Sampige or shenbagam is rich and sweet and yes, joyous.  Something about natural fragrances, they are delicate yet strong, lingering yet effervescent..

It was my first time seeing a champaca tree in bloom!

Tagore's - The Champa Flower.  this one is for you SG and your Champa at home.

SUPPOSING I became a champa flower, just for fun, and grew on a branch high up that tree, and shook in the wind with laughter and danced upon the newly budded leaves, would you know me, mother? 

You would call, 'Baby, where are you?' and I should laugh to myself and keep quite quiet.
I should slyly open my petals and watch you at your work. 

When after your bath, with wet hair spread on your shoulders, you walked through the shadow of the champa tree to the little court where you say your prayers, you would notice the scent of the flower, but not know that it came from me. 

When after the midday meal you sat at the window reading Ramayana, and the tree's shadow fell over your hair and your lap, I should fling my wee little shadow on to the page of your book, just where you were reading. 

But would you guess that it was the tiny shadow of your little child?
When in the evening you went to the cowshed with the lighted lamp in your hand, I should suddenly drop on to the earth again and be your own baby once more, and beg you to tell me a story. 

'Where have you been, you naughty child? '
'I won't tell you, mother. ' That's what you and I would say then.