Madras Ramblings

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Pongal at Point Calimere - the feral horses in the grasslands

Our first views of the feral horses, in the distance across the waters of the wetlands.

Last year, I saw wild asses at Kutch, and I loved them! I was intrigued at the prospect of the wild/feral horses that are present at the Point Calimere sanctuary. Sure enough, we bumped into them, on our very first evening outing in the grasslands.

The first herd, had the sun behind them, and we saw them silhouetted, and the scene reminded me of a watercolour painting.

Further along the track, there was another herd, much closer, with the light behind us, and it was so nice to see horses without saddles and stirrups, and the foals, oh they were the best!

A second bunch

Observe the one in the centre right, with the white "naamam" and read on below.

Feral horses are domesticated horses that have either been released in the wild or have escaped.

Mr Ramanan had this to say: "A decade back Point Calimere was known as a small fishing village where one could see only 30 odd fishing boats at the jetty. But now there is a lot of development and the road leading to the village is full of houses on either side of the road and up to the boating jetty.

The Point Calimere sanctuary situated on the eastern coast of India near the Park Straits, Tamilnadu, is the only place where one comes across wild horses in India. In those days the horses were branded on the back with the initials of the owner and according to the locals whenever their service was required they were caught and utilized for transporting salt from the saltpans!

Once the area was declared as the sanctuary, the owners had no right to retrieve the horses and hence they became free/wild horses. On our recent visit, the owners name was missing on the grazing horses, and so they have became really "wild", which is visible from their characteristic instincts."

Only the horse with the "namam", seems to still carry some branding on its side. This herd then is fairly new to the "wild".

Photo by Mr Ramanan - is she pregnant you think?

There are feral horse populations across the world. The Mustangs of the US are from domestic stock. Australia has a huge number of these and they are called Brumby.

According to Wikipedia, there is another feral horse population in Assam (they roam in the Dibru-Saikhowa national park), and they are descendants of army horses that escaped during the second World War!

Photo by Mr Ramanan - This was my favourite (and the youngest) foal I saw.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Census records rise in vulture count in Panna

The Hindu: Census records rise in vulture count in Panna

The results of the vulture census in the Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) will definitely provide wildlife enthusiasts with a reason to cheer. The count in the third annual estimation exercise that concluded on Monday has registered an increase of 39 per cent over the last year's figures.

While the maximum vulture population this year stood at 1797 (as against 1340 in 2011), the minimum number was 1054 (814 last year) while the average count recorded was 1510 (1079 last year).

Vultures were found in 38 of the 39 sites earmarked for counting, as against 21 of 25 sites last year.

The PTR is home to seven vulture species — long-billed, white-backed, Egyptian, red-headed, Eurasian griffon, Himalayan griffon and cinereous. The first four are permanent residents of the park while the last three are migratory.

A significant decline was seen in the numbers of the long-billed (502 from 775) and the cinereous vulture (1 from 6) but that could be because of lack of technical expertise on the part of the enumerators, explained park officials.

97 birds not identified

“Because of the difficulty in distinguishing between the long-billed vulture and the Himalayan griffon vulture, 97 birds could only be identified as “unknown” by the observers due to lack of technical expertise,” PTR Field Director R.S. Murthy told The Hindu.

Based on a public-private partnership model, the enumeration exercise is being carried at PTR for the last three years.

This time, 110 participants from 9 States and two Union Territories, including two foreign citizens, had registered for the exercise. Finally 65 people actually participated in the event.

While the PTR is evidently a great vulture habitat with ample feeding opportunities for the avian scavengers, some areas of concern have emerged recently.

“The use of the banned diclofenac for cattle around the Patori village and the cutting of the Arjun tree, which serves as a good nesting site for the white-backed vulture, are two areas of concerns we have identified as threats to vultures. Efforts are needed to stop such activities,” Mr. Murthy said.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Pongal at Pt Calimere - Kodikarai

Click here, for a photo summary

The map that hung in our forest guest house. Poonarai Illam was where we stayed.

Kodikarai aka Kodiyakarai aka Kodigeri seems to be a fishing hamlet, but with a strong government presence - there is a naval outpost, a BSNL station (so cell phones worked loud and clear, and everyone in the village seemed to have one!), a Customs and Revenue station and also a coast guard presence. Just south, and across the Palk Straits after all was Sri Lanka.

This was main street, photographed by Sheila, which ran north to south - the roads were in better shape than in our neighbourhood in Chennai!

Western Union money transfer available!

Kodikarai is a plastic-free zone, but there was plastic strewn everywhere.

Take a look at the tariff card that was up on the notice board in our guest house - and pay special attention to the rates that the elected representatives of the people pay!!

Our guest house.

Its a shame, the way we spend money in this country. There was an old dilapidated building just behind the guest house we stayed in, and group members who had been there earlier said that that was the old guest house. This Mark 1 guest house still stands but is occupied by bats and has no doors and windows. We occupied what should be Mark 2, not very old, all tiled and painted. But maybe between the 13 rooms, we could have had three rooms with everything working - I mean, take the fan from one room, the toilet from another, light bulb from the third, etc etc.

The whole weekend we were there (yes it was Pongal I know), there was not a single maintenance staff around - so, no sweeping, cleaning of any sort happened, and only good old Razzak bhai to answer questions and man the desk! Another couple of years and Mark 2 will resemble Mark 1.

It looks like Mark 3 is also up - a more swank airconditioned guest house behind ours, which was given to an Austrian couple who just strolled in off the street looking for a room. These were middle-aged, not hippy like or anything and later the man admitted he knew nothing about birds, so what on earth were they doing prowling around Kodikarai, and eating in our "restaurant"?

Ramar's mess was run by a family of four brothers, it seemed. It was a shack with a couple of tables, wood burning stoves and was obviously the best address in town. There would be crowds of people always at their door, and a "queue" to get in.

There were vadais with morning tea/coffee, then breakfast was idly with sambar and chutney, lunch was sambhar, poriyal, rasam and kootu and curds. (Actually, it was meen kozhambu but we got "shaiva" kootu.) Dinner was always parotta and kurma. Vijay told us that they had landed a permit to make parottas in Singapore, for the summer of 2012!

Puris made for us on Pongal day!

It was about 300m south of the rest house, and the first evening we were taken aback at the evening/night life of Kodikarai. It seems that the street light outside the resthouse was the gathering place for the returning fishermen. These fishermen come from other hamlets, for the season, and work on a commission basis, bringing larger boats and better equipment.

So, the street light was where they gathered and got into high spirits quite literally. There was not a woman in sight after dusk, and many of the men, by nightfall, could not walk a straight line.

After the refreshments, dinner was at Ramar's, and they would need that parotta urgently. So Ramar & Co decided to make them (who were after all their regular clientele) takeaway packs of their parottas and kurma, and we were served inside. I thought I would get high just off the alcohol on their breaths!!

There was much curiosity as to who we were and where we came from, quite obviously. But the amazing thing was when we visited the boat jetty or the fishing harbour the morning after, these men would be returning from sea or be busy with their catch, and operating quite normally - no effects of a hangover it seemed!

The story continues - Feral horses.

Monday, January 23, 2012

The Beach Birders at the Fifth Chennai Bird Race

This was the way it was. No colour filter! Photo by Rags. See the entire set of pictures here.

Our Beach Birders team from the coast

decided to bird for half a day, at the most.

With binos and books we took to the Bird Race.

It was the refreshments that set the leisurely pace!

A gorgeous sunrise, such as I had never seen before

but wait, Pallikaranai had much more in store!

Swamp hens, egrets and stilts galore

the cormorants and ducks creating a furore.

A lone Ruff, Pelicans landing one by one

Stints in aerial ballet, it seemed, just for fun.

Bobbing sandpipers, the prinias chirping

meditative herons and jacanas preening.

Unmindful of the garbage and stench were they

"A poor sense of smell", the experts say.

A news crew arrived in the meantime from afar

and before we knew it, Rags was a TV star!

Watched the spot bills and pintails and teals flypast.

We decided to move on after a coffee-and-sandwich repast.

To Sholinganallur wetlands, past the toll, we drove

and Fulvous Whistling Ducks we saw, by jove!

Kelambakkam backwaters by midday we did drop by.

Blue waters, a breeze, the sun high in the sky.

It was time for the biggies the thermals to ride

Painted storks and Pelicans, side by side.

A few Terns winged without intent

their low numbers, to me, a disappointment.

But a family of curlews did give us a sneak peek

as they fished in the mud with their overlong beaks.

Happy and hot and tired were we

as we headed home, Sheila, Rags, Ammu and me!

Our bird of the day was the Grey-headed Lapwing
but for the Emerald Doves, an Orphean Warbler did sing!

Bridled Terns logged 121, our tally 59
but with the fun and company, that suited me fine!
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The fifth Chennai Bird Race held on Sunday Jan 22nd.

The TOI new report has a few errors. The winning team of Vikas was Bridled Tern. And he spotted an eagle not an owl!

The IE report - Students create a buzz at CBR.

The Hindu report - Feathered friends

The Jacana Junkies were at the third edition in 2010.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Birding at Yelagiri, interrupted by cyclone Thane

28th Dec 2011 to 31st, with cyclone Thane keeping us indoors all day on the 30th!

Pied bushchats and bulbuls everywhere.

The mermaid-in-the-lake seemed to point to the white-browed wagtail, which was on the rock to her left! Poor thing, her arm has dislocated with the effort!