The ultimate birder!

Thank you Google.  I didn't know about her!

Phoebe Snetsinger’s 85th birthday

The rough animation for the doodle, featuring (left to right) the blackburnian warbler, red-shouldered vanga, village weaverbird, eastern bluebird, and red-capped manakin.

Sometimes it takes dire circumstances to compel us toward action. Phoebe Snetsinger, who would have been 85 years old today, became the world’s most prolific bird-watcher — a feat she achieved by surmounting tremendous odds.

It wasn’t until 1981 — when she was diagnosed with cancer — that Phoebe truly came into her own as a birder. In subsequent years, she scoured the globe for obscure or unknown bird species, ultimately raising her bird count to 8,393, the highest in the world at the time. Some of the notable birds she sighted include the Blackburnian Warbler and the Red-Shouldered Vanga, depicted among many other interesting birds by animator Juliana Chen.

Alternate concepts for the doodle, featuring a portrait and bird nests.

Today, we celebrate the courage of Ms. Snetsigner, and the beauty of life — however hidden it may be.

Sketches of birds both featured and considered for the doodle. 
Happy birthday Phoebe!

Weekend and the Odhiyam tree

The Odhiyam tree (Lannea coromandelica) in our neighbour's garden is bare at the moment.  No, not dying or anything just going through its annual shedding phase.  It is a wonderful time for backyard birding.

At dawn, I heard a Flameback woodpecker at the tree, but it moved into the more leafy Badam (Terminalia catappa).  Later in the morning, the sunbirds hurried through it, they never seem to have a moment to sit and stare, always moving, always calling impatiently and gone in the blink of an eye.

Later, there was a female rose-ringed parakeet, and she fastidiously held a twig with neem fruits (from the neighbouring tree), and ate them one by one.  Once done, she stretched until she was almost upside down looking to finish her meal with some flower buds of the Odhiyam.    She seemed in no hurry to move, and I enjoyed watching her blood red curved beak and that long tail with a streak of blue.

In the afternoon, a treepie stopped for a while, surveying the neighbourhood.  Obviously not up to his high standards, as he flew off with that trademark scratchy call.

After lunch as I lounged around lazily with the crossword, I heard the white breasted kingfisher too, but I was too comfortably stretched to get up and look.

The Odhiyam's leaf shedding  coincides with the koel season, and every year, the males use that tree to woo their lady loves.  In 2012 there was one persistent chap who kept us awake from 3 am.

Today evening there were three gorgeous black young males, and one disinterested speckled female.  They called in turn, and tried to chase each other off,  but all they succeeded in doing was chasing the lady away!

A crow  stopped by, and seemed rather bemused at the frantic calling.  One loud caw and the koels were off in a trice!

Trees.  Birds.  Squirrels.  Butterflies. Family.  All connected.

World Environment Day

This is exciting if verified.  So much lurking in our backyards that we do not know about.



Eurasian Otter found in Kanha-Pench corridor - NATIONAL - The Hindu

Eurasian Otter found in Kanha-Pench corridor

During this year’s camera trapping exercise by Wild Conservation Trust and Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, Eurasian otter ( Lutra lutra ), one of the rarest Indian mammals, was discovered from Satpura Tiger Reserve Madhya Pradesh and Kanha-Pench Corridor.
There are two more species of otters are known to be present in India — the smooth-coated otter ( Lutrogale perspicillata ) and Asian small-clawed otter ( Aonyx cinerea) — said officials.
The Eurasian otter has a wide distribution covering Europe, Africa and Asia. The species is listed as Near Threatened as per the IUCN Red List (2004, 2008).
Based on indirect evidences and ancient records, Eurasian otter is believed to be found in the Himalayas and in some parts of the Western Ghats. These records of the Eurasian otter from the Satpura Tiger Reserve and Kanha-Pench Corridor not only extends their geographical range to central India but also provides the first-ever photographic evidence of the species in India.
The field work by the Wildlife Conservation Trust in Madhya Pradesh was supported by the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, the H.T. Parekh Foundation, USAID and Panthera.

Reasons to work towards shutting down zoos and removing animals from captivity

Dead tiger cubs in freezers - and that too in a temple?  Elephants in our temples held in captivity for what joy, and the shooting of a gorilla.



I hope we will be able to move towards a shutting down of animals in captivity.



The Cincinnati Zoo’s problem wasn’t that it killed its gorilla. It’s that it’s a zoo. - The Washington Post

For me, the real question is not who to blame, but why anyone was in a situation in which they had to make a choice between the life of a human child and the life of an endangered teenage gorilla in the first place. Keeping wild animals in captivity is fraught with problems. This tragic choice arose only because we keep animals in zoos.

Though killing is less common at U.S. zoos compared with the regular practice of “culling” at European ones, zoos are nonetheless places that cause death. Harambe’s life was cut short intentionally and directly, but for many zoo animals, simply being in captivity shortens their lives. We know this is true for whales in SeaWorld. Elephants, too, die prematurely in zoos. So why have zoos?
If we really need someone to blame, maybe we should look at our society, which supports these types of institutions of captivity. If zoos were more like sanctuaries, places where captive animals can live out their lives free from screaming crowds and dangers not of their own making, no one would have had to decide to kill Harambe. Sanctuaries are places where the well-being of animals is of primary concern and animals are treated with respect. Four-year-olds and their families could see gorillas in Imax theaters, where their curiosity could be safely satisfied and gorillas could live with dignity, in peace. 

But captive animals, especially large mammals born in captivity, like Harambe, cannot be “returned to the wild.” These sensitive, smart, long-lived gorillas are destined to remain confined, never to experience the freedom of the wild. They are, at best, symbols meant to represent their wild counterparts. But these symbols are distortions, created in an effort to amuse zoo-goers. Zoos warp our understanding of these wonderful beings and perpetuate the notion that they are here for our purposes.

'Big Yellow Taxi' feelings in Bhutan

Canadian song writer Joni Mitchell composed Big Yellow Taxi on a trip to Hawaii.

I wrote 'Big Yellow Taxi' on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart... this blight on paradise. That's when I sat down and wrote the song

Couln't help thinking of this song whilst travelling from Punakha to Trongsa, early May this year.  This hundred odd km stretch is being widened and the WHOLE distance has been dynamited.  (It is part of the Lateral Road which goes much further east to Bumthang, and is also the main road to connect various northern and southern valleys of Bhutan.)

The hillsides are scarred with landslides and dynamiting and earthmovers work along the entire stretch.

From what the guide was telling us, it has clearly affected bird and mammal life along the road, not surprisingly.  Could it not have been done in bits, I wondered, (assuming it was needed in the first place).  The project has taken two years and is expected to take another two more.  Four years of disruption - will the natural ecosystem bounce back?

There are also concerns of the stability of the Himalayas, and I read now that road widening has been suspended after objections, close to Trongsa.  It was a good thing that traffic is sparse, because at some points the motorable stretch is narrow, and sitting on the cliffside is a heart-in-the-mouth experience.  Our driver Bhim was superb, safe and steady, and so cheerful as well.

Sustainable development.  is it possible?  How does one work it in fragile ecosystems?

Dear Bhutan, please don't pave your paradise.

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot SPOT
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
Then they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer, farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But LEAVE me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Come and took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

I said
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Bhutan Memories

Rufuous Sibia singing, in clear view.

Lifting even the lowest spirit.

Bhutan memories

Wild strawberry fields.
And we are all children again.

Bhutan memories

Birdsong Dawns.
Quietness.

Paved with gold

Does that chameleon feel like a king?
Do its eyes behold the beauty?

The Flameback at our window

I miss the barbets outside my window
coppersmithing all day on the Millingtonia.

The Millingtonia came crashing down one windy monsoon day,
and the Badam has flourished instead, in the sun.

A woodpecker has been calling these last few days
and today we saw it, knocking wood.

Surprise, pleasure and delight.
A beautiful start to the day.

Offroading and wildlife enthusiasm that I am not enthusiastic about

I have a problem these days with SUV and bike ads on TV.  (Ask my husband, he is tired of this peeve of mine.)  They show these wonder vehicles "making their own paths", "going where no one else dares", etc etc.



Stay on the road folks, your enthusiasm is not good for the wildlife - there's a lot of it underfoot, never mind the big game you are chasing.



The ugly side of wildlife photography



“The craze for wildlife photography has increased, but unfortunately, there is no understanding of ecology or animal behaviour amongst most photographers. We have attempted to create an awareness that the quest for the perfect shot may be detrimental for the species and how repeated off-roading on a wild landscape harms the ecosystem,” says Sreenivasan.