The North Woods

5th July 2019

Another New York morning, and I set out to walk through yet another part of Central Park.

North Woods - some 40 acres of forested area, with a natural stream - Montayne's Rivulet - flowing through it.

A favourite of dog owners and runners, it seemed, as I walked through, taking in the sounds of the water, the Robins in the trees and everywhere, the crunch of dry leaves and the squelch of the wet ones.

The magnificent oaks were all with new leaf.  Right now, I'm guessing this one is a beautiful russet colour.

A rocky ravine with a stream, little pools and waterfalls is the central feature, and with little bridges to crossover, it really is idyllic and peaceful.

These bushes (Lace Cap Hydrangea i think) lined the pathways on either side of the stream, and I have not been able to figure what they are.  

The Park leaves fallen trees (like this one) as they are - well for the most part I guess.

Lizard's Tail - Saururus cernuus - another widespread bush

And these lovely archways you can go through.  It seemed that I could wander a whole year and still not cover every pathway.

The light streamed through the trees, making for a beautiful view...I was not the only one who thought so.

The stream tumbled over another jumble of rocks.  And there were many American Robins which would rest on the rocks, in the sun and fly off and return.  

The stream also wandered with me under the Glen Span Arch.  And there were a few swimming tortoises here.

Emerging from under the bridge, I bumped into one of the many Rangers with his electric cart.  They do an amazing job, keeping the park clean, safe and helping visitors.  

I emerged into an area just called "The Pool".    

Rather algal at the moment I went.  I dont know if it meant it was not in great shape, or whether it was a time of year thing.

There were beautiful trees all around, of which I recognised only the weeping willow, on the left.  

I read later that a major tree mapping project of the Park was done and all species and their locations are mapped.

A lone Mallard? stood on one leg surveying the scene.  As I watched it pirouetted on the leg and as soon facing the other direction!

The sun was up, my stomach demanded breakfast, and I headed back to Harlem, passing these Bottlebrush Buckeye catching the sun.

A visit to the TVS factory

June 4th 2019

A busload of MNS members visited the TVS factory in Hosur on a day trip which began at 4am and ended close to 9pm.  We went to see a great example of ecosystem restoration, being done by our MNS member Preston, along with of course the active support of the TVS management.

We were not allowed to take photographs in there, but this report below from August 2019 sums it up.

TVS factory in Hosur hosts a large number of birds

The factory is spread over 320 acres, and 50 acres of it make up its green belt

Liffy Thomas
A flock of painted storks is perched on a tamarind tree on an island in a waterbody. Barely 100 metres away, people wearing work flannels sit on a lawn, sip coffee and enjoy their morning break. This tamarind tree is part of what employees at the Hosur factory of TVS Motor Company call “bird park”. Considerably green, it is filled with the twitter of birds. There should easily be 20 bird species in the area this morning and some of the employees are so familiar with their calls that they don’t have to look up to tell which one is around.

The factory is spread over 320 acres, and 50 acres of it make up its green belt. Rainwater from the rooftops of the buildings on the campus are channelled to the 10 waterbodies, that together account for three to four acres that draw resident birds, and during the migratory season, many species from elsewhere. There are also a few animals and reptiles to watch.

The “forest” in the factory is maintained under the supervision of Preston Ahimaz, forest consultant with the company. Ahimaz is assisted by a 10-member team, which includes a naturalist.

Farm land to bird sanctuary

Although this manufacturing plant has been functioning since 1979, the exercise to improve the biodiversity on its green tracts began in 1994. Until then, the sprawling acres were farmlands attracting some native birds, and even animals. The decision to leave a huge space for birds and animals was part of a larger commitment by the company to promoting biodiversity, something that chairman Venu Srinivasan has taken great pains to honour in many of the group’s factories.

“At all our factories, including in Mysore, Hosur and Himachal Pradesh, 30% of the space is reserved for greenery, much of which is wild forest,” says P Venkatesan, vice-president — civil. Ahimaz points out that a leopard was spotted recently at the Mysore plant.

He is disappointed at not seeing enough pelicans on this waterbody. Besides the spot-billed pelicans, purple swamphens, common coots, spot-billed ducks and darters are found in good numbers in the factory. The Eurasian spoonbill and green sandpiper are among birds that arrive during the migratory season.

“Pelicans need a runway to land and breed, probably [that is] why they are not coming in large numbers. So, we are creating another waterbody, much bigger than others on the campus,” says Ahimaz.

Encouraging breeding

Special efforts have been taken to encourage birds to breed at this park, and this includes basket-like enclosures for pelicans, nesting boxes for sparrows and separate platforms on the water. The north-eastern section of the campus is for water birds, and the south-eastern section attracts egrets in large numbers. “We provide them a secure place, but they choose their comfort zone,” says Ahimaz.

Going by their increasing numbers, the guests are liking their stay. Around three years ago, D Prakalathan, the in-house naturalist, who walks around with a camera and a notebook, documented 90 species and 30 butterflies. Now, their count has increased to 125 species and 60 butterflies.

Protection for snakes

“In a day, I record 20 to 30 species,” says Prakalathan, who was previously with the Adyar Eco Park in Chennai. Nineteen species of snakes have been documented. It’s an unwritten rule at the factory that on the campus, no snakes can be killed. All the security staff are trained in handling snakes. “Anti-perforation shoes (something similar to a wicket-keeper’s pads) that can ensure protection against snake bites, are provided to those who go on rounds,” says Ahimaz. If there is oil leakage or anything that can pollute this clean environment, employees are the first to alert the forest team.

Man and elephant - etiquette for coexisting

Humans need to change, the elephant cannot be expected to change.



Do not drink or smoke in the forest

Do not challenge the animal

Carry a torch when you go out at night. Do not store water too close to the houses or foodstuffs like rice and sugar in large quantities. Marimuthu points out that some tribal settlements around Coimbatore dry tamarind on rooftops. “A sure fire way to attract elephants.”

Suppose you go to a waterbody to wash clothes or have a bath at a particular time. If you always see an elephant, change the time you go there, advises Daniel. They also teach people about checking wind direction so that smells don’t carry to the elephant.



R Marimuthu and BA Daniel of Zoo Outreach Organisation talk about how humans and elephants can coexist peacefully - The Hindu



Elephant etiquette for humans



You can co-exist with elephants. All you need to do is make small adjustments in your lifestyle, say BA Daniel and R Marimuthu of Zoo Outreach Organisation



R Krithika

“In Nepal, they now have a new way of driving elephants away from human habitation. They keep piglets, which they squeeze when the elephant approaches. When they squeal, the pachyderm moves away.” I stare incredulously at BA Daniel and R Marimuthu, who conduct Zoo Outreach Organisation’s training programmes on Human Elephant Coexistence (HECx) across the 13 countries where the Asian elephant lives.



R Marimuthu (in orange t-shirt) and BA Daniel (in white shirt) at a workshop

R Marimuthu (in orange t-shirt) and BA Daniel (in white shirt) at a workshop   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangemen



Daniel laughs, “The elephants had gotten used to firecrackers and drums. They needed a new noise.” To which Marimuthu adds, “I’ve heard of villages where elephants went away when a newborn cried.” I’m half inclined to wonder if they’re pulling my leg but the men are dead serious.



The first step, explains Daniel, is to break down scientific research papers into simple pamphlets and manuals. Then translate these into local languages, depending on the location. Lastly, identify educators in those areas, train and loop them with local NGOs and the Forest Department and let them spread the word. “We follow up every three months or so to ensure the message gets through.” While the HECx focuses on elephants, the programme itself can be adapted to any human-animal conflict or to spread conservation ideas, they say.



A scene from a street play

The focus of the programme is “take responsibility for yourself”. Daniel speaks about elephant etiquette “for the humans,” he hastens to add, “not for the animal. You can’t expect the animal to change its behaviour. But if you make small adjustments, you can co-exist.”



Given how charged the situation was recently when farmers in Thadagam area protested crop raiding by elephants, I ask if coexistence is possible. Both men insist it is and say HECx will be launched there soon. “It takes time to change people’s attitude,” says Daniel. “They need to understand that it’s another species that also needs to live.”



Marimuthu holds up Jhapa in Nepal, as an example. “We’ve been working there since 2008 and it’s taken 11 years to see the change.” Gram panchayats have started building toilets inside the village to stop people from going into forests to answer Nature’s call. Daniel points out that the village traditionally harvested its crops thrice a year. “Of course the elephants would come. So they installed an electric fence along an 18km stretch, which they also maintain and manage. For the last four years, they have been harvesting twice a year successfully. Other villages are trying to use something similar.”



Finger puppets used to create awareness

Speaking of farming brings us to the question of kind of crops. “Flowers, chillies, beans…, we can suggest plenty of cash crops that the elephant will not raid,” says Marimuthu. But again it takes time for farmers to make the shift.



As we speak, Daniel muses that two villages just a couple of kilometres apart can have starkly contrasting attitudes to the animal. “In one the tolerance level is rock bottom, the other cannot do without the elephant.” Both recount amusing stories from villages like Doomanur and Sembukkarai where the elephant is revered, not reviled.



Both men are very clear that the success of this programme rests on the involvement of all stakeholders: Forest Department officers, rangers and guards; local NGOs or groups; school teachers, district administration and children. “Local participation is crucial,” smiles Daniel. “After all they are the ones who live there and will be working together.”

The Perumbakkam lake - A Nature Walk and a Spotted Eagle

The Perumbakkam lake, part of the Pallikaranai marsh ecosystem, is a regular part of our NIFT Nature Walks programme.

We show the students the idiocy of developing a municipal garbage dump on a wetland, and we also show them all the bird life hidden in plain sight.

Water birds are a great way to start birding isn't it, with nice big interesting birds that are easy to spot and are generally seen.

While last term we were treated with flamingoes and ducks, this time it was pelicans and ibis.  The Pied Kingfishers put on a great show for us, and there was much oohing and aahing, as it hovered and then did a direct dive bomb, coming up with fish!

At the Pallikaranai end, it seems as if the water levels have fallen with the grasses and reed growing in abundance, and the little waders have moved far away from the road.

And then there were JCB excavators "clearing" the undergrowth from the roadside, under express orders to beautify the road.  Chithra was trying to tell the supervisor that this was protected forest land, and the supervisor was splitting hairs as the road is Highways land.

I only hope that there is no cement and paving to follow.

The icing on the cake was the large raptor we saw.  Sagarika and her camera were on hand to take these record shots, which were identified as a great Spotted Eagle!

The greater spotted eagle (Clanga clanga) - profusely spotted upper wings.  This was the shot that helped to establish the identification.  Photo By Sagarika

Imagine that, it is here for the winter.  How do they find their way, locate a water body, amazing!
Photo By Sagarika

On the hunt. Photo By Sagarika

Pictures from our November 2019 visit

Pictures from our February 2019 visit

Pictures from October 2018 visit

Cormorants, ducks, geese and an Obelisk - walking around the reservoir

12th July 2019

A Central Park walk by the reservoir.

The morning sun gleams over the Onassis reservoir in Central Park

The local dog walkers "club" behind the Met museum

Bemused by an Egyptian obelisk in the middle of it all.  Cleopatra's needle - a story in itself.

Mallards sunned themselves

Strangely I didn't see a single male with that characteristic green head.  But a the brilliant blue of the water was distracting me.  

Canada Geese paddled by

This one had a the look of a philosopher, gazing into the distance.

This one had not woken up as yet.  I don't think it quite liked the morning sun - a bit like the young man in my house.

Double Crested Cormorants were busy fishing that morning, as with every morning I guess.

They dried their wings on the walls, looking like gargoyles from a distance.  It was nice to watch their yellow bills and orangish chins through my binoculars.

It was jogger rush hour as i climbed down from the bund closer to 96th street.  I watched out for those spandex-clad bikers as they whizzed by - seeming even more of a hazard than motorised traffic

A magnificent tree with a  beautiful bark.

I wonder what those leaves are.

A board announced this as a London Plane

What a joy to walk among these trees.

With the sun coming through

 Through the lovely Conservatory Garden.

The fountain at the Conservatory.... seemed like a scene out of some old Victorian novel.

It was then via the Meer back to the streets of Harlem.

The firemen lounged, no calls this morning I guess.  Unlike a couple of days before this when they were out with their banshee-like sirens.

A Harlem summer dawn

Silhouetted Brownstones

Shimmering windows

Weedcutter goats 

and

Hudson glimpses through the posts.

Why Chennai needs a tree act

How the Tree Act helped states

Seeing how a few other Indian cities have benefited from a Tree Act that is in place in their respective states, here is the inevitable question: Why is Chennai being denied this green gift?

Liffy Thomas

If the ‘Garden City’ is holding out against urbanisation and staying green, a good amount of the credit has to go to the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976.
The Act has given enough power to environment groups and residents to question authorities when trees are chopped indiscriminately to further development work or when they receive little care from the hands meant to serve them.
Delhi and Maharashtra are other states that have a tree conservation act.
For some years now, in Chennai, environment groups have been rallying for a law related to all aspects of tree nurture, from planting to maintaining them.
For instance, around two years ago, voluntary organisation Nizhal drafted a notification that it sent to the State Government.
So, how has the Act helped these states?
Harini Nagendra, professor of sustainability, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, says an Act is the first step towards caring for trees, followed by public awareness and implementation.
“We don’t have data to show how many trees were saved due to an Act but it has certainly helped prevent indiscriminate felling of trees and raised awareness about the need to exercise caution before cutting trees,” says Harini.
She says pressure from citizens’ groups and intervention from the Court have pushed government to implement rules.
Recently, following a petition from Bengaluru Environment Trust, the Karnataka High Court asked the chairman of the “Tree Authority” — a statutory body formed after the promulgation of the Act and one that comprises representatives from the government and citizens’ groups — to start a tree census.
Through realistic data, it is possible to keep tabs on felling of trees.
“It will also provide data on concerns such as what to plant, species that will thrive in the city and changing conditions that may cause some trees to fall,” says Harini.
Vijay Nishanth, known as ‘Tree Doctor’, says the avenue tree that one sees on Bengaluru’s arterial roads are still standing tall, because there have been rules to safeguard them. He cites the example of the Bengaluru Steel flyover project, where more than 2,000 trees were going to be cut to facilitate the work.
“We counted trees on the stretch and made the authorities hold a public consultation to save the trees,” says Nishanth.
As of today, the project is on hold.
Nishanth says due to the intervention of various residents’ groups, at least 500 trees that had to be cut for development projects were transplanted in the last two years.
The ‘Tree Authority Department’ in the Pune Municipal Corporation has announced that it would conduct a geo-enabled tree census survey and plot the same on the city map.
The aim of the project is to provide information about “layout of different varieties/specifies, distribution under different wards”, says a note on the website.
Axing a tree is not easy in Delhi too because of the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994.
Padmavati Dwivedi, a Delhi-based activist, says there are rules in the Act that enable people who have great knowledge about trees and tree preservation and who have contributed towards protection of trees to function as co-opted members who can provide suggestions on matters relating to trees and their protection.
She adds, “In Delhi, for the last few years we had not have any citizen representation and we are fighting for that.”

Sunshine on the wall

Catopsilia pomona, the common emigrant or lemon emigrant - resting on my wall

Come, rest for a while,
scraps of sunshine
flitting across my view.

At the traffic light, I watch

your crazy parabolas

two by two.

Have the rains signalled
your departure?
Are you leaving for the hills?
Emigrant  that you are
Thanks for stopping by.

The flash of a cardinal

Flash of red
from bench to tree
A northern cardinal;
Harlem Meer.

Coral beak
Cocky crest;
No shyness
in his breast.

Central Park
On the wall
his lady sits
Ignoring his flash,
disregarding his call.

Resting place

On a journey, ill:
my dream goes wandering
over withered fields
- Basho

My old body:
a drop of dew grown
heavy at the leaf tip
- Kiba, 19th century

Empty-handed I entered the world
Barefoot I leave it.
My coming, my going —
Two simple happenings
That got entangled.
- Zen master Kozan Ichikyo, 1360



Zen and the poetry of death

Rain catcher: on Jacobin Cuckoo - The Hindu

An interesting article about the Jacobin cuckoo, with pictures from Sagarika's sightings this April 2019, around Perumbakkam, part of the larger Pallikaranai marsh area.

Rain catcher: on Jacobin Cuckoo - The Hindu

The Jacobin Cuckoo heralds the monsoon in north India

Abhishek Gulshan

The Jacobin Cuckoo is one lucky bird indeed. At least according to Indian myth. Also known as the Pied Cuckoo or Chatak, this bird heralds the onset of the monsoon in India.

Being an agricultural economy the rainy season is considered one of the most auspicious seasons in the country. And so, the Pied Cuckoo in North and Central India is a welcome sight.

It is a bird with black and white plumage (pied) with a fancy crest on the head. Its scientific name is Clamator jacobinus. The genus ‘Clamator’ literally translates to being a shouter, a bird which is quite vocal, so you’ll hear yourself surrounded by the calls close to the monsoon. The word ‘jacobinus’ relates to pied birds.

Pictures are from Sagarika's sighting in Chennai

There are two populations of the Pied Cuckoo in India. One is a resident in the southern part of the country. The other, according to tracking by birders, makes its way to North and Central India from Africa by crossing the Arabian Sea, along with the monsoon winds. When the monsoon arrives in all its majesty, its sighting also spreads widely.

So this is a resident?  I didn't know that.

The bird is primarily arboreal, which means that it mostly lives on trees but often forages for food in low bushes, and sometimes even on the ground. Considering its arboreal nature, it prefers forests, well-wooded areas and also bushes in semi-arid regions. These birds are primarily insectivores and feed on grasshoppers, beetles and are also often seen feeding on fruits and berries from trees.


The species, like all cuckoos, is a brood parasite. It lays its eggs in nests that belong to other birds, preferring similar-sized birds like babblers and bulbuls, as their ‘hosts’. The hosts are often distracted by male cuckoos, and the females quickly lay their similar-sized and coloured eggs into the hosts’ nests. The hosts then take care of the eggs and the chicks that hatch from them, as their own. The parasitic chicks are fed by the hosts and then leave the host parents once they are ready to be on their own.

A few years ago, birdwatchers set out to test the truth behind whether the bird does signal the coming of the monsoon. We began a monitoring process, collecting data around bird sightings, and other habits. This is being documented online on ebird.org, an Ivy-League initiative for birdwatchers all around the world.

A large number of birdwatchers reported the sighting of the Pied Cuckoo on the online documentation forum, and when these dates of sightings were compared to the monsoon's arrival, as available with the Indian Meteorological Department, the results were fairly clear. Pied Cuckoos did indeed arrive before the monsoon in most parts of central and northern India. In a few areas, it was also observed that wherever the monsoon was to arrive earlier than usual, the Pied Cuckoo also showed up a few days earlier. So the Chatak is not an old wives’ tale anymore.

To join a trail in Mangar, Haryana this Sunday and spot the Jacobin Cuckoo, email ninox.edu@ gmail.com

The writer is the founder of NINOX - Owl about Nature, a nature-awareness initiative. He formerly led a programme at WWF India as a naturalist, and is the Delhi-NCR reviewer for Ebird, a Cornell University initiative, monitoring rare sightings of birds in the region