Wednesday, June 3, 2015

My mother's garden

18th April

It is a sunny summers day in Madras.  I open the gate and stand for a minute.  It is always the same, I enter the garden and my mind is stilled, and life slows down.

This time, I am thankful for this refuge, this personal sanctuary and linger on outside.  I postpone seeing my mother's warm smile and walking in to my father's cheerful chatter as I quietly make my way around the house.

The gnarled trunk of the Bottlebrush tree has always been my favourite, and today, it looks magical with the Peltaforum flowers like little drops of sunshine on the ground


Along the wall, the Quisqualis flowers nod in bunches. 

I stand in their shade and look up at the bright blue sky and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" plays in my head.

The Copsia delights my Ikebana senses, with its graceful lines and delicate flowers

Those flowers, in shades of pink and white, so lovely yet so shortlived.
The lipstick red of the Hibiscus blazes in the sun, while in the shade the Amaralis lilies are more muted and elegant I thought.

I had not noticed this creamy bloom before in the garden, was it a new addition, I wondered.  Or has it been so long since I wandered around the back?


The mango flowers were precursors of the coming season
The crows seem to know too, as they hang around and caw.  The mynahs on the coconut tree seemed to be discussing my presence in a most disapproving fashion, while the sunbirds ignored me, too busy in their search for nectar.

A parakeet went screeching into the neighbour's garden, as I moved on further and came across these flowers.  The little white ones, (need to find out what they are called), I wonder if they belong to the grass family.

In the corner by the wall, the spider lilies grow in abundance, happy for the space, the sunshine and the water it seemed.


As I circled back to the front, the always blooming desert rose greeted me.  The seed from this plant has grown in a pot in my balcony, and I love the way it blooms in the hot Madras summer.



Back to the Peltaforum tree that had showered its flowers under the bottle brush, and I have come full circle.

My little "pilgrimage" done.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The oystercatchers

I shall now look at them with new eyes indeed!  This article was linked by Thyagu in our MNS group, as a response to pictures and idying issues.

The incredible bill of the oystercatcher

Inspired both by the clam catches oystercatcher story, and by Greg Laden’s coverage of oystercatcher learning and predation behaviour, I thought it an opportune time to recycle the following from Tet Zoo ver 1. It originally appeared as one of my Ten Bird Meme posts of 2006…
i-8666ec3f103354fb83b89e92c22704f5-Haematopus_ostralegus_Norway_wikipedia_July-2010.jpg
One of my most favourite birds is the extraordinary, charismatic, beautifully interesting oystercatcher (meaing Eurasian oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus: adjacent photo by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, from wikipedia). One of ten or eleven extant haematopodid species, it sports pied plumage, pinkish legs, and has the heaviest bill of any extant wader. One of the most interesting things about oystercatchers is the fact that they exhibit resource polymorphism, with some populations exhibiting multiple different forms (Skúlason & Smith 1995). ‘Stabbers’ feed by jabbing their laterally compressed bill tips in between the valves of a mussel’s shell, while ‘hammerers’ crack open mussel shells by pounding on them. Some hammerers only break in to the shell on its dorsal side, while others only break in to the ventral side. Others attack only the left side valve, and others only the right valve. Other Eurasian oystercatchers are worm specialists with pointed tweezer-like bill tips. Superimposed on this variation is sexual dimorphism: females have longer, heavier bills than males (bill dimorphism of this sort is now known to be present in many birds) [image below, from Hosking & Hale (1983), shows a worm-eating bird on the left and a ‘hammerer’ on the right. There are other images that better show the variation (there’s a more impressive one in Sutherland (1987)), but I only have poor, very dark photocopies of them)].

i-8683b4e824766368cb914d6b224468f2-oystercatcher-bill-variation-Hosking-Hale_July-2010.jpg
First discovered by M. Norton-Griffiths during the 1960s (Norton-Griffiths 1967) – and extensively studied by a great many ornithologists since then – resource polymorphism among oystercatchers was initially thought to be learnt by the birds from their parents (and not genetically determined). It now seems that things are far more flexible, with individuals switching from one behaviour to the other over the years. It’s been said that juveniles can’t really learn how to handle prey from their parents given that many of them are reared inland and are abandoned by their parents before they ever get to the coast (Sutherland 1987). However, some oystercatcher adults that specialise on mussels spend up to 26 weeks teaching their young how to exploit prey (the long apprenticeship of the oystercatcher – longer in those that stab or smash mussels than in those that eat worms or exploit other prey – is well established in the literature: e.g., Wunderle (1991), Safriel et al. (1996)) [in the photo below, by John Haslam, from wikipedia, the adult has provided the juvenile with worms. The pointed tip on the adult’s bill shows that it’s a worm-catcher].
i-a0ddabf71398196845160769c4d4f7cd-Haematopus_ostralegus_-parent_and_chick_-Scotland_wikipedia_July-2010.jpg
It seems that it’s the behavioural flexibility that controls bill shape, rather than the other way round, and another remarkable thing about oystercatchers is how specialized their bills are for coping with wear. Uniquely among waders, the bill grows at a jaw-dropping 0.4 mm per day (that’s three times faster than the growth rate of human fingernails). This rapid growth means that the bill can change shape very rapidly if the feeding style is changed, and captive individuals that were forced to switch from bivalve-feeding to a diet of lugworms changed from having chisel-shaped bills to tweezer-like bills within 10 days. A-maz-ing.
Given that oystercatchers are fairly large and powerful for waders, and able to smash open bivalve shells, it follows that they are formidable and potentially dangerous to other birds. Certainly males will chase off raptors when defending nesting females. I recall reading accounts of them caving in the heads of other waders during territorial disputes, but unfortunately I can’t remember where (a common problem, despite my well organized library). Most aggressive interactions recorded between oystercatchers, and between oystercatchers and other waders, involve piracy, and in fact some birds obtain most of their food this way, “attacking other birds at an average of five minute intervals during low tide” (Hammond & Pearson 1994, p. 61). As much as 60% of the food of some individuals is obtained by piracy. Finally, oystercatchers are incredibly long-lived, with the record-holder dying at age 35!* Now, come on, that is a truly extraordinary bird.
* Since I wrote this text, a Eurasian oystercatcher that reached the age of 40 has been reported.
For previous ‘Ten Bird Meme’ articles on Tet Zoo see…
And for articles on bill morphology and function in birds see…
Refs – –
Hammond, N. & Pearson, B. 1994. Waders. Hamlyn, London.
Hosking, E. & Hale, W. G. 1983. Eric Hosking’s Waders. Pelham Books, London.
Norton-Griffiths, M. 1967. Some ecological aspects of the feeding behaviour of the Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) on the Edible Mussel (Mytilus edulis). Ibis109, 412-424
Safriel, U. N., Ens, B. J. & Kaiser, A. 1996. Rearing to independence. In Goss-Custard, J. D. (ed) The Oystercatcher: Individuals to Populations (Oxford University Press, Oxford), pp. 210-250.
Skúlason, S. & Smith, T. B. 1995. Resource polymorphisms in vertebrates. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 10, 366-370.
Sutherland, W. J. 1987. Why do animals specialize? Nature 325, 483-484.
Wunderle, J. M. 1991. Age-specific foraging proficiency in birds. In Power, D. M. (ed) Current Ornithology, Volume 8 (Springer), pp. 273-324.

Friday, May 1, 2015

China's Great Green Wall Helps Pull CO2 Out of Atmosphere - Scientific American

When we were in Rajasthan in January, we saw greening of various semi arid areas.  Locals mentioned that as compared to their childhood, these parts were actually greener, due to the arrival of canal water.

At that point I wondered, what this would mean for the macro environment.  How would this affect other green areas?  Would it draw rain from other geographies?

I have the same thought as I read this.  Interesting to see the long-term impact of this.

The point is, that there is no pressure on arid land, so it can be greened without human pressures, so China is building a bank of green space which may be the forest of the future!

China's Great Green Wall Helps Pull CO2 Out of Atmosphere

HONG KONG—After improving energy efficiency, piloting emissions trading and ramping up renewable energy expansion, China has also been moving on another frontier needed to help ease global warming.
According to a study published recently in the journal Nature Climate Change, the total amount of carbon stored in all living biomass above the soil has increased globally by almost 4 billion tons since 2003, with China contributing in a notable way to the increase.
"The increase in vegetation primarily came from a lucky combination of environmental and economic factors and massive tree-planting projects in China," said Liu Yi, the study's lead author, in a press release. Liu is a remote sensing scientist from the Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
Liu noted that "[v]egetation increased on the savannas in Australia, Africa and South America as a result of increasing rainfall, while in Russia and former Soviet republics we have seen the regrowth of forests on abandoned farmland. China was the only country to intentionally increase its vegetation with tree planting projects."
In an email interview, Liu told ClimateWire that "the most apparent vegetation increase over China is observed in northern China, which is likely related to the Green Great Wall." Besides that, there has been some increase in vegetation in southeastern China, though there is no clue as to the cause of that increase, the scientist said.
China's Green Great Wall—formally known as the "Three-North Shelter Forest Programme"—is regarded by some experts as the largest ecological engineering project on the planet. Since 1978, at least 100,000 square miles of forests have been planted by Chinese citizens across the arid north, in an effort to hold back the creeping Gobi Desert. Once the project is completed in 2050, a massive belt of trees will stretch from northwestern China's Xinjiang through several northern regions to the country's northeastern part, Heilongjiang province.
Long-term impact is unclear
The introduction of the Green Great Wall, however, has doubters in the scientific community. Some scientists worry that planting trees where they do not grow naturally may do more harm than good, soaking up large amounts of valuable groundwater. Others question the mortality rate of trees planted there and whether these trees would negatively affect grass and shrubs, which in general are more resistant to drought and more effective at erosion control.
"The ecological issues are complex, and long-term results are not clear," said David Shankman, a professor emeritus of geography at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, as well as a prominent critic of China's Green Great Wall project.
Liu, who cooperated with a team of international scientists tracking the changes in global vegetation, said that he does not have the full picture of the debate. "But from our satellite observations, we can see that the tree-planting project is able to increase the carbon stored in the vegetation standing above the ground, which can help remove some carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," Liu said.
The study shows that China's afforestation efforts, together with regrown forests in Russia and neighboring countries, offset roughly half of the carbon loss by tropical deforestation. While the world is getting greener as a whole, massive vegetation loss is still occurring in many regions, with the greatest decline to be seen on the edge of the Amazon forests and in the Indonesian provinces of Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Liu and his colleagues mapped changes in vegetation biomass using satellite measurements of changes in the radio-frequency radiation emitted from the Earth's surface, a technique called passive microwave remote sensing. The information was extracted from several satellites and merged into a one-time series covering the last two decades from 1993 to 2012.
Plants play a significant role in slowing down climate change, absorbing about a quarter of the carbon dioxide that people are putting into the air by burning fossil fuels and other activities. The study's authors say that although increased greenness means more absorption of carbon dioxide, the only way to diminish the impacts of global warming in the long term is to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500

Sunday, April 5, 2015

The Indian "Steppes" - eagle visitors at Taal Chhapar

Jan 16th 2015.  As we soaked in the beauty of the Blackbucks on the one hand, we were also awed by the majesty of the soaring Steppe Eagles, as they dotted the grasslands, sitting on rocky outcrops, gliding over the grass and making the territory their own.

I step back into my school geography class and Ms Rohini when I think of the Steppes - those grasslands that once spread across Asia and Europe.  It coexists in my memory along with the nomadic pastoralists and Genghis Khan swooping across the plains

From the lands of the great Khan come these large eagles, swooping down to winter in our own grasslands in north-western India.

By far, they were the most common raptors we saw that day at Taal Chhapar.  Aquila nipalensis.  They eat carrion too, which accounts for the fact that we saw them at the carcass dump the next day as well.

They would take off on sorties every now and then, probably searching for small rodents and partridges.  Their large wingspans were a sight to see.

The characteristic brown and black flight feathers and tail.  This is the largest eagle I have seen so far.

The yellow gape that extends beyond the eye distinguishes it from the Tawny Eagle


The Tawny and Spotted eagles also have this yellow gape, but the extent of it, the shape of the nostrils and mouth are all different.  For our amateur eyes, we would have problems differentiating I am sure, but then we saw only the Steppes, so there was no "idying" confusion.

We almost missed the red collared doves shuffling around next to the road, as we trained our binoculars on the eagles afar. Streptopelia tranquebarica.  My first sighting of them of these reddish-matron doves that are found in fields, gleaning for seed in the undergrowth.
As the light faded, we also saw Harriers.  Couldn't figure out which one this was....

...though this one looked like a juvenile Pied Harrier
We had to leave, and our final sighting was a huge herd of wild boar grunting and scuffling through the grass.  They passed quite close to the eagles who did not seem to care!
A hot dinner awaited at Churu, in the same home where we had lunch, which was so fresh and wholesome that we shamelessly invited ourselves for the night as well!

We met the five daughters of the couple who were our hosts, and it was indeed heartwarming to see such well educated, confident and outgoing girls, where one would least expect it.

I think they were also intrigued by this strange bunch  from the south, with a large smattering of women who were by far more noisy than the men!

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Horn, OK Please.

16th January 2015

The magical Taal Chhapar grasslands in Rajasthan. A tiny little sanctuary at seven square kms on the eastern borders of the Thar.  We were coming from the western ends of the desert and the gigantic Desert National Park (more than 3000 sq kms).

We left Sujangarh and motored to the ghoshaala in the early morning mist, where we chased the tree creeper most successfully.

So it was with cheer and anticipation that we arrived at this little sanctuary of the blackbuck.  Antilope cervicapra rajputanae.  Bhanu had visited Taal Chhapar in 2014, and her pictures of the beautiful blackbucks in the rolling grasslands had piqued my interest.

The 7-8 sq kms of this sanctuary is filled with grassland and saline rock and khejri trees.

Blackbuck are at home in grasslands, no forests for them.  The browns merging with the mothiya grass and only their horns standing out like a ships' flag mast! The grasslands give them an advantage when fleeing from predators, and they do not mind the semi-arid conditions. So, as we convert grasslands into farms, the blackbuck habitat shrinks.  

These beautiful antelopes are endemic to the Indian subcontinent, and we are the only country with a sizeable though endangered population.  Hunted with cheetahs by our maharajahs, protected fiercely by the Bishnois, they seemed almost mythical and magical as they moved around in the grass.  

The males have horns and the skin turns darker with age.  The fawns don't have horns and are a much lighter hue.  The ponds are formed in the low-lying parts of the sanctuary.

Young males, with a fawn brown colouring.

An adult male posed proudly, its horns resplendent.  And those rings around the eyes like big moons.

Those horns!  "A well-formed pair of horns on a mature blackbuck male may reach two feet in length and have a nearly equal spread between the tips." observes R K Menon

They grow from the base, do not fall off, grow spiralling outwards and are a pretty handy weapon of territoriality, as we saw later.    

As dusk fell, we grew quiet, watching these shadows pass by in the grass, their silhouettes like a Japanese painting.

As I saw the sun go down, I dreamed of the plains of Africa.  Would I ever make it there?

But the drama of nature had one more act.  A male passed purposefully on the track ahead of us.
And before our eyes, horns were locked and a turf war began.







Just as quickly. it ended, with both the males trotting off in different directions, and to us, it seemed like it was a "draw"!
"Blackbuck are territorial animals. A territorial animal like the blackbuck male holds a piece of meadow or land that he defends against invasion of conspecific males. The male in its white and black coat stands prominently on its territory, which he hasfought for and taken from an earlier holder or, in some cases,colonised by himself. The ownership of the territory may pass on from one individual to another each year or a single, strong male may be able to retain it for several years. 
Fights between males for territory possession can be violent.The two males clash head on to lock horns and push mightily against each other. This is where the corkscrew shape of the horns comes into use. The spirals of the horns lock into one another so that they do not slip, much as the antler of deer like chital lock during battle. Where the males are almost evenly matched, a fight may continue over a few days. 
After the first bout, the contestants withdraw for a short while, only to clash again. The contestants engage, break off, and re-engage in this turf battle until the issue is settled. When the loser flees, it is usually chased only for a few yards, and then it may be seen somewhere else where it is more comfortable.
The winner then stands in the territory waiting for the females to come, for, in blackbuck, territory is the ticket to reproductive success. When the females do arrive, the male tries to herd them and keep them within his patch of land. This it does by what is called the 'head-up' or 'nose-up' display. The male raises its tail upright to show the white underside, raises his nose till the horns are almost flat along its back, turns its ears downward and backward and moves with mincing steps, all the while forcing the females deeper inside his territory. It may also grunt during this behaviour. The females may move inward in response to the 'head-up' display and begin to graze there, but if they are not so inclined, they simply walk across into an adjoining territory. 
The male has no recourse other than to do the'head-up' display in front of the wandering female. It appears strange that once a female or herd of females crosses over into another territory, the pursuing male will stop short at the end of his territory and not take one step more. In most cases, the neighbouring male will come forward to escort the female into its own territory.To the human eye, the exact demarcation line between two adjoining territories is not always visible."
The Quintessential Antelope - Life of the Blackbuck - by R K Menon

Andaman Day 4 and 5 - Rangat scrub and open forests

Continued from here.  Click here for the previous post.  Feb 13th 2024 - Our Post lunch wander The post-lunch session is always one that req...