Let the lions roar

Its lion season for me! Come on CSK!

Lion on the march, reclaims lost kingdom - The Times of India

New plan to move Maldharis out of Gir

The countdown begins

'The Great Rann'- album sample by Listening Earth on SoundCloud

By the Navjeevan express

Anticipation suppress

Let it not be late

The Rann awaits.

Wetlands, endearing wild asses

moonscapes, wide open spaces.

Dusk falls as the Francolins call

Will we see Banni grasslands tall?

Across the Kutch we shall ride

to catch the roar of the pride.

Asiatic lions, the only den remains

protected by the Nawab of Junagadh on the Gir plains.

Excitement!

Wild wonder: Slender lorises sleeping on a tree on the Kalakshetra campus. — Photo: Tara Gandhi

Mr Ramanan had taken some lovely pictures of the endangered loris, which I wrote about here.

But here they are, in my own backyard!!

Slender lorises sighted on Kalakshetra campus

By P Oppilli

Naturalists are excited after sighting a good number of slender lorises, rare and endangered arboreal primates, inside the Kalakshetra campus. A detailed study on the primates has been taken up by members of the Madras Naturalists' Society (MNS).

G. Vijay Kumar, Secretary of the MNS, said in July last year students of Kalakshetra saw the movement of some animals on the tree. They then sought the help of MNS members to identify the animal. When the members visited Kalakshetra campus, they were taken by surprise by the presence of a large number of the arboreal primates.

Following the sighting, they approached ATREE, a Bangalore-based nature research organisation to fund a study inside the campus. The organisation had provided financial assistance to the tune of Rs.70,000 to take up the study. The six month study began in middle of January this year and will be completed by July.

A total of 20 lorises, including infants, were sighted by the MNS members, who went around the campus between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. The habitat in which they managed to survive needed to be protected and the lorises in Kalakshetra were wild ones, he said.

The MNS members used head lights covered with red cellophane papers, while studying them. As they were very sensitive to light, shining lights directly on to their face would stun them and they would be unable to feed due to this. Hence, the members have tied a paper around the lights to avoid disturbance to them, he said.

K.V. Sudhakar, member of the MNS, said there were not many records of sighting of lorises in and around the scrub jungles in Chennai. One had to travel to Mamandur near Renigunta in Andhra Pradesh to sight them. Similarly, not much information was available about this arboreal primate, except a detailed study by P.J. Sanjeva Raj of the Madras Christian College during 1950s.

Not many records of sighting of lorises in and around the scrub jungles in Chennai are available

So here's another account from Sheila, who was in another group, looking for this creature, (I wont tell you where!), and the excitement of a midnight search!

"About half an hour later, Shreekumar gesticulated wildly, but I guess we couldn't see in the dark, so the gesticulations were lost on us!! Finally Vikas realised he was calling us, and we all went to have a look. Shreekumar shone the torch on a tree on the other side of the road. He was absolutely certain he saw a pair of red eyes. He was very excited. He said he had no doubt about it - he's been a naturalist the last 20 years, and had been good at tracking snakes, etc and he was positive it was a slender loris, not a cat or owl or civet cat!!

We all trooped out onto the road and scanned the branches overhead and in the neighbour's garden. There is a continuous canopy over the road, as the branches from our trees and the neighbours' trees merge over the road. Tara says the slender loris will go from canopy to canopy, and must have gone from through the branches of the trees over the road, and into another garden. But try as we might we couldn't spot it. A couple of motocyclists passing by looked on curiously at us. Thankfully the flashes from the torches did not wake up the neighbours! Nor did they call the police to report the nocturnal activites happening in their backyard.

Vikas was thrilled that finally we were lending credence to his sightings!! "Amma, I told you, but you wouldn't believe me!!" Prasanna mentioned how they went all the way to Ariyalur (or someplace) near Madurai, spent 2 hours in the night 8pm to 10pm, looking for the slender loris, but all in vain!!

Shone our torches all over. Disturbed a barn owl which went screeching by. Vikas pointed out where he saw a bronze backed snake(!) (thankfully some days earlier and not last night!)

12.10am -

Again Shreekumar who was scanning the trees in a methodical way, gestured to us. He had spotted it! Vikas went quickly and saw it too. The next second when I went there, it had already gone. We spent a few minutes scanning the trees, but no sight of it.

This time we distinctly heard the call. 3 times, if I remember correctly. Shreekumar feels it was an alarm call. Also he feels the alram call is a means of communicating with each other about the presence of intruders, so this shows the presence of more than one slender loris.

The call had possibly come from a different direction too, one from a tree nearby and one from the western side, but I can't be sure of this.

We broke up aorund 12.30-12.45, all of us very excited and satisfied at the confirmation of sightings! Its difficult to believe that such a small patch of land has provided refuge to this animal.

Amazing, isn't it? Hope to see it sometime soon..."

I hope so too, Sheila!

A few of my favourite wings - I and the Bird #148

(With due apologies to Hammerstein, Julie Andrews and Sound of Music!)

Red Northern Flickers and Himalayan Griffons

Pale blue eggs and nest-building herons
Brown Lincoln Sparrows and a Snail Kite in wing
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the Stints limp
and the vultures die
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite wings
And then I don't feel...so bad

Red vented bulbuls and Coppersmith barbets
Birding with children
And wagtails with stonechats
Idying birds with beaks, crests and things
These are a few of my confusing wings!


Woodpeckers in forests with streaks and white patches
Sri Lankan Frogmouth with lovely eyelashes
A warbler singing with the coming of spring
These are a few of my favorite wings

When the poachers kill
When the trees fall
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite wings
And then I don't feel...sooooo baaad.

**************

List of Contributors

• Larry Jordan at The Birders Report
• Mike at Slugyard
• Nate at the Drinking Bird Blog
• Blake Mathys at the American Birding Association
• The Bird Study Ecology Group
• James at 10,000 Birds
• Deb at Dont Bug Me
• Amila at Gallicissa
• Gopi Sundar at Sarus Scape
• Thomas & Shilpy at Walk the Wilderness
• Howard King at Bahrain Bird Report
• Sandeep Somasekharan at The Green Ogre
• Frank Boxell at The Early Birder
• Ram at Trails of a Traveler
• Pangea Progress
• Shirl at Life's Indulgences
• Eddy Kuttschreuter

IATB # 149 will be hosted by Kirk Mona at Twin Cities Naturalist on 28/4/11. Send in your entries by the 22nd!