Day 8 - Morning walk observations

 5th July 2025

Morning coffee with the Munia in my balcony.  He/she comes and investigates  the Kopsia pot with soft pips, quite different from the loud and piercing calls of the Tailorbird.  

Off for our morning walk.  It is a Saturday, the beach is buzzing with human activity of all sorts.  The breakfast lady is doing brisk business, the crow feeding man is on the beach surrounded by more than a murder of crows, the dogs are lolling in the sands after their barking exertions of the night, and the Urbaser crew is hard at work cleaning up after us messy denizens.  Fruit seller lorries, vegetable vendors, walkers, joggers and strolling cattle - and you get the picture.

We escape via the bylanes into the quieter Valmiki Nagar neighbourhoods, where the Indie doggies and their pet parents are having a conference,  and then to the Kalakshetra road, where the girls are hurrying to dance class, the Coucals are calling in the trees and drongos are busy catching dragonflies.

We head back via the large peepul tree, the ISKCON centre and boys busy putting up the announcement for a cricket tournament.

It is the shortcut back, via the Valmiki Nagar thickets that reveals all my non-human observations.

An Ashy Prinia called from the thickets and flew as we walked past.  

Ravan's Mustache (Spinifex littoreus) grasses spread out on the sands and a couple of lost ghost crabs scuttled away from sight.

The Giant Calotropis plants were filled with bees, wasps and butterflies.  Sekar waited patiently as I malingered and chased the gram blues, the Common Lime butterflies and the Emigrants. 

Mottled Emigrant (Catopsilia pyranthe) nectaring on Flannel Weed

I vainly attempted some phone photography but the butterflies were too frisky and skittish.  Or maybe just busy.  I did get this Mottled Emigrant, and I marvelled at the camouflage - check the colours - butterfly and leaf.  

The sands are dotted with this Flannel Weed - so named because the surface of its leaves are covered with fine hair, giving it a flannel-like feel.  it is from the Mallow family and native to India.

Another yellow beauty.  Large Caltrops Pedalium murex.  Flowers of India puts the Tamil name as ஆனைநெருஞ்சி Anai-Nerunci,

I loved the symmetry in the arrangement of the leaves as well.

We were soon back home, armed with some greens and tomatoes from our familiar veggie vendor, who was being engaged in friendly banter by the regular walking crew.

More tomorrow, then.

Mumbai Diaries - Karvi blooms and butterflies galore

October 3rd 2024

I was excited to learn that I was not too far from BNHS CEC.  

Various friends urged me to go - "it's a beautiful drive through the Aarey forests", said one. Another said, there are lovely bird trails  inside.  And then I saw that the Karvi flower was blooming there, and that sealed the deal, and I decided to go on the 3rd (and not the 2nd which was a public holiday and bound to see many a tourist.)

This was the scenic route I was looking forward to, as I hopped into the auto around 730 am.

This was the actual route taken by the speeding auto, who kept insisting that his map said this was faster.

It was around 9am by the time I got dropped off at the supposed gate, with not a soul in sight, after speeding on the expressway, standing still at innumerable traffic signals, winding our way through Film City, its various guards, potholes and vanity trucks.  The auto driver asked me if I was sure this was the place, and I confidently and cheerily told him so, and sent him off.

(It did cross my mind as to how would I make my way back from here...but at that point, just getting out of the rattling auto, away from the highway, and into bird call - it seemed like paradise.)

This was my first glimpse, as I crossed an empty school bus - whose kids must be wandering around the trails I surmised.  Sunbirds and Tailorbirds called incessantly.

A family of macaques observed me from the canopy above, sitting quite peaceably and grooming one another.  

And then, just like that both sides of the path were filled with these purple blooms!  Oh is this the Karvi flower, I thought and looked more closely, and yes it was.  Initially I must admit I was a bit underwhelmed - I mean one has to undergo some hardship and search high and low for rare one-in-8-year-blooms I thought - but here they were strewn on both sides of the path, in wild higgledy piggledy fashion!

I did warm up to them, eventually.  They reminded me of the Railway Creeper flowers, Morning Glories.  

I loved the buds more than the flowers, eventually.

Strobilanthes callosa - the Latin name - is an interesting shrub.  A favourite of all sorts of caterpillars and butterflies, I learnt, and is kind of brown and all dried up before the monsoons, turning all green and leafy after the rains, and then once in 8 years, it does this, bloom like there's no tomorrow.  

I learnt a new word - Plietesials - plants that flower occasionally and in synchrony.  Nature is quite amazing and marvellous.  Now if one didnt know this plant, it is quite imaginable that it will be discarded when looking all brown and shrivelled.  

Ruminating such thoughts, I walked on, and spied a building and heard some voices.  There were the kids from the school bus, with some harried looking teachers, and a very enthusiastic nature educator explaining the life cycle of butterflies.  A few children in the front were curious and eager, while those at he back had a "what am I here?" look to them.

I went to the "office", where the cheery guard asked me to sign in, pay the entrance fee of Rs 150 (only UPI please, no cash), and then I was free to wander on.

There is a Karvy trail and what's referred to as a Leopard Trail  - leopards have been seen in the park.  I did a bit of both.

Observations � iNaturalist - will give you the complete set of fungi, caterpillars, spiders and butterflies that I was able to capture on my phone camera.  Through my binoculars, I saw a huge number of chocolate pansies, Greater Orange Tips, Yellow Orange Tips, small white butterflies, Sailors, and many unidentified ones.

However, my bird list was small - the trees were quite silent for a lot of the time, was I too late for the morning chorus?  I was hoping for a sighting of the oriental dwarf kingfisher, but this is not the season I was told.

I could hear the Film City crews with their PA systems, shouting Action! Cut! etc etc.

It was a humid and hot and sweaty day.  I climbed up to the top of the Karvy Trail, and I could see a little stream below.  I think in a guided walk, they probably go down as well, but I did not venture.

As I headed back, I met one of the researchers coming up.  He was changing the card on the camera trap - they are tracking the leopards.  He said that he had just seen a rat snake.  I missed it.

Up in the skies above, there seemed to be two Oriental Honey Buzzards circling - they are not Black Kites for sure, but I could not find anyone to confirm the id.

Down below, the kids were complaining about mosquitoes and the heat - and the Guide was reassuring them that these mosquitoes did not carry dengue or malaria, and in fact were "tiger mosquitoes", with stripes.  I listened with amusement.  Another boy was hot and wanted water, a girl wanted to use the washroom - I was so glad I was not a teacher.  We really cannot thank our teachers enough.

It was time to return.  I did book an auto, who kept getting lost, but finally did show up, and was cheerful and apologetic for his lateness - he did not realise I was just grateful for a ride back!  I once again suggested Aarey road - but he told me - the "jungle road is karaab" and looking all jammed, and we came back also by the highways - more traffic and signals.  Oh well.

Sekar and Vish tried to reason that maybe the auto drivers knew something we/google did not, but I was not convinced. 

And so ended the BNHS CEC visit.

January wanderings on ECR

 Jan 10th 2024

Indian Maritime University Recce visit - eBird Trip Report

50 species not counting the warblers and other scrub birds that we did not have time to focus upon.  So here's a rhyme to celebrate.

There was once a trio of MNSers

Nothing in common, but all birders

To IMU we drove

And found a treasure trove

A marsh full of Warblers and Plovers.

There were Egrets and Pelicans galore

Garganeys, Pintails, Ibis and more

so much joy and delight 

Spoonbills in flight

Oh wait!  Godwits in 100s, furthermore!

Then the dogs, who felt ignored

Into the marsh, they  crashed, quite bored

The Godwits flew off

And the Lapwings did scoff

“Did you do it”, they called, and soared.

And how can I forget those Grey Francolins, endearing

Across the road they went. to the edge of the clearing

I counted seven

Quite a procession

And all through our walk we heard them calling.

Openbills flew across along with Painted Stork

Drongo, Coucal, Treepies did disembark

A Roller flashed blue

And the Kingfisher flew

Oh that sweet call - a Jerdon’s Bush Lark!

Powder Puffs played host to many Purple Sunbirds aglow

A Solitary, stock-still Thickknee in the scrub below

We rounded the corner

And there found a charmer

An Oriole above, a flash of sunshiny yellow.

And then as a finale, on a faraway stone

A raptor for sure, that did our goodbyes postpone

A Falcon, a Peregrine

Its claws it did preen

Enjoying the sun and solitude, but no not alone.

We will be back at IMU, that is for sure

The AWC will be a joy and a sinecure

When we go birding

The uncertainty is rewarding

And the company brings laughter in good measure.

And here are the photos:

From Sunbird

From Ramesh

Bauhinia

Rosy Milkweed Vine

Powder Puff - Calliandra

Those painted grasshoppers are back

 Sept 6th and 7th

Poekilocerus pictus 

On Calotropis

Coloured and painted, you'd think it would cheer us

but beware, that toxicity cld afflict us

23, chewing Calotropis poisonous

So, we can squirt you, dont you mess with us

I know, I shall leave, I'm no ignoramus!

Thiruvanmyur 4th seaward road thickets - the milkweed are filled with painted grashopperss.

A spring morning in Delhi

 For amma.

Spring in Delhi is a wonderful time.  There was a nip in the air as I went for a morning walk in the Kailash colony area.  

The bottle brush was brilliant red, 

the boughs heavy with flowers.  My mother's garden has this tree as well.

But it was the Bombax - Silk cotton tree - that stole my heart and filled me with amazement and awe.  Nature's Ikebana, effortlessly balanced and poised.

The buttress roots, magnificent

the outstretched branches, graceful

the fallen flowers, poignant

and the blossoms on the tree, just spectacular.

The tree was abuzz with activity - crows, mynas, doves, parakeets, sunbirds, bulbuls, and many bees as well.

Memories of Assam mornings.  Memories of  laburnum yellows in summer.

Hollyocks - from my Delhi childhood

Petunia beds in profusion

Yellow Nasturtium from South America

And was that a Persian Lilac in bloom?

Collared doves going for a walk

A spread of daisies, past their prime, but still so pretty.

The native Curtain Creeper, which we had in our previous garden.

Work travel does bring pleasures and delights.

Looking down

 Fresh leaves, dried leaves, I do spy
light green, dark green, brown...
and even a Lemon Pansy butterfly. 

Green circles, pink stars
Brown sand and grey wall, and
Amaryllis lilies, from afar.

 

Through the window

A Common Tailorbird came visiting our little patch of green
More loud tweets to be heard than being seen
I watched without moving as it flitted and called
Now on the branch, now on the wall.

And then today this happy surprise
A single yellow spike
of mustard.
Overnight, did it rise?

 

Lockdown again

25th May 2021

While we humans struggle with the pandemic, life goes on.

The sapotas are getting ready, and I eye them everyday with delight.

Technically, this is the neighbour's tree, the boughs nicely overhanging on to our garden, inviting us to reach out and pluck a few fruits.  So whats's the ethics of this I wonder - may I pluck or not?  Can I covet these fruits?

And the jasmine blooms every day, and I never get bored of watching them.

Two blooms and a bud.  Gundu mallis.  And see the leaves all washed with the rain.

Under the Rangoon Creeper, an insect buzzed around, and then alighted on the mud, kicking furiously with its front legs, as it burrowed inwards.  

I had not seen one of these earlier.  Lovely green and black markings.  It buzzed as it moved around, and I marvelled as to how far the sand it kicked went.  

My naturalist friends identified it as a sand wasp species - Bembix - but I am as yet unable to figure out which one.  This one's colouring quite different from the other Bembix specimens I found online.

Nature worship

Kopsia fruticosa

 The morning shower washed these blooms.  

I watched them with delight everytime I passed the window.  

In the afternoon, they were all gone.  in dismay, i looked around, on the ground, nowhere to be found.

Selvi had other ideas.  She had offered them in puja.  All of them.

Beach walks

 

Creamy mallows, and blushing Ipomoeas.  Blue skies and a bright sun.

The waters glimmer and shimmer.  I look hopefully.  No dolphins sighted.

But hello, what is this?  The waves washed over it and it moved tentatively.  that one claw looked a bit disjointed.  Actually it looked "dirty".  See the pink and the brown cover.  Yuvan wondered if it was a Decorator Crab. Eh?

And so I learnt about decorator crabs which cover themselves with all sorts of things as part of camouflage - from seaweed to coral bits, to even moss and sea anemones.  Who would have thought!  

I also got a response from Vardhan patankar, via Manish Chandi that this is a spider crab, genus Doclea.  "Quite common across the Indian coastline, he said.  Seen it on the Goa coasts.

Bivalves were all over the intertidal area - Siliqua radiata - all empty shells.

This tower snail (Turritella),  seemed to be alive and on the move - see the trail behind it.

This Plough Snail was alive too.  The snail foot was moving.  Such beautiful texture and delicate colouring of its shell.

Ipomoea pes-caprae - a beautiful sight in the mornings.  

A Chalky Percher rested on the sands.

I almost missed this ghost crab - it was a brave one - stared at me and didn't vanish down its hole.

Pretty dishes, facing the sun.

With their two lobed thick leaves

Can't seem to get enough of them.

More, next time.