Red-vented bulbuls

A non-descript looking light. What's it doing in a nature blog you think. Well, it seemed to have caught the fancy of red-vented bulbuls in Madras!
Here's what Geetha had to say:

"The bulbul has made a nest (for the fourth time in the same place) in the verandah my relative's house (in Karpagam
Gardens, Adyar) above a brass lampshade. It is seen feeding its three chicks with banyan figs and singapore cherries.
Apparently, the birds were very wary and shy at the time of the first nesting, but have become bolder with each new nesting tryout. At the moment, they are totally fearless and carry on their busy schedule irrespective of humans watching them at close quarters! Wonder whether it is the same pair or descendents of the original pair! At night, one of the parent birds sleeps in the nest along with the chicks. They are not disturbed when the lamp is switched on in the late evenings."

All the pictures courtesy Geetha and Jaikumar.

Now part of I and the Bird #106 - 4th Anniversary edition.

A Kaziranga flashback

Mr Ramanan has sent these wonderful photos from his 2007 trip to Kaziranga.   You can click on any of them to enjoy the "bigger picture"!

Mr Ramanan recounts that the trip was organised by a photographic buddy from Guwahati, and the group was a bunch of photographing enthusiasts.  The day they landed in Guwahati, there was a bomb blast at the railway station, and this led to a feeling of unease and insecurity all through their trip.  But in wildlife terms, it was a fantastic and productive experience!

I haven't been to Kaziranga, and that has to be righted some time soon.  Until then, these voyeuristic pleasures will have to suffice, tales of other travellers and pictures too.  Its one of those interesting places - designated as a reserve forest more than a hundred years ago, home to the Indian one-horned rhino, a strong tiger reserve, an important birding area, and most unfortunately, also home to many poachers.

The Bramhaputra regularly floods the grasslands and so, the animals face a threat from the furies of nature along with that of the poachers.

This picture is my favourite!  I imagined the baby rhino  saying, "Dont come any closer, or my mommy will not be amused"!

And the one below... look at the identical "armour-plated" backsides, and the small ears sticking out in the mother and baby!  Rhinos are solitary creatures, unlike elephants, though mothers and babies can stay together for something like four years.



Kalij PheasantThis black-breasted Kalij Pheasant is supposedly common in the north-east, and this looks like an adult male.

This red jungle fowl is seen down south as well.  Its rather brightly coloured isn't it?

Red jungle fowl

Wild buffaloThere's no shortage of buffalos in Madras, but they dont have the magnificent (and menacing) horns of their wild counterparts!


A feeding hog deerI have not seen this deer variety.  Its peculiarity is that when it runs it does so, with its head down, like a hog, rather than up like a deer!  Also, they dont flee as a herd, but tend to scatter when alarmed.  I think they are primary food for the tigers of Kaziranga.

The elephant grass could grow to ten feet in height, and you need to be on an elephant to catch a view.

Sheila's 2008 trip diary

WWF had organized a camp at the Kaziranga National Park between 12 and 16 of March, 2008. The camp was attended by 12 people, including 4 from MNS. Accomodation for the first night was at Baguri and the following three nights at the Wild Grass Resort. The park itself is spread over 430 sq km, sandwiched between the mighty Brahmaputra to the North and the Guwahati-Jorhat National Highway to the South. It is divided into 4 ranges – 

• the Eastern range at Agoratoli,
  
•  the Western Range at Baguri, 
  
• Kohora covering the central area and 
  
• Burhapahar range which is an additional area attached to the park. 
  

Vegetation is mostly open grassland with a few pockets of tropical semi-evergreen and deciduous forests. Kaziranga is an IBA and birding was plentiful with a number of birds flocking around the magnificent flowers of the Red Silk Cotton (Bombax) trees.

DAY 1 (Mar 12) : was spent entirely on travel, reaching Kaziranga at 7pm.
The rest of the days started early. The park is open at 6.30 to 12 noon, and 2 to 5pm in the afternoons, and accordingly we would leave at 6am after tea, return to the resort for lunch and once again leave post-lunch.

DAY 2 was a jeep safari. The sighting of the first rhino many miles away was exciting and we all strained our binocs on them but by the second day we had seen so many of them that even one at close quarters did not merit a second glance!
Weighing at 2 tons the rhino is shortsighted and hard of hearing and relies entirely on its sense of smell. We came across a rhino which kept coming towards our jeep much to our discomfort, and ran away only when it was close enough to smell us, which was quite close! The other jeep had a close encounter with a rhino and its calf. An interesting aspect I learnt about the rhino is that it’s a creature of set habits, follows well-worn trails and even defecates at the same spot every time!

DAY 3 was an early morning elephant safari. An group of 6-8 elephants line up and take you into the tall elephant grass to see the rhino up close . We saw 6 to 7 rhinos, some with calves, looking on disinterestedly while we made use of the photo-op. We also saw herds of barasingha and hog deer and a couple of fawns scampering around the legs of their mothers. Mother and baby made a beautiful picture. There is a thin layer of ground mist in the mornings and in the distance the Karbi Anglong and Mikir Hills lend beauty to the whole scene.
After a sumptious breakfast back at the resort, we head off for a birding walk in the tea estates bordering the forest. Many colourful birds were sighted. Noteworthy among them were the flamboyantly red-coloured Crimson Sunbird glistening in the sunlight, flocks of Scarlet Minivets flitting around on trees, the loud red-breasted parakeets, Daurian Redstart, blue-throated barbets constantly calling out, a pair of Verditer flycatchers and stonechats. Earlier we had seen blue bearded bee-eaters and a large and colourful stork-billed kingfisher with its huge beak posed for a picture!
After lunch we set off on another walk. Around dusk when we returned our driver gesticulated wildly at us to take another path. Later we saw there was a herd of wild elephant very close to the path earlier taken.

DAY 4 We set off for the Eastern range 20 kms away. This is a mix of grassland and open forest and we finally see the Brahmaputra here. Earlier a large and magnificent Great Indian Hornbill flew languidly over us and left us speechless! Other noteworthy sightings were the Long-Billed Vultures, Northern lapwing, pairs of green billed malkoha and the highlight was otters, and Pallas Fishing Eagles training/ weaning (?)a sub-adult, creating a racket in the process.
Mammal sightings on the trip were : rhino, wild buffalo, elephant, wild boar, hog deer, swamp deer, rhesus macaque, hoary bellied squirrel.

Here are some of Sheila's pictures

Pallikaranai - birds come inspite of the degradation!

The Hindu : Young World : Coming home to the wetlands Pelican points

ROHINI RAMAKRISHNAN
It’s celebration time at the Pallikaranai Marsh as the pelicans have returned. In the past two years the number of sightings has increased and this augurs well for the birds.

The early morning mist slowly melts as the sun rises across the Pallikaranai Marsh. The sparse water body, the tall reed become visible. And yes, there is something new to be seen — large swan-like birds swim gracefully on the waters. I crane my neck a little more and half rise from my seat in the rickety bus that plies on the east Tambaram route. Now there’s no doubt about it, it was them — the pelicans are back, visiting the wetlands of Pallikaranai.

Talking to the birdman, Theodore Baskaran, I discovered that for the past two years there were plenty of sightings of the pelican in and around the water bodies of Chennai and this augured well for the birds, especially as they are on the Endangered List. It is no longer a rare sight to see pelicans and this would mean they have multiplied n numbers.

Fresh pastures
As Mr. Thirunaranan of Nature Trust pointed out, the arrival of these birds could mean that they were the overspill from bird sanctuaries like Vedanthangal and it is their move to “fresh pastures”. Some were local migrants, coming from Gujarat and other areas.

But Baskaran said while examining a dead pelican they found a ring with a number round its neck. Analysing it they found that the pelican had flown in from Kazakhstan.

Wetlands anywhere bear the greatest of pressure from the land hungry population, says Baskaran. As the city expands, there is need for more land and the first to disappear are the lakes.

If you look around the city, you will see that lake areas now are merely names, eg., Lake View in Nungambakkam (near Valluvar Kottam). Wetlands are also victims of globalisation as due to this the city expands drastically.

Wetlands are special and therefore need to be protected and conserved, as many long-legged birds and waders, amphibians, plants and insects depend on it for their survival.

Strict rules observed at places like the Pallikaranai Marsh by the Forest Department could contribute to the frequency of the winged visitors which enriches our own life by their sheer presence.

Pelican points

A pelican is large water bird with a distinctive pouch under the beak. They swim with short legs that are extremely strong and their four toes are webbed. When they rub the back of their heads their preen glands secrete an oily substance which waterproofs the plumage.

Diet: Fish, amphibians, crustaceans and at times small birds.

Watch them : They often catch fish by expanding the throat pouch. First they must drain the pouch above the surface before they can swallow. It takes a minute to do this and often during this time other water birds steal the fish. Pelicans too pirate from other birds.

Unique technique: Group fishing is done too. They form a line to chase schools of small fish into shallow water, and then simply scoop them up. Large fish are caught with the bill-tip, and then tossed up in the air to be caught and gobbled head first.

Forum to protect Adyar Poonga planned

The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Forum to protect Adyar Poonga planned

CHENNAI: ‘Friends of the Adyar Poonga,’ a forum for preservation of the eco park, is slated to be launched next month. The Adyar Eco Park is being developed on 58 acres by the Pitchandikulam Forest Consultants. The consultants hope to encourage people from all walks of life to take an interest in it by joining the forum. On Monday, a group of school and college students took out a rally for awareness on the need to protect the ecosystem in the park.

Students of Rajah Muthiah and Rani Meyyammai schools, Nadukuppam Government Higher Secondary School and Stella Maris College participated in the rally. Students of Stella Maris have volunteered to help with the planting of saplings in the park. They walked along the boundaries of the park. Students of Nadukuppam Government School used folk music to tell people to stop dumping garbage in the park.

J.T. Rex Vaz, coordinator of Pitchandikulam Forest Consultants, said the people living in apartments sometimes dump household waste from their balconies into the park. “We have regular meetings requesting them not to do so,” he said.

To become a friend of the Adyar Poonga, send an e-mail to adyarpoonga.pfc@ gmail.com.

I did email them, and was informed that there will be a meeting of the volunteers on 2nd October between 2 and 3 pm at the Adyar Poonga

Animals of IITM - there's a book now

All pictures from Bhanu, who led a nature walk in IIT, for MNS last month
The article below was seen in The Hindu.

P. Oppili

CHENNAI: As part of its golden jubilee celebrations, the IIT–Madras has brought out a second publication, animals of IIT–Madras.

The book was released recently by Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Science and Technology. It presents the most common animals on the IIT-M campus, which incidentally is one of the last refuges for native biodiversity in South Chennai. The 150 species described in the book cover the following groups: mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes and select number of invertebrates. The description includes details such as the common and scientific names of the organisms, short notes on morphological features, pointers that facilitate easy identification and their distribution and status within the campus.

Conservation planning programme
The book was part of an overall conservation planning programme undertaken by IIT-M in the recent years.

In view of the fact that conservation within the campus had to be a necessary factor in the continuous presence of a significant number of human beings, the book would contribute to the formation of a well-informed pool of stakeholders, said a spokesperson of Care Earth, a biodiversity research organisation.

A team of dedicated ecologists and biologists assessed the extent and quality of the critical habitats that supported the biodiversity on the campus and the pocket guide was prepared by Care Earth.

Little Grebe, Indian pond heron, Asian Openbill stork, cattle egret, grey francolin, black kite, shikra, white-breasted waterhen, purple moorhen, redwattled lapwing, chestnut-winged cuckoo are some of the birds one could spot at the campus. Reptiles such as Indian cobra, chequered keelback, bronzeback tree snake, common vine snake, star tortoise and animals such as Golden jackal, common palm civet, could be sighted at the campus.

A great place to go birding, I had written about it in Tracking the Indian Pitta at IIT

Here are some pictures from the IIT Walk.

Bhanu, by the way is rather multi-faceted. Read about her puppetry initiatives here.

Now to find myself a copy of the book

Snakes on my mind

My in-laws had an unwelcome visitor this week, in the form of a huge snake, coiled up on the cool bathroom floor! It slithered past the housekeeper as she went to clean up, she let out a shriek loud enough to summon the whole neighbourhood, and fled from there, slamming the bathroom shut behind her!

My mother-in-law, with remarkable alacrity rang up Just Dial (an information service - +91-44-2644 4444), got the number of the Guindy Snake Park from them, called the ranger there, (+(91)-(44)-22200335,22301328) who promised to send a snake catcher. Within half an hour, the catcher arrived, and from all accounts knew his snake-catching! He calmly proceeded to the bathroom, by which time the snake had disappeared under the wash basin drainhole, and was nowhere to be seen. He checked regarding the drain plan, asked for hot water to be poured down the drain, and then waited at the other end, in the garden.

Sure enough, in a minute the snake emerged, and was skillfully caught by the trapper. My in-laws commented that he kind of stroked the snake to calm it, and then put it into a bag, to be added to the collection at the Snake Park! He told them that it was a venomous snake, but we dont know the variety - it was not a cobra. It couldn't be the Krait, since the markings are so distinct, could it be a viper then?

After this incident, I realised that I knew so little about snakes - which ones are venomous, and which ones are not. Yes, I've been to the Snake Park and yes I possess Whitaker's book, and yes I've studied those glass cages and looked with somewhat horrified fascinaton at those slithery reptiles, but it somehow does not stick in the head. I dont find them as attractive as, say birds, nor are they as "handsone" as a tiger, as graceful as deer.

I think there are snake people and there are the others, and I dont know if it has to do with any exposure or awareness. My mother is positively fascinated by them, so is a cousin of mine who now lives in Atlanta, then there is a classmate of my husband who regularly caught them. I am not a snake person, and I have to make a conscious, rational effort to overcome the rising, irrational fear of them.

Of snakes and Scruggs, in Atlanta, Georgia

We saw this snake sunning itself in the undergrowth in one of those large parks near the Fernbank Museum. What was it - Midland brown? Earth snake?


Another day we stopped by at the Chattahoochee river that flows through Atlanta, and saw these ducks swim by,


before chancing upon a Steve Scruggs show. Steve Scruggs seems to be the American equivalent of our very own Rom Whitakers spreading awareness about snakes.

Quite the showman, check out these two little video clips of what we saw.

This one is to do with a common Georgian, non-poisonous snake.



And this one shows a rattlesnake.



Stone Mountain

Atlanta memories also include our trip to Stone Mountain, though totally unrelated to snakes, bear with me while I ramble!  After all this is Madras Ramblings remember.

Stone Mountain is very unimaginatively named.  It is, well a stone mountain you see.  I guess if we can have yezhu malai and anai malai, they can have Stone Mountain!  if I'm not mistaken its the world's largest exposed granite rock.  (Ayers rock in Australia is sandstone.)  

Can you imagine what a sense of regret our granite quarry owners must feel seeing this - so much untapped money!

We took the cable ride up, but you can walk up as well.  The views all around are lovely.  About 3,000 acres around the rock is like a nature park, so its lovely and wooded.  there are lots of touristy and kid-friendly activities all over the base park area, but you dont need to do those things.

A walk up, enjoying the views, some birdwatching, and its a lovely day out in the open.

If you are lucky, you may come across these stoneworts, which grow in the little pools of water that collect in depressions and crevices on the mountain top.

Bridge for endangered monkeys

Times of India, 19th Sep '08

B Aravind Kumar | TNN

Chennai: The state forest department has come up with a simple solution to reduce the number of lion-tailed macaque dying along the road leading to Valparai, a hill station in Coimbatore district — bamboo bridges connecting the treetops on both sides of the road to facilitate easy and safe movement of the endangered species.
The lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) lives only in the Western Ghats, and derives the name from its lion-like mane and tail. “Puduthottam, a patch of rainforest located a couple of kilometres ahead of Valparai town, is home to about 150 lion-tailed macaques. There is a large group and many smaller groups,’’ says Dr H Basavaraju, field director, Anaimalai Tiger Reserve.
In the Indira Gandhi wildlife sanctuary, 520 lion-tailed macaques were spotted during the census in February 2008. Valparai range had 225. Apart from Puduthottam, small groups were seen in Kurangumudi and Thonimudi.
An arboreal species, the lion-tailed macaque leaves the safety of trees only to search for food on the forest floor. From Puduthottam, the monkeys have to cross the main road for food. Four adult monkeys were killed by speeding vehicles on the road in the past two months, says the field director.
Authorities in the Indira Gandhi wildlife sanctuary discussed the issue as the lion-tailed macaque is one of the most endangered primates whose habitat is fractured. A report was sent to chief wildlife warden A Sundararaju who instructed building of bridges across the road.
“It did not cost us a single rupee. There was plenty of broken bamboo left by herds of wild elephants in Valparai. We strung the bamboo together and built five bridges,” says Valparai forest ranger Manickam. “The bridges were built three days ago. A few monkeys have started using them,’’ the ranger says. Forest department personnel are monitoring the movement of the lion-tailed macaques to make modifications and improvements.

Good luck to the macaques!  My only in-the-wild sighting, so far, of these impressive monkey was way back in 1994, in the Periyar reserve.  We were on a walk in the forest, when we saw this macaque on a tree above us.  I dont think we had binoculars with us, but he was close enough for us to see his handsome head.  Look at the length of his tail! 


...That was a memorable trip...maybe I should write about the elephants gambolling on the wet hillside, Mr Balakrishnan at The Lake Palace, and being cold and wet in the rain with a bunch of laughing schoolkids for company, and a husband somewhat bemused at his hysterically giggly wife?!

One day I shall.

Sparrow Suprabhatam

And mynahs, actually. I guess because our road has become more wooded and the road trees have gotten big, there is a regular bird "orchestra" in the mornings.

About four or five years ago, it was only the crows that woud caw us awake. In the last one year, though, its become like a jazz band - mynahs, sparrow, parakeet, the occasional kingfisher and of course the ubiquitous crows and pigeons. As they all chirpily go about their early morning activities, it has become our morning "suprabhatam", our pranaams to nature, and more mundanely our morning wake-up alarm!

Some mornings though there is a mynah which tries out its various calls (at 5am!), sitting on our window sill. The calls go from clucks to cheeps to tuk tuks and everything in-between. Those mornings, I have to admit that I put the pillow over my head, mumbling to the mynah to take its cheerfulness elsewhere.... You know, one of these mornings, I hope to be a better and more dedicated birder than I am, spring out of bed and record that mynah!

Until that day arrives, I shall satisfy myself with this little clip of our sweet sparrow friend. Unlike the mynah, this sparrow wakes you up gently and sweetly. He also revisits through the morning, swinging on the TV cable wire outside my window.

Take a look at the clip - the first five seconds is blurred, but then the camera focuses on the sparrow.

Charlie, though nothing as spectacular as the South African dawn chorus, this one, of Chennai's urban chorus, is for you!



This sparrow has put me in a quandary - to feed or not to feed that is the question that begs an answer.

Bird feeders - good or bad??

Should I not let him (sparrow I mean) be and fend for himself?
Why should I make him dependent upon me by resorting to feeding?
Just because I want to see more of him and other birds? Is that environmentally a good practice?

I trawled the net for some articles on the pros and cons, and surprisingly came up with nothing about the environmental ethics of it. There was a much quoted 2002 article in The Wall Street Journal, about how bird feeders spread disease among birds, which was huffily contested by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology here, and The Hilton Pond Centre here.

But little else.

I'm inclined not to feed, for the moment. I will enjoy his comings and goings, as he pleases. He does not need me, and that suits me fine.

Roadside silhouettes

10,000birds.com had this rather interesting "quiz" running last week.  These bird silhouettes were given, and one had to figure out what they were, without looking up the books.

You can read all about it here.

The pictures are from that site.

Click on the pictures to get a bigger and better view!
So these were my guesses:

1.  Some kind of pigeon/dove

2.  Could it be a sparrow?

7.  Hoopoe

8.  Drongo

9,10, 11 - swallows and swifts of some kind!

23 ... crow??

20.  coucal

28.  some kind of pheasant

13.  robin

... I give up.  Dont know any more!

Try your hand.

They are not necessarily birds found around here, but its still fun to do.

The answers are in the comments

Kanha Memories- Birds, a bear and a scorpion

Picture by ArunPeacocks everywhere!  Going from Madras, these spectacular birds really took my breath away.... for the first three days.

Then, we had seen so many of them, that we all became rather blase,"Oh just a peacock", and they would be dismissed!  Imagine that!

With the occasional rain, Arun was fortunate to even capture one of them dancing and in full show.
Arun's picture
Picture from Chitra




From Arun


Here, one strolled across the road, bringing traffic to a halt!

And Chitra clicked this beautiful picture of the peacock perched on a tree.  It was my first experience with flying peacocks as well.  Yes, they do fly and quite well.  It would make for a spectacular sight, when one would suddenly swoosh up to a tree top.

One sunny morning we found this peacock skulking by the side of the road, with the sun bringing out all the colours of its feathers, even when they were not in display mode.... mmm... would be a lovely colour for a saree, isn't it?  Now I know what the Nalli salesman means by peacock blue!

A changeable hawk eagle - picture from Arun - seen on our first outing, in the canter

A jungle owlet, which resided in a tree, just inside the gate.  We would take a peek at it every day while leaving the park.  This picture is once again from Arun.

Many more than this - plaintive cocukoo, alexandrine parakeets, scimitar babblers, a shama, black-headed oriole, an emerald dove, honey buzzards, vultures and an adjutant stork as well.

An account of our Kanha week will be incomplete without recounting the incident of Arun being locked into the dorm.  The culprit was my husband, who finding the room empty, (Arun had gone to the loo at the back, but which could be exited only via the room), locked it, pocketed the key and we all set off in our jeep, blissfully unaware of the locked Arun.

That was the day we were going off to Bahminidadar, and so went off, and then re-united with the other jeeps up on the plateau.  Chitra came hurrying up to us, and whisperingly (is there such a word?!) enquired whether we were the ones with the key to the dorm.  Very innocently, we said yes.  

It transpired that once we left, the jeep in which Arun was to go waited patiently, but Arun never came.  So they went back to the dorm to hear frantic thumping and yelling, and there was one very angry MNS member.  All the rooms open into the back verandah which houses the bath and toilets, so Arun could come out via the other rooms.  But his camera was in the locked room, and anyone who knows Arun also knows that he wont leave without it!   The netting on a window was ripped and he clambered in and out with his camera.

As a result of all this delay, Arun and his jeep mates saw this sloth bear.  None of us did!  I think that appeased him, and our "thousand apologies" was accepted in good humour!

The last night of our stay, it began to pour once again.  It was post-dinner, and all of us had gathered into our small little groups to look at pictures, gup-shup and generally while away the time.  A group of the men stood in a corner, tasting something from an unidentifiable bottle.  Their conversation got louder and louder, and then suddenly there was a shout!

Vijay came rushing in and said come look there's a scorpion.  So we all hurried to the back verandah and sure enough there was this black, shiny scorpion on the tiled floor, not getting a good hold and so scuttling along near the wall.  Being MNS members, there had to be a prolonged discussion as to what was to be done with it.  No, we cant kill it, lets just push it into the outdoors, no it will return, you know it is very dangerous, but we cant just kill it.... and so it went on and on, until one of the men (I forget who) went and brought the local attendant.  That boy/man just freaked.  I have never seen a look of such terror on anyone's face I tell you.  He rushed out, came back armed with implements to chase it out, and took it out of our sight, where we were quite sure he killed it, though he did not say so.

All my romance with the forest quickly dried up, as the dangers of the jungle were driven home. I can cope with trying to cross a busy junction in T Nagar, board a bus at Central Station or take precautions against chain-sntaching.  I am a city dweller, I have these skills, but what would I do when faced with a scorpion?  I just shrieked and climbed on to the bed!!

And so ended a wonderful week and it was time to go home.  Not before Dhruva went missing one night, and was hunted down in the Bagheera log huts chatting with the cook and not before the food bag was emptied.  

Rannu came back to take us back to Nagpur, and was greeted by one and all like a long lost friend.  But of course we had to have some flat tires along the way, which led to frayed tempers and loud words, through all of which are man from Seoni kept his cool, bought us breakfast at the neighbourhood eatery in Seoni and got us to the station well in time!

Kanha Memories- A photo essay on the forests

Young sal treesEvergreens, they provide the main greenery throughout the year.  The fallen leaves a lovely brown contrast.

Spectacularly large!OK, its not a tree, but a grand enough sight, this anthill made!  I wonder what happens when there is a thunderstorm... does it get washed away?

Wild creeper
Mexican prickly poppy.  We also saw these in Melghat
Mahua, I think...
Sal flowers?
Beautiful isnt it?  Id needed!
Gnarled branches overhead

Wildflowers in the undergrowth