"No flamingos in sight, but a rocket"

Rags is a neighbourhood friend, long-time MNS member and another of the Society's band of excellent photographers.

Here is his account of the happenings of Oc 12th.

Photo by Raghavan aka Rags

When Venky and Prabhu asked me to join them today for a drive up to Sriharikota to watch flamingos ( the word was out that the birds were seen in hundreds) and a rocket launch from the SHAR center, I went along without knowing what to expect.

We reached SHAR road by about 7.30 am and drove along trying to spot birds one either side. When we reached the Wildlife Warden's office, we were stopped at a heavily armed Police and Army barricade. As the rocket launch was scheduled for 1100 hrs, we were not permitted to drive further but were advised by the men in uniform to turn South and drive along the brush jungle to spot birds. We could only see Egrets, Painted storks, some ground roosting Pelicans and some bush birds like pipits, finch larks, black winged kites and so on.

There was little water in the lagoons and the mud flats were turning into a mirage with all the heat shimmer in the distance. Disappointed by the complete lack of flamingos, we turned back North and drove up to the derelict watch tower to hang around and watch the rocket launch at the least. We were probably 10 kms away from the launch pad, which was obscured by the distant tree line to the East and we waited with baited breath for the launch to take place, a first time experience for me.

At 1058 hrs, there seemed to be an eerie silence - as though the wind had stopped blowing - and at 1100 hrs on the dot, we heard a distant siren wailing and then blast off! It was a flaming streak that took off from the distance - sounding perhaps as loud as a jet engine initially - and barely a few seconds into lift off, I experienced a ear shattering BRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMPP and the ground around my feet shook - I was hearing the sonic boom as the rocket broke the sound barrier! Another few seconds and there was only a rapidly dissipating vapour trail left behind by the rocket.

The attached picture is already magnified about 100%, even though I used my 300mm/f4 on a Nikon D90 body. If you enlarge the picture more, you can see a distinct 'ring' of condensation just below the nose. Prabhu, being the tech savvy man, explained the 'ring' phenomenon. As the rocket slices through the air, the velocity at the nose is so great that a low pressure or vacuum forms just below the nose. The water vapour 'ring' settles within this low pressure zone and travels with the rocket till it gets out of Earth's atmosphere. Quite an experience from someone who only went looking for flamingos!

Rags

Check out Rags' pictures at  Camerags

The rocket was ISRO's PSLV series, and it put a weather satellite up in orbit.

Can we now hope for better weather forecasting?

TREASURES OF NELLIYAMPATHY

Mr Ramanan's photo album

The link has some great landscape photos too.

Nelliyampathy - a mammalian photo essay

All photos by Mr Ramanan during the MNS trip to Nelliyampathy - Oct 6th to 9th.

Malabar giant squirrel- Ratufa indica - keeps an eye on Mr Ramanan!

Gaur - Bos gaurus - largest cattle species.  (Photo by Mr Ramanan)

Would you like to share the fruit with me, Mr Ramanan?

No?  Oh well, I cant wait anymore!

 "The MNS lot are here!"

Lion tailed macaque - Macaca silenus - endemic to the Western Ghats

Trees sheltering thousands of birds cut at Vaagaikulam

The Hindu : NATIONAL / TAMIL NADU : Trees sheltering thousands of birds cut at Vaagaikulam

Nearly one-third of ‘karuvelam' trees ( Acacia nilotica ) grown inside the Vaagaikulam tank near Alwarkurichi in the district were cut on Saturday. These trees were home to thousands of domestic and migratory birds for the past several years during and after the monsoon, thus leaving the winged visitors' beautiful abode nurtured by nature in a pathetic shape.

The acacia trees at Vaagaikulam were planted by the Forest Department under their social forestry scheme. As per their policy, these trees are scheduled for felling in 10 years. The contract for cutting them is given by the panchayat and the income shared with the contractor on a 1:3 basis.

As the trees inside Vaagaikulam became an excellent roosting site, where researchers could identify 38 species of birds in and around the lake, steps were taken to convert it into a bird sanctuary on the lines of Koonthankulam in the district.

Birds that come

Among the various species of birds that flock to this place are white ibis, glossy ibis, black ibis, chestnut-tailed starling, brahminy myna, cotton pygmy goose, spot-billed duck, spot-billed pelican, Indian moor hen, pheasant- tailed jacana, white-breasted water hen, sandpiper, gull-billed tern, common kingfisher, white-throated kingfisher, pied kingfisher, pied crested cuckoo, western marsh harrier, night heron, rosy pastor, red-vented bulbul, open-billed stork, osprey, pond heron, purple heron, cormorant, darter, egret, little grebe, yellow-wattled lapwing, yellow wagtail, barn swallow, palm swift, black headed munia, brahminy kite, brown shrike and house crow.

When the trees on which the birds are roosting were earmarked for cutting in January 2009, 70 per cent of the trees were removed and the rest were spared because of the rains and subsequent increase of water level in the lake. Moreover, the move was stopped by the villagers then.

After the birds' new abode was brought to light by The Hindu , Bangalore-based Ashoka Trust for Environment and Education, which first located the tank brimming with water and trees weighed down by thousands of birds, some steps were taken by the Department of Forest to convert it into a bird sanctuary. The then District Revenue Officer P. Ramanasaraswathi even visited the tank to explore the possibilities of ensuring flow of water to the tank throughout the year so that the birds can roost and nest round the year.

Renewing his efforts on removing the trees, a contractor, who has successfully won the ‘cutting order' in his favour, has been asked by the revenue officials to wait till the end of the forthcoming civic polls. “We'll take an appropriate decision after the end of the elections,” he was told by the revenue officials it is learnt even as the Alwarkurichi villagers were vehemently resisting the cutting of trees.

Enquiries with the Department of Social Forestry revealed that the ‘cutting order' that was given by the then Conservator of Forest Rampathi about eight months ago was cancelled after the report on trees inside Vaagaikulam sheltering thousands of birds appeared in this newspaper.

Villagers' efforts

When the information of cutting of trees inside Vaagaikulam spread, the villagers, mostly farmers, rushed to the water body and stopped further felling of the trees after heated argument with labourers hired for the purpose. Even as the situation was volatile as the arguments continued, the police and revenue officials came to the spot after much delay.

Though the birds' shelter has been saved as of now, the threat being posed by the contractor with the renewed ‘cutting order' continues, environmentalists here feel. Officials with the Department of Social Forest refused to comment on this incident.

If you would like to raise a voice against this, please do sign the online petition.

The battle for the Rann of Kutch | Firstpost

Janaki Lenin writes about The battle for the Rann of Kutch in Firstpost

What is the so called advantage of this road I wonder, for the Gujarat government to propose it in the first place? It goes through precious mangroves, flamingo breeding sites, and Dholavira, an Indus Valley site.

We went to LRK, the Little Rann and not the Greater Rann.

Sivan Park perambulations

Sivan Park is in KK Nagar and was the venue for Nizhal's public walk in October, falling on Gandhi Jayanti.

If you are wondering where it is, take a look at the map:


View Larger Map

We landed up there bright and early, to see one large Sivan statue staring at us!! (I had thought the park was named after some luminary of Madras called Sivan, and did not imagine it was named after the ultimate Sivan!!).  The story goes that the park was called MGR Park, and the Sivan statue was put there for some film shooting....and then was subsequently not removed, and it became Sivan Park!! This anecdote was narrated by active Nizhal member Kasiraman, a resident of the area.

The MGR statue outside the park seems to bear testimony to this story.  And if you want to see the Sivan statue, click here.

The "we" included my poor husband coopted as driver, Sumana, Vijay and me.  Since this was my first visit to the park, I wanted to ensure that there were atleast a few trees that I could identify!!  A quick recce with Sumana.  We strolled through the army of morning walkers, who stared at us with curiosity - oddities we must have been, craning our necks to look at canopies while everyone else marched on briskly, either chattering with companions or with a grumpy oh-why-am-I-hear scowl on their faces.  Nettilingam, aala maram, arasamaram, nagalingam, neem... all there, nice and large and healthy, so I let out a first sigh of relief.

And then came the mystery tree.  Three of them, large and imposing!

Lagerstroemia microcarpa?

So, this is what we looked up to - leaves so far up that my myopic eyes were tested to the full.  Peeling bark, could it be Pride of India I wondered.

One of the younger trees

But then Sumana spotted white flowers and small berries!  (Pride of India aka Crepe Myrtle has large lavender/purple flowers.)

White flowers

Berries or buds? 

(Back at home, and with the help of flowersofindia.in, I tentatively identified this as Ben Teak, venthekku in Tamil, a native tree.  Am I right?  If it is that tree, then this is a Sivan Park highlight.)

The debate was abandoned and we moved on. Copper Pod, Gulmohar, Parklandia,  Palm, Neem, Pongam, Pooarasam.  OK, not too bad, we can still cope.

We began our walk, (with a good handful of Nizhalites, plus some firsttimers,)  next to the Nettilingam, Mast Tree...and the newbies "walked" into the Ashoka "trap", and so I unleashed the no,-this-is-false-ashoka-not-the-realmccoy story, as a chameleon looked on rather dubiously.


The Peepul photo essay

Eucalyptus microtheca?

Another unknown once again with white flowers looking a lot like eucalyptus, but with no characteristic vicks smell!


Could this be the Coolabah, introduced from Australia?


The idying was done later on, post walk.

The thenpuchi maram (Guazuma ulmifolia) revealed a flower, and had lovely fresh leaves, all hairy and ready to collect dust.

Pongamia leaves, completely covered with the characteristic leaf galls.

And we ended next to the naagalingam, a native of the Amazonian region of South America, but now venerated here!

The tree was in flower and there were a few on the ground as well, that allowed us to examine its astonishing flower structure.

Couroupita guianensis

We wound up with Mr Kasi Vishwanathan of Nizhal Anna Nagar talking about his experiences with the Metro Rail project, and how 24 large trees of Thiruvika park were transplanted, and 23 have survived and taken root again!

This is the cost of development that we as a society do need to factor in.  If we chop off these large trees, how long will it take before the new trees grow to these impressive sizes?

"What we are doing to the forests of the world, is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and one another" - MK Gandhi.

Cycling truths

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According to Danny Cohen, this one is being painted by a local artist on the sidewalks of NY!

Winged visitors

An injured semi looper moth -Trigonodes hyppasia  

Lemon pansy butterfly

Tailless Blue

Is this a Egnasia ephyrodalis moth?  

They fly in at dusk
And die at night.
Our home,
their final resting place.

Blue pansy butterfly

The same blue pansy, close to death

Loris calling!

The Hindu : FEATURES / METRO PLUS : Loris calling! reports that

There are more than 60 slender lorises in the farms and wild habitats around Nagavalli and surrounding districts, most of which have been rescued by the master and his team.

Nagavalli is 15kms from Tumkur, and the "master" is a school teacher at the local Government High School. He is quoted in the article as saying,

“I am a science teacher and am interested in wildlife and biodiversity. But, it was my students who told me about three slender lorises they had seen in the school compound. Fascinated, I started researching and then creating awareness about them.”

May his tribe grow!

Semmozhi, again

More Semmozhi trees here.

Markhamia Lutea - 

The "throat" of the flower is deeper colour as against yellow cordia, which is yellow throughout.

Terminalia bellerica - one of the "triphala" trees.  There are lights strung around this tree....not good. 

Schleichera oleosa - Ceylon lac tree - kasumbh in Hindi, a rare tree.  

I need to go back to collect some fruit and seed.

An amazing, magnificent, huge tree.  Is it a mimusops/maghizam?  The canopy was so high, we couldn't check for flowers or fruit!

 There were a few saplings like this, which was identified as Buddha coconut by Arun.  Pterygota alata, it has lovely flowers, and a fruit that looks like a coconut!  Its a medium-sized tree, and can be used to line avenues.

 Another sapling - Milettia ovalifolia - shisham, a variety of rosewood with clusters of pink flowers.

A lovely large red sanders, endemic to our region, valued for the wood, and protected as well.

It had a lovely blue vine along its trunk, so if you visit the park, that is a good way to know you are at the red sanders!

Another large magnificent tree.

Where have all the stars gone?

We did not see a supernova this weekend.  M husband forwards me the article, and while I'm all enthu, and in a "let's take out the telescope" mood, he mumbles and mutters, about the polluted night sky and how we have to look at the northern sky etc etc.  Talk about a wet blanket!

But sadly he was right, I looked up and there were hardly any stars seen.  I was also a bit shocked and saddened.  When we moved into this part of town, a decade and a half ago, the night skies were beautiful, and I was introduced to the Big Dipper, the Great Bear, Mars, venus, even the rings and moons of Saturn.  I looked out for Orion's belt, which was as far as my idying skills went!

Even then, the Milky Way of my childhood was not seen.  Summer nights in Coimbatore as a child, used to be magical, not least because of the splash of starlight that would stretch across the sky

But atleast there were some stars to show our son.  Now even that has gone..as the country has got electrified, so too the night skies have disappeared.  That is inevitable, but could we be reasonable and innovative in how we light up?

I came across this post, which seems to indicate we can....

Weekend Diversion: Protecting the Night Sky : Starts With A Bang