Cormorants, ducks, geese and an Obelisk - walking around the reservoir

12th July 2019

A Central Park walk by the reservoir.

The morning sun gleams over the Onassis reservoir in Central Park

The local dog walkers "club" behind the Met museum

Bemused by an Egyptian obelisk in the middle of it all.  Cleopatra's needle - a story in itself.

Mallards sunned themselves

Strangely I didn't see a single male with that characteristic green head.  But a the brilliant blue of the water was distracting me.  

Canada Geese paddled by

This one had a the look of a philosopher, gazing into the distance.

This one had not woken up as yet.  I don't think it quite liked the morning sun - a bit like the young man in my house.

Double Crested Cormorants were busy fishing that morning, as with every morning I guess.

They dried their wings on the walls, looking like gargoyles from a distance.  It was nice to watch their yellow bills and orangish chins through my binoculars.

It was jogger rush hour as i climbed down from the bund closer to 96th street.  I watched out for those spandex-clad bikers as they whizzed by - seeming even more of a hazard than motorised traffic

A magnificent tree with a  beautiful bark.

I wonder what those leaves are.

A board announced this as a London Plane

What a joy to walk among these trees.

With the sun coming through

 Through the lovely Conservatory Garden.

The fountain at the Conservatory.... seemed like a scene out of some old Victorian novel.

It was then via the Meer back to the streets of Harlem.

The firemen lounged, no calls this morning I guess.  Unlike a couple of days before this when they were out with their banshee-like sirens.

A Harlem summer dawn

Silhouetted Brownstones

Shimmering windows

Weedcutter goats 

and

Hudson glimpses through the posts.

Why Chennai needs a tree act

How the Tree Act helped states

Seeing how a few other Indian cities have benefited from a Tree Act that is in place in their respective states, here is the inevitable question: Why is Chennai being denied this green gift?

Liffy Thomas

If the ‘Garden City’ is holding out against urbanisation and staying green, a good amount of the credit has to go to the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976.
The Act has given enough power to environment groups and residents to question authorities when trees are chopped indiscriminately to further development work or when they receive little care from the hands meant to serve them.
Delhi and Maharashtra are other states that have a tree conservation act.
For some years now, in Chennai, environment groups have been rallying for a law related to all aspects of tree nurture, from planting to maintaining them.
For instance, around two years ago, voluntary organisation Nizhal drafted a notification that it sent to the State Government.
So, how has the Act helped these states?
Harini Nagendra, professor of sustainability, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, says an Act is the first step towards caring for trees, followed by public awareness and implementation.
“We don’t have data to show how many trees were saved due to an Act but it has certainly helped prevent indiscriminate felling of trees and raised awareness about the need to exercise caution before cutting trees,” says Harini.
She says pressure from citizens’ groups and intervention from the Court have pushed government to implement rules.
Recently, following a petition from Bengaluru Environment Trust, the Karnataka High Court asked the chairman of the “Tree Authority” — a statutory body formed after the promulgation of the Act and one that comprises representatives from the government and citizens’ groups — to start a tree census.
Through realistic data, it is possible to keep tabs on felling of trees.
“It will also provide data on concerns such as what to plant, species that will thrive in the city and changing conditions that may cause some trees to fall,” says Harini.
Vijay Nishanth, known as ‘Tree Doctor’, says the avenue tree that one sees on Bengaluru’s arterial roads are still standing tall, because there have been rules to safeguard them. He cites the example of the Bengaluru Steel flyover project, where more than 2,000 trees were going to be cut to facilitate the work.
“We counted trees on the stretch and made the authorities hold a public consultation to save the trees,” says Nishanth.
As of today, the project is on hold.
Nishanth says due to the intervention of various residents’ groups, at least 500 trees that had to be cut for development projects were transplanted in the last two years.
The ‘Tree Authority Department’ in the Pune Municipal Corporation has announced that it would conduct a geo-enabled tree census survey and plot the same on the city map.
The aim of the project is to provide information about “layout of different varieties/specifies, distribution under different wards”, says a note on the website.
Axing a tree is not easy in Delhi too because of the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994.
Padmavati Dwivedi, a Delhi-based activist, says there are rules in the Act that enable people who have great knowledge about trees and tree preservation and who have contributed towards protection of trees to function as co-opted members who can provide suggestions on matters relating to trees and their protection.
She adds, “In Delhi, for the last few years we had not have any citizen representation and we are fighting for that.”

Sunshine on the wall

Catopsilia pomona, the common emigrant or lemon emigrant - resting on my wall

Come, rest for a while,
scraps of sunshine
flitting across my view.

At the traffic light, I watch

your crazy parabolas

two by two.

Have the rains signalled
your departure?
Are you leaving for the hills?
Emigrant  that you are
Thanks for stopping by.

The flash of a cardinal

Flash of red
from bench to tree
A northern cardinal;
Harlem Meer.

Coral beak
Cocky crest;
No shyness
in his breast.

Central Park
On the wall
his lady sits
Ignoring his flash,
disregarding his call.

Resting place

On a journey, ill:
my dream goes wandering
over withered fields
- Basho

My old body:
a drop of dew grown
heavy at the leaf tip
- Kiba, 19th century

Empty-handed I entered the world
Barefoot I leave it.
My coming, my going —
Two simple happenings
That got entangled.
- Zen master Kozan Ichikyo, 1360



Zen and the poetry of death

Rain catcher: on Jacobin Cuckoo - The Hindu

An interesting article about the Jacobin cuckoo, with pictures from Sagarika's sightings this April 2019, around Perumbakkam, part of the larger Pallikaranai marsh area.

Rain catcher: on Jacobin Cuckoo - The Hindu

The Jacobin Cuckoo heralds the monsoon in north India

Abhishek Gulshan

The Jacobin Cuckoo is one lucky bird indeed. At least according to Indian myth. Also known as the Pied Cuckoo or Chatak, this bird heralds the onset of the monsoon in India.

Being an agricultural economy the rainy season is considered one of the most auspicious seasons in the country. And so, the Pied Cuckoo in North and Central India is a welcome sight.

It is a bird with black and white plumage (pied) with a fancy crest on the head. Its scientific name is Clamator jacobinus. The genus ‘Clamator’ literally translates to being a shouter, a bird which is quite vocal, so you’ll hear yourself surrounded by the calls close to the monsoon. The word ‘jacobinus’ relates to pied birds.

Pictures are from Sagarika's sighting in Chennai

There are two populations of the Pied Cuckoo in India. One is a resident in the southern part of the country. The other, according to tracking by birders, makes its way to North and Central India from Africa by crossing the Arabian Sea, along with the monsoon winds. When the monsoon arrives in all its majesty, its sighting also spreads widely.

So this is a resident?  I didn't know that.

The bird is primarily arboreal, which means that it mostly lives on trees but often forages for food in low bushes, and sometimes even on the ground. Considering its arboreal nature, it prefers forests, well-wooded areas and also bushes in semi-arid regions. These birds are primarily insectivores and feed on grasshoppers, beetles and are also often seen feeding on fruits and berries from trees.


The species, like all cuckoos, is a brood parasite. It lays its eggs in nests that belong to other birds, preferring similar-sized birds like babblers and bulbuls, as their ‘hosts’. The hosts are often distracted by male cuckoos, and the females quickly lay their similar-sized and coloured eggs into the hosts’ nests. The hosts then take care of the eggs and the chicks that hatch from them, as their own. The parasitic chicks are fed by the hosts and then leave the host parents once they are ready to be on their own.

A few years ago, birdwatchers set out to test the truth behind whether the bird does signal the coming of the monsoon. We began a monitoring process, collecting data around bird sightings, and other habits. This is being documented online on ebird.org, an Ivy-League initiative for birdwatchers all around the world.

A large number of birdwatchers reported the sighting of the Pied Cuckoo on the online documentation forum, and when these dates of sightings were compared to the monsoon's arrival, as available with the Indian Meteorological Department, the results were fairly clear. Pied Cuckoos did indeed arrive before the monsoon in most parts of central and northern India. In a few areas, it was also observed that wherever the monsoon was to arrive earlier than usual, the Pied Cuckoo also showed up a few days earlier. So the Chatak is not an old wives’ tale anymore.

To join a trail in Mangar, Haryana this Sunday and spot the Jacobin Cuckoo, email ninox.edu@ gmail.com

The writer is the founder of NINOX - Owl about Nature, a nature-awareness initiative. He formerly led a programme at WWF India as a naturalist, and is the Delhi-NCR reviewer for Ebird, a Cornell University initiative, monitoring rare sightings of birds in the region

Who was Marcus Garvey?

July 11th 2019

That is the question that crossed my mind, as I crossed the park this morning.  Turns out he was a Jamaican-born activist of Black Rights, Black Brotherhood and established many a business in order to improve the lot of African Americans.  Seems to have supported the KKK, (why???), and lived in Harlem when he moved to the US. A colourful and controversial character.

This 20 acre park is located between 120th and 124th street, and has oak trees and sparrows and starlings in plenty.

This art installation is made from used tires.  The mound seen at the rear is part of a schist/large rock around which the park is built.  Supposedly, they could not remove it, to extend 5th Avenue, and proposed a tunnel through it - but it did not get built.

Need to find out what this spectacular tree is.

Are those flowers I spied, on the Oak tree?

Birds of a feather bathing together!

The squirrel seems to have figured how to work the water fountain.

I tried unsuccessfully to reach the Harlem river, but came up against the Harlem River  Drive and the bridge to Randall island, which seemed "uncrossable" on foot at 125th.  I would need to trudge up to 128th.

With a midday sun overhead, and hot concrete underfoot, the extra walk did not seem appealing at all, and I returned, catching a row of maples instead.

Maple leaves against the blue sky 

And another outdoor art piece catches my eye

Brown-belted bumblebees

Harlem, New York

I am on the 19th floor in Harlem, and the midday air is usually filled with the wailing of ambulance sirens in the streets below, and a more persistent and loud buzz closer by.  Little black and brown blobs would whizz by my startled nose, and land on the balcony railings and take off once again before I could get a good glimpse of them.

Today morning, me and my iPhone were quick on the draw, and I caught this beauty just as it was about to take off.

                                                       Brown-belted Bumble Bee

 (Bombus griseocollis)

I did not think they would be seen so high up in the atmosphere.  These brown-belted bumblebees are important flower and fruit pollinators for the region, and they are probably the reason that those hibiscuses are flowering merrily and happily!

Sharp-Eatman nature photography has an ID guide for the wild bees of New York

Identification Information:  These bees can be best identified by their trim "crew cut" fur and by the belt of brown hair that usually appears near the front end (on the second segment) of their black abdomens, just behind a narrow yellow band.  Brown-belted bumble bees have  black legs and dark transparent wings.  Their heads are black, sometimes with yellow markings, and they have large black eyes.  The bees' yellow thoraxes (mid-sections) may or may not have a black spot at the center.  Queen bees may lack the brown belt.  Queens are substantially larger than other members of this species but have the same distinctive large eyes and  trim fur.

Unlike other bumble bees, brown-belted bumble bees have short tongues.  They thus are unable to access nectar and pollen from deep-throated flowers.  They prefer blossoms that have flat landing platforms containing multiple florets, such as milkweed, black-eyed Susans and thistles.   Instead of expending energy by flying from one flower to the next, brown-belted bumble bees can walk from floret to floret, efficiently gathering a small amount of nectar from each. The brown-belted bumble bees shown here were gathering nectar in this fashion from coneflowers, common milkweed and swamp milkweed.  These bumble bees also feed on goldenrod, toadflax and thistles along park trails and in Stone Barns' gardens.  They first appear in our area in mid-March and remain throughout the summer.

The Hibiscus suits their short tongues!

Walking to the Hudson

July 3rd 2019

Set off down 120th towards the Hudson.  530 in the evening, and it was still warm.  New Yorkers were out in their shorts and summer wear, and the kids seemed to be out of school and in the playgrounds.

The tall buildings kept me in the shade, as I crossed Malcolm Boulevard, Frederick Douglas and Manhattan Ave, to arrive at the steps of Morningside Park.  Dog walkers and dogs of all shapes and sizes.  

Climbed the hill via the steps through the park, and it was Columbia University territory.  Old buildings with impressive facades.

Teachers College

Renovations and the Riverside Church spire behind

The church is magnificent - the tallest church in the US!  Started in 1927 and completed in 1930.

Commissioned by Rockefeller.  April 4th 1967, Martin Luther King made a speech against Vietnam War here.

Chanced upon the Grant memorial, the final resting place of the 18th President of the US, Ulysses Grant and his wife Julia Grant.

General in the Union Army during the Civil War, he was a young president, and it was his wish to be buried in NY and not DC.

Magnificent oaks all around

And Gingko trees as well

Characteristic leaves of the gingko

The upper end of the Riverside drive

More steps, downwards to the river

And I was below the bridge....

George Washington Bridge across the Hudson, in to NJ.  that evening, the Lincoln Tunnel was closed due to an accident, and it was the 4th Of July the next day.... the roads were filled with standstill cars, and I was glad to bet walking.

The USS Baylander - now a museum ship - served in the Vietnam War.

The Birding Walk caught my eye...

The beautiful and clean Hudson River.  The water was clear!

 The sun was still strong when I reached the Hudson, and I was impressed with the beautiful planned cycling track and walking path along the banks of the river.  Both were well used even at that time of the day.  Bikers were speeding down the path.  (Later I came to know that there are accidents due to speeding cyclists - and in fact someone we knew fell and broke his jaw as a result of this.). So beware of the cyclists as well!

All across Harlem are these sidewalk protections - to keep pedestrians safe when the building is being worked upon.  What a great idea.  And here I am in India, where there are more pedestrians but yet with fewer pavements and every time there is a construction, the pavement gets taken over, and the pedestrian has to fend for him/herself, weaving in between the traffic.  Makes me wonder which country is more favourable for the common man. 

820 in the evening, and the sun was slowly sinking, and the glass windows of the building seemed to be on fire.

Back home, and the sun was setting behind the Riverside Church spire.  A satisfying walk, rounded up with some great dinner.