On seeing this mayfly on my keyboard, we would be tempted to ask – why and how in the world is this fly here?! We would surely miss to ask – why is this keyboard here!??

notes: 
1. This is true for most of the cities, and is not a comparison between life at a European city and an Indian dwelling in the outskirts. In fact Italy holds a lot of natural life in the outskirts.
2. Mayflys are aquatic insects where the immature stage occurs in fresh water (called naiads). The adults are short-lived, maybe as little as a few hours to a day or two, depending on the species. This mayfly photographed from Hokkaido, Japan

Is somebody watching me?

The female Indian Koel, eudynamys scolopacea, on our cherry tree.

eh?

Got it!

These koels often raid our bulbul nests. The bulbuls often make their nests around our house, at low shrubs. Once the hungry chicks come out, both bulbuls are in a frenzy to get enough food for them and probably it is during this time that the koels often find out the nestlings and get away with them. Sometimes one koel will mislead the bulbuls and in the mean time another koel would get the nestlings…

Date: 14 Oct 2007
Location: @ home, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Camera: Nikon D80 + Tamron SP AF90mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens

Male Indian koels are glossy greenish black. Here is a quick shot from our old records.

Date: 08 June 2007
Location: @ home, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Camera: Olympus C770UZ + MCON-40 Macro Lens

The greater coucal, Centropus sinensis, at the scene of action.

As usual, we took our camera and though the birds were in a distance, captured some photographs. These photographs were taken on 15 Feb 2008, from our home at Kerala. As usual, the photographs were processed and closely checked very late, more than a year later. We were taken in for a surprise. All of a sudden there is a snake in the picture! That too, a long snake with its long tail entwined all over the all-spices tree in our backyard…

The male purple sunbird, cinnyris asiaticus (~ nectarinia asiatica), as you see, is in the breeding plumage. They are glossy purple during breeding time and have brownish upper and greyish-white under sides during non-breeding time. You can see the predating snake sneaking through the all-spices tree on the right.

Birds, especially the smaller ones, have an effective (well, sometimes) defense system against snakes. If one of them finds a snake, they make sure that the whole world knows about it, by flapping and chirping out loud. This brings the rest of the community to the scene of action. Altogether, they make an aggressive attempt to mob and drive the snake away.

Red whiskered bulbuls, pycnonotus jocosus, at the scene of action. We had earlier discovered that the red whiskered bulbuls are nesting nearby. Some of these >> red whiskered bulbul nests were photographed around the same time. So it is of ultimate interest to both these birds to get rid of the enemy off their domain.

Yellow browed bulbul, lole indica, at the scene of action.

“No, this is mine!”

Reminiscing the great papaya fight of 2005 through an old photograph.

Rufous Treepie and Small Green Barbet competing for the papaya.

Birds of Kerala

The head, neck and breast of Indian Treepie are a deep slate-grey colour, sometimes slightly brownish. The underparts and lower back are a warm tawny-brown to orange-brown in colour with white wing coverts and black primaries. The tail is a light bluish-grey with a thick black band on the tip.

The Indian Treepie is extremely agile while searching for food, clinging and clambering through the branches. Its acrobatic dances on the coconut palm leaf (ola) has given it the name olenjali  in Malayalam.

Original photograph of the Indian Treepie, by rocksea, used for the painting :

Each bird seems to be in its own mood… and as you watch them, the mood slowly grows into you… Click on the images to see a larger version and get close to each bird!

Orchestrated nest building… the cormorant parents seem to be moving as in an orchestra, holding the long twig with their beaks. Both male and female actively participate in the nest building process.

Do you know that, in Japan, these cormorants have been traditionally trained to catch fish? The tradition is known as ukai. The necks of the cormorants are tied to the boats, tight enough to prevent swallowing. The fishes are later retrieved by the fishermen.

Location of the Periyar National Park, Thekkady:
Periyar National Park, Thekkady [maxlat=9.65;minlat=9.20;maxlon=77.30;minlon=76.60;maptype=G_MAP_TYPE;overviewmapcontrol=show;zoom=9]

Ceylon Frogmouth, Batrachostomus moniliger, also known as Sri Lanka Frogmouth, at the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekkad. Male and Female.

The Ceylon Frogmouths are nocturnal in nature, and are found in the Western Ghats of India and in Sri Lanka. Their elusive nature kept their existence under the veil of the dense tropical forests for a long time until Dr. Salim Ali found it at the Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary (which has since been named after him) in circa 1930. Later it was rediscovered in circa 1990 by ornithologist K. V. Eldhose, at the same sanctuary. Its occurrence, ethology, nesting, etc. have been documented since. The bird is still elusive, due to its adherence to roosting on surroundings with dried leaves which resembles its color tone and camouflages it well.

My first sighting of the Frogmouth was in December 1999, when the nature group Warblers & Waders organized a bird survey at the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekkad and the near by regions including Bhoothathankettu and Idamalayar. The first night we listened to the exchange of the distinctive calls between the male and the female (which could be easily recorded and mimicked) and we saw one of them at a different location later. The excitement was so much that time, and I took a low resolution photograph of that sighting, but one could never identify a bird in it, because it was camouflaged so perfectly!

The frogmouth pictured above is my second sighting, along with Sarah, in September 2007. The location is adjacent to the watch tower inside the sanctuary.

Tiny, wine glass shaped, Cup Fungi, cookeina sulcipes of the Family Sarcoscyphaceae, against a dark background, at the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekkad. These cup fungi were located near to the place where we found the ceylon frogmouths in the birds section. Vividly colored in deep red-orange, with a pinkish tone. In these two images you can see the fungi gleaming through the dark.

Sarah capturing the Cup Fungi.

These Cup Fungi are not rare, we have often found them on wet logs around our house premises.

Cup Fungi @ home

Date: 27 Sept 2007
Location: @ Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekkad and @ home, Kottayam, Kerala, India
Camera: Nikon D80 + Tamron SP AF90mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens

Red whiskered Bulbul nesting. Lo and behold the beauty of the red whiskers! Adult bulbuls are around 20-22cm long. A few studies show that males have slightly longer wing length and whiskers with respect to their female counterparts.

Nest of a Red whiskered Bulbul, with 2 eggs.

Red whiskered Bulbuls build an open cup nest of rootlets, twigs, bark and leaves, lined with soft fibre. The nest is usually placed in a low tree fork, which is usually covered by overlying bush or leaves. Making of a nest is an interesting period to observe. I have once put a few colorful cotton threads near the nesting area and later found that the bulbuls had incorporated the threads with the nest.

A close-up view of the eggs of a Red whiskered Bulbul. Pale pink eggs, streaked and spotted with shades of red.

Nesting is known to take place from August to March, probably the period of the year excluding the wettest months (June and July) of the southwest monsoon and the hottest months (April and May). There are 2 nests taken at different periods shown in this article and this one was taken around mid January 2008 while the other was taken around the end of September 2007. A typical clutch consists of two to four (I have not seen more than three) pale pink eggs, streaked and spotted with shades of red. Incubation lasts for 12-14 days. Both birds incubate the eggs and care for the nestlings. I have never witnessed more than 2 young raised to maturity. This could probably be due to the inability of the parents to satisfy their hunger as young bulbuls have voracious apetites. Two or three broods may be reared in a season.

Nestling of a Red whiskered Bulbul. The nestlings are fed with highly nutritious food comprising of insects and worms and they grow up very fast, and within a few days one can see them flying off! They fledge at about 14 to 18 days after hatching.This photograph was taken in September 2007 @ home, kerala.

Though they guard and defend their nest aggressively, many of the nests I have watched have been ransacked by predating indian koels and sometimes, the crow pheasants. Some bulbuls have a wonderful tactic of misleading the predators or humans. If it senses a predator near the nest, the bulbul flies up and then all of a sudden it falls down, almost as if it was shot by a gun! It then crawls on the ground and makes a cry as if it is hurt. The unsuspecting predator moves on to the parent bulbul and as soon as it gets nearby, the bulbul flies off, having its purpose accomplished successfully!

Red whiskered Bulbul on our mulberry tree. Fruits, berries, nectar, insects and worms makes the lion’s share of their diet.

Red whiskered Bulbuls are native to southern Asia, and they have been introduced to many other regions. Adult bulbuls are around 20-22cm long. A few of the characteristics are its pointed crest, red whiskers (leading to its name) and the red vent. Red whiskered bulbuls are active around human habitats and less timid around humans. Their flight is a characteristic bouncing up-and-down woodpecker-like. The call, a characteristic descending musical whistle, is often an indication the bird’s presence long before it is seen.

A relative is the Red vented bulbul, is bit duller, lacks the pointed crest and red whiskers, has a different call and is more confined to the wooded areas.

Cameras and Lenses: Nikon D80 + Tamron SP AF90mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens, Olympus U770 + TCON 17 Tele Lens. Nikon photographs by rocksea and Olympus photographs by sarah. Clicking on any of the photos above will lead to higher resolution images and a nature album with more of these kind of photographs.

the maple leaves, the poplar trees, the birds n bees of autumn,, hokkaido daigaku (hokudai) campus, oct 14-15th, 2004

Sept 28, 2002

mickey died, june 2004. i cudnt be with him in his last days and cud only cry from here.now am growing  a feeling that hez always with me, playing around me