Fulvous Pied Flat Butterflies are found inside deep forest habitats. Both genders are reddish brown in colour but the male has two large yellow hyaline spots on the upper wings. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: White-throated Kingfisher
Photo Credit: Vijay Mampilly
Bandipur National Park, Karnataka
What A Place, What A Pair, What A Story
Thanks to National Public Radio in the USA for this amazing sense of people, and place and meaning (click on the image of the book above to go to the story in full) involving an evolutionary biologist we have mentioned more than once and a photographer we will start paying more attention to:
In 1991, photographer Alex Harris was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction for his book River of Traps, written with William deBuys. It told the story, in words and pictures, of an old-time New Mexican villager. Harris didn’t win.
Instead, the prize went to evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson for The Ants.
“It took me 20 years to get over that defeat,” said Harris.
Then, coincidentally, Continue reading
Indian Owl Moth – Erebus macrops
The Indian Owl Moth is named based on the large yellow ringed eyespots on lower side of their wings. When their wings are spread the moth resembles the head of an owl; this visual trick is used to escape from predators.
Continue reading
Writing Places
TED STRESHINSKY/CORBIS. Wolfe (right) with the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia (center) and the band’s manager, Rock Scully, in 1966 San Francisco
In our quest to understand why and how great writers write greatly, we have started to pay attention to when and where they write. This article, about one of the most influential writers of the last generation in the United States, focuses on the big picture role of place in his writing. Click the image to go to the article:
Over the course of his career, Wolfe has devoted more pages to the Golden State than to any setting other than Gotham. In his early years, from the mid-1960s through the early 1970s, the ratio was almost one-to-one. More to the point, the core insights on which he built his career—the devolution of style to the masses, status as a replacement for social class, the “happiness explosion” in postwar America—all first came to him in California. Even books in which the Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Barbet with Trogon in flight
Photo Credit: Michael Tiemann
Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala
Sparking Activism
We have linked to 350, its various activities and sister concerns plenty of times before, but this three minute thought bubble is another good link to get the point: we all must do our part. We link to organizations and actions instead of his name because we recognize the temptation to idolize Bill McKibben for his activism; if we do that without taking action, what is the point?
Is Telecommuting A Sustainable Solution?
Click the banner to go to the site created by Arizona State University, New America Foundation and Slate, and this particular article covering the topic of whether telecommuting is the solution it was expected to be:
The early case for telecommuting—made most prominently by Alvin Toffler in his best-sellingThe Third Wave in 1980—had a strong romantic flavor to it. For futurists like Toffler, the home office would be an “electronic cottage” that might “glue the family together again,” provide “greater community stability,” and even trigger a “renaissance among voluntary organizations.” Continue reading
Wild Periyar – Bonnet Macaque
Bonnet Macaques are the most commonly seen of the four species of primates found in Periyar. They are particularly prevalent close to human habitation in places such as the boat landing, picnic spots and the parking areas of Thekkady. Continue reading
Krulwich Wonders About The Little Things
Click above to go to the post where this video is hosted:
Every year, thousands of college graduates pour into big cities, find themselves a fun place to live in a cool neighborhood, great location, friends all around. But then, their luck turns, they run short of money, lose their first job, their second job, lose their lease, and then, step by step, find themselves in places that are less safe, less airy, less and less livable, until they’re on the bad side of town in a scary, dank room … and life is grim. You know people like this?
Well, this is their mascot: an animal with a serious real estate problem. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Brown Fish Owl
Nagarhole National Forest, Karnataka
Pollution Solutions
We are on the lookout for innovative, tested and workable public policy solutions to everyday waste–governments actively engaged in finding solutions. Here is one. Click the image to the left to go to the New York Times video segment.
More On Mekong
Jeff Opperman. Fishermen hurling nets along the banks of the Mekong in northern Laos.
Something about this river and its basin have brought it onto our radar twice already recently. Now again:
Seventy-two hours after leaving Cleveland, I slipped away from Christmas Eve dinner with my family, walked down a dimly lighted path and crossed a rickety bamboo bridge to an island. I knelt down and dipped my hand into the Mekong River. Continue reading
Classical Dance – Kerala
Kerala’s dance traditions are not merely living traditions but cultural documents that reflect the socio-cultural surroundings. The story reflected in the dance forms are rooted in the rituals of the indigenous people. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Small Green Barbet
Photo Credit: Michael Tiemann
Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala
Atlas Moth – Attacus atlas
Photo Credit : Ramesh Kidangoor
The Western Ghats is one of the richest treasure troves of biodiversity on this planet, haven for moths, butterflies and other insects. Among the diverse species is the Atlas Moth, with the largest wing surface area in the world having a span reaching over 25 cm (10 in). Continue reading
Audubon’s Annual Bird Count
Green Blog loaded that video with a reminder of the value of this annual tradition. While not quite as exotic-heavenly as work coming out of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that we have pointed out here and here, nor even work that our own interns have been carrying out, this more prosaic activity is the essential contribution of the modern bird-lover:
Binoculars at the ready, a small group of birders fanned out through the field, searching for a brown-and-gray bird that was stubbornly refusing to show itself. Continue reading
The Gift, A Gift
Recent guests of Raxa Collective, mentioned here, handed Amie and me this book prior to our parting ways. Upon reading this blurb, we expected to find it enriching if and when we could find the time to read the gift, The Gift, which:
“actually deserves the hyperbolic praise that in most blurbs is so empty. It is the sort of book that you remember where you were and even what you were wearing when you first picked it up. The sort that you hector friends about until they read it too. This is not just formulaic blurbspeak; it is the truth. No one who is invested in any kind of art, in questions of what real art does and doesn’t have to do with money, spirituality, ego, love, ugliness, sales, politics, morality, marketing, and whatever you call ‘value,’ can read The Gift and remain unchanged.”—David Foster Wallace
Bird of the Day: Black-rumped Flameback Woodpecker
Photo Credit: Michael Tiemann
Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala
Mango Flowers
In South India mango trees start to bloom from December onward. A native of South Asia and the national fruit of India, mangos grow widely in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the country. Continue reading
