Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala
Bird of the Day: Indian Cuckoo
Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala
From Behind the Wheel: Mass Transit Superlatives
Ernakulam
Splendid Sri Lanka: Part 1
Sri Lanka Frogmouth
After I learned that I would be spending the summer in India, my first move was to buy a guidebook for the birds of the Indian subcontinent. Upon looking through this fantastic book, I noticed that there were quite a few birds that could only be found in Sri Lanka, and I knew right then and there that I had to find a way to see these birds. After talking extensively with my dad about travel arrangements, we decided that at the end of my time in India he would come join me for four days of birding in Sri Lanka with an experienced bird guide. So in early August, my dad met me in the Kerala backwaters, and soon we were off to Sri Lanka.
Bioluminescence To Commemorate Columbus In The New World
Dimitri Deheyn/Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Columbus may have seen fireworms like these glow green just before making landfall in the Americas.
From today’s Green Blog on the New York Times website a note in honor of Columbus Day (and doctoral student discoveries) click the image above to go to the story:
…At 10 p.m. on Oct. 11, 1492, Christopher Columbus saw a glimmer in the distance as he stood on the deck of the Santa María. The faraway flash was “so small a body that he could not affirm it to be land,” Columbus wrote, referring to himself in the third person. Continue reading
Wild Periyar – Elephants
The rich and productive banks of the Periyar reservoir attract Elephants (Elephas maximus) that gather in large numbers to graze on fresh fodder and drink and bath in the waters of the famous lake. In summer, when most other pastures are dry, the lake shore is a constant life source. Elephants are one of the main attractions in Periyar; according to the latest Forest Department census there are about 1300 elephants.
Bird of the Day: Sunbird (Gavi, India)
Photo Credit: Ms. Nikitha Vinod Karri
The Noun Project: A Community Of Say Somethings
Click the banner above to go to the source:
I am a design technologist living in San Francisco and I have an affinity for iconography. I strongly believe everyone benefits from free, open source creative output and have created a several free icon sets for that purpose.
Honeysuckle (Lonicera)
Honeysuckle is a popular garden plant widely growing throughout the world. The rambling varieties are extremely popular, because they are very adaptable, twining happily around climbing supports, bushes or growing over the ground. Because of their intense fragrance, these flowers are popular in the vicinity of seating areas.
Accidental Discovery Of A Great Photographer
For more on the book, click here. To listen to a podcast of the interview with the author, click here:
Photographer Edward Curtis started off his career at the tail end of the 19th century, making portraits of Seattle’s wealthiest citizens. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Willet (Sanibel Island, FL)
Photo credit: Stephen Crafts
Of Birds and Beans: Part 1 (Birds)
A banded adult purple martin wearing a light logger geolocator. Source: Patrick Kramer and Tim Morton, ScienceMag.
In the time it takes each of us to drink a cup of coffee, acres of tropical forest are cut down. Over the past thirty years, more than half the traditional coffee farms in Latin America have been converted to a newer growing method for higher production. Since the 1960s dozens of migratory bird species from northeastern United States have experienced long-term chronic declines in population size, with few signs of leveling off.
All these events are connected. Deforestation is occurring around the world faster than ever for plenty of reasons, but one of the most widespread and impactful ones is agriculture, and sun coffee (that is, coffee not grown under shade but in huge fields with pesticide, herbicide, and fertilizer assistance) is becoming more common to increase yields in the very same countries where North American migratory birds stay for their winters. But more about sun coffee and its negative ecological impacts later.
Sleeping Sustainably
We are occasionally inclined to pass along commercial information, even advertisements, when the message is aligned with our own. To say the least, sleep matters: Continue reading
Wild Periyar- Darter (Snake Bird)
Darter, Snake Bird (Anhinga melanogaster)
The Periyar Tiger Reserve is an avifaunal hot spot and one of the popular birding destinations in the Western Ghats. The landscape is made up rolling hills, evergreen and semi-evergreen forest and the reservoir nestled in its valley folds.
From Behind the Wheel: Bananas for Che
Vytilla Junction, Ernakulam
Bird of the Day: Brahminy Kite
Kerala Backwaters, India
Teak (Tectona grandis)
Teak is a tall evergreen tree with very large leaves and small white flowers set on meter-long panicles. The timber is world famous and its uses are well known. The heart wood is golden yellow when freshly cut, later turning brown. The hard knots which develop on trunks are prized for making tobacco pipes.
Bird of the Day: White-bellied Sea Eagle
Uda Walawe, Sri Lanka
Coffee House-Hunting
From the Atlantic‘s blogs, an excellent tour around the world of cafes and coffee houses:
We’ve rounded up some of the most beautiful purveyors of coffee around the world in virtual guide form, meaning not only have we included the eye candy you know and love, but we’ve also added addresses and handy links to Google Maps. Continue reading
Bengal Clock Vine (Thunbergia grandiflora)
Bengal Clock Vine is native to north India but can be found throughout the high ranges of Kerala as an ornamental plant. In Kerala called curtain plants for obvious reasons, this perennial climbing vine blooms throughout the year. Continue reading
The “What’s Different?” Series: Delta Vancouver Suites
I was already snapping photos of the signage in the lobby when I was greeted by the Sales Manager at the Delta Vancouver Suites. She was happy to discuss the many green initiatives and practices at the property, and I was eager to learn them. As a conversation with one of the hotel’s managers, this visit was perhaps more informative than my previous night spent as a guest of the Century Plaza.
The last of the in-room plastic water bottles
We started with a tour of guest rooms, which get great natural light and where she explained that the hotel was in the process of phasing out plastic water bottles, newspapers and coffee makers in guest rooms. The water bottles are replaced with filtered tap in reusable bottles, and newspaper and coffee available on request or in the lobby.
Over a tasty lunch I gained some insight into the employee perspective. Continue reading
Organikos 