Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the eastern part of the high ranges of Kerala’s Western Ghats. It is regarded as one of the unique protected areas in the whole of the mountainous region due to its ecological, floral, geomorphological and cultural significance. The habitat types range from high altitude shola-grassland to dry thorny scrub. Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary is near to Munnar situated in the rain shadow region of the Western Ghats, getting rains mostly during the North-East monsoons of October-December. This important watershed area feeds two perennial rivers; the Pambar and the Chinnar, from which the sanctuary takes its name. Continue reading
Ideas Shopping
It is a snappy idea: selling ideas in the market place. If they are worth something, how will we know? They will be sold out (hopefully in a good way).
Bibliotherapy? Never heard of it until now. Snappy, again.
We do not normally pass along commercial messages, but on occasion we make an exception, as we do now; here is what the School of Life says about itself:
The School of Life is a new enterprise offering good ideas for everyday life. We are based in a small shop in Central London where we offer a variety of programmes and services concerned with how to live wisely and well. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Mallard – Female (Rancho Mirage, CA)
Elephants Adrift
“In African mythology the elephant reincarnates carrying the soul of a murdered God. It is thus the embodiment of the transmigration of souls. It is also the metaphor for the world’s preoccupation with Africa as an exotic location. The elephant thus embodies the world’s romanticism with Africa…” Andries Botha
South African artist Andries Botha has been paying homage to the strength, majesty and perseverance of elephants throughout his career. Blending Western and African elements he has created numerous life size pieces, both as individuals and in groups, that portray a sense of mysticism in their unexpected settings. Continue reading
Field Guides?
Click the image at left to go to the source.
We have a strong connection on this site to the world of birds, birding, birders and the guides who intersect on each of those. Salim took the lead in helping us decide to put more attention on birds. We were convinced it was a good idea with the following Vijaykumar established among serious birders visiting this site.
Our efforts picked up steam when Martin joined in the fun and Seth started reporting from Ecuador; after Ben saw his thousandth bird while in Kerala we were hooked.
Now that we are, we seem to notice more and more interesting resources related to the world of birding. Interpretive guiding has been important to several of us for our entire adult careers and this article tells a great story about the books that help one subset of all that field guiding.
Blue Fountain Bush
Native to India and Sri Lanka Blue Fountain Bush is widely growing in the Western Ghats especially in the high ranges of Kerala up to 2000 meters. These large shrubs can be found in hilly forested areas. Its flowers attract butterflies and the leaves and roots are used in traditional medicine. Continue reading
Our Gang, Thevara (Wait!)
Since our last such update on our smaller neighbors six months ago, the photo opportunities have not diminished. Our strolls through Thevara, rather, have become impromptu portraiture composition parties. The call rings out in one small but loud voice: “PHOTO!” and it would be impossible not to oblige with a snapshot because they are already assembling themselves. Here, they are assembled and the photo is snapping but they see more smalls across the way. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Tricolored Heron (Tarpon Bay, FL)
Photo credit: Stephen Crafts
Diving with Scuba Iguana
Scuba Iguana trips start from the office on Charles Darwin Ave. either going north in a taxi to Itabaca Canal or taking a boat at the Scuba Iguana dock behind the office. All boat rides ranged from 35 to 120 minutes, and were generally pretty smooth. On the way, we could see Common Noddies, Blue-footed Boobies, Elliot’s Storm Petrels, Galápagos Shearwaters, and on North Seymour I saw a Red-billed Tropicbird twice! If I remember correctly, some Nazca Boobies were sitting on the coast of Floreana as well.
Onam The Festival Of Kerala
The most spectacular event of all Kerala festivals, Onam epitomises a new found vigour and enthusiasm about everything. The festival celebrates the return of King Mahabali, who is said to visit his subjects each year. To convince their beloved King that Kerala continues to be prosperous land of milk and honey people decorate their homes and celebrate to the fullest sometimes even faking prosperity to present a happy and flourishing facade to their King. Continue reading
Why Should Bags Have All the Fun?
For over a year now we’ve been writing about newspaper bags along with the people and organizations who work with them. We’ve also written about how newspapers are used in other forms of recycling. I have recently come upon an additional “closed loop” use for this ubiquitous material.
Dutch designer Mieke Meijer in collaboration with design label Vij5 has created a product called NewspaperWood. The material has the potential to put a portion of newspaper discarded daily into an up-cycle system bringing paper closer to the wood from which it’s made.
Onam Early Morning, Thevara
Bird of the Day: Broad-billed Tody
Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic
Infrared Elephants
Click the image above for the story called “Forest Elephant Chronicles” in this month’s American Scientist, about new technology for understanding elephant behavior in the wild:
…What inspired your team to try thermal imaging?
Acoustic monitoring has allowed us to study elephant behavior, without bias, over 24-hour cycles. Their activity cycle is nearly equally distributed day and night, but they prefer to enter forest clearings at night. This is where we can observe the elephants directly. We suspect that different types of interactions occur at night because the types of calls differ then. But we have only the beginnings of an understanding of what the acoustic signals mean. We need to investigate this with visual observation. Also, important behaviors may not have identifying sounds associated with them, and we need to know what these are….
From Behind the Wheel: That Driver Needs to Change the Rules!
Periyakanal Water Falls – Munnar
Munnar and its surrounding environs abound in cascades. They are at their glorious best immediately after the monsoons. Periyakanal Waterfall is located near to Munnar en route to Thekkady. The enchanting surroundings amid lush tea plantations make it an excellent picnic spot and overlook. Continue reading
Georgian Dragon
I shall resist the underwhelming urge to throw in a bit of canonical wordplay concerning St. George, and merely say that this is my first insect photograph with my new 50mm F1.8 lens. The dappled sunlight behind the dragonfly is a testament to the glory of shooting with this enormously apertured lens – the bokeh is a pleasure to both create and to view. I was only in Georgia for ten days in between Kerala and New York, but it was a pleasure to step out of my grandmother’s (an avid odonatophile) back door to find this dragonfly patiently waiting for me. Continue reading
Support Plan Bee
Click the image above to see more about Plan Bee and their tools for connecting bee-keepers in urban and rural areas around the world (strongest in their home base, the UK but awaiting your participation elsewhere):
Our Plan Bee campaign aims to address the decline in pollinators such as bees, butterflies and moths.
Bird of the Day: South Polar Skua
Monterey, CA
Welcome Back, Gorky Park
So glad to have the green space, named for one of Russia’s greatest writers, back to its beautiful self. Click the image for the story:
“Many people make money in Moscow, and many people spend money here, but there are very few people who smile at one another,” said Sergey Kapkov, who was promoted to head the city’s culture department after overseeing the renovation of Gorky Park.
Overseeing the renovation of parks across the city has been his most visible achievement, an initiative launched by Sergei Sobyanin, who was appointed mayor in 2010.
