Garden jewels

"It's a Jungle out there" - I used to always wonder WHERE?

I guess the ans. is everywhere. Only difference is the scale of the animals.

Demon straight ahead - The Grass Demon

Our little friend - Jumpy - caught himself a beautiful looking Plains

Cylinder Millipedes - they are very commonly seen here.


I'm not too sure what they are doing !

Back to my CoolPix4500 and good old Binoculars.

Digital wonder

A couple of days back got to use a cousin's Nikon D70, boy its an amazing cam - more soo after I've been struggling with my Nikon Coolpix4500 for so long now. (High time I get my hands on a Digital SLR)

This one using a nice wide angle lens at Kannur

After struggling with my Digi-Binocing technique for soo long - the ease of using a nice telephoto lens with the D70 was just pure bliss.

The Brahminy wonder

In and around Kannur, Kerala

Black and white beauty - Pied Kingfisher

This photo was taken at Payangadi (lat=12.04, lon=75.25)

One of the many small rivers forming a small network of backwaters near the
small town of Payangadi in the Northern half of Kannur distt.

Found these Indians again.

Even though very common these fellows are a delight to the eyes.

Dancing Commons

Found this pair outside my Uncle's place in Kannur town.The male was trying really hard to impress his mate.

Wonder if luck was on his side ? Click on image to see larger version.

Just got back home to Kerala and guess who came to the welcome party?

FINALLY !! - its alive.....

My webpages on my Chakrata trip in mid-June is Finally ready.
Please do check them out @ http://www.geocities.com/sahil2507/chak/Chak.htm

Dragonflies from Chakrata

Thanks Mr. Subramanian for the ID help!!!

Just prior to the Chakrata trip I spend a couple of days at Dehradun, but I didn’t add any webpages for this part of the trip on the site. You can read about it in the trip-report by Vidya

KadwaPani - a nice forest patch on the outskirts of Dehradun is an excellent place for birding.

Lots of woodpeckers around here.

Birding @ Kasauli

This small sign board (placed near the Kasauli club) very nicely sums up the ambience of this small town.

Went for a small weekend break with family to Kasauli in Himchal Pradesh. Kasauli - at an altitude of over 6,300 feet above sea level - is a place hill station some 2 hours from Chandigarh.



I was able to sneak out for some quality birding here. The highlights of the trip was a single sighting of Red-billed Leiothrix along the Upper Mall road and a few Eurasian Tree Sparrows that I sighted near the resort (Bliss resort) I was put up at (some 5 kms. from proper Kasauli).

Here's the complete Bird list ( along witha few photos):

1. Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker (Dendrocopos canicapillus)
2. Brown-fronted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos auriceps)
3. Common Hawk Cuckoo (Hierococcyx varius)

4. Blue Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)
5. Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis)
6. Red-billed Blue Magpie (Urocissa erythrorhyncha)
7. Jungle Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)
8. Long-tailed Minivet (Pericrocotus ethologus)
9. Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus)
10. Blue-headed Rock Thrush (Monticola cinclorhynchus)

11. Blue Whistling Thrush (Myiophonus caeruleus)
12. Pied Bushchat (Saxicola caprata)
13. Verditer Flycatcher (Eumyias thalassina)
14. Grey Bushchat (Saxicola ferrea)

15. Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch (Sitta castanea)
16. Great Tit (Parus major)
17. Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica)
18. Himalayan Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucogenys)
19. Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer)
20. Striated Prinia (Prinia criniger)
21. Grey-breasted Prinia (Prinia hodgsonii)
22. Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosus)
23. Grey-headed Flycatcher-Warbler (Seicercus xanthoschistos)
24. Streaked Laughingthrush (Garrulax lineatus)



25. Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler (Pomatorhinus erythrogenys)
26. Jungle Babbler (Turdoides striatus)
27. Red-billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea)
28. Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica)
29. House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
30. Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)
31. Scaly-breasted Munia (Lonchura punctulata)
32. Grey-hooded Warbler (Seicercus xanthoschistos)
33. Shikra (Accipiter badius) ???

34. Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja)

A view of the valley from Kasauli

This big fellow prefer the indoors and is active mainly at night.

Along with the birds, I got to see a few beautiful butterflies too.

Found this Common Treebrown inside the resort.

Coincidentally I found this Common Wall basking on a wall.

The Himalayan Fivering

The most abundant butterflies up there were the Yellow Costers