Dragonflying in Kerala

Check these out from the last few days of 2006.

And this last one is an image of a Diplacodes-trivialis (Ground Skimmer) in an Obelisking position.

And for a little bit about this position I will quote a website (http://www.dragonflies.org/qanda.htm) -

"The fact that dragonflies are "cold blooded" they, like other insects, can not control their body temperature like we do. Their body temperature is affected by the temperature of the air around them. On cool mornings they will move out into the sunlight and expose the full length of their bodies to the warming sun rays. If they get too warm, they will point their tail directly toward the sun (called obelisking), thus decreasing the surface of their body exposed to the sun and helping reduce body temperature. If it gets really hot out in the sun, they retreat to the shade and perch until the temperature drops to a more suitable level for their activities. If they get too cold, they become inactive, but when the temperature increases, they become active again."

Some butterflies from the Archieves

I was just going thru my hard-disk and thought I'll share these.

Zebra Blue -UN- (Leptotes plinius)

Angled Pierrot -UN- (Caleta caleta)

Common Wanderer -Mating- (Pareronia valeria)

Painted Lady (Cynthia cardui)

And lastly the beautiful - Quaker -UN- (Neopithecops zalmora)

A few birds from Venice

Since I haven't been getting time to dedicate to birding I've been doing birding whenever and where ever I can. Here's a few birds from my recent trip to Venice.

Habitat shot [so to say :) ]


A Lifer - the Yellow-legged Gull (very close to the lesser black-backed that I posted earlier on this blog from Rotterdam)

And here's a close up of this beauty.

These Common Black-headeds are all over the place (at times even out numbering pigeons - just kiddin)

And here's the last one from Venice of the small but beautiful European Robin.

Dragon & Damsel flies from Europe

Here's a small collection of Odonata I have clicked over the last one year here in Europe.

Below a few from Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

The Next bunch is from Surrey, very close to London, UK.






And this last majestic beauty was clicked in Maastricht, The Netherlands.

A few European Butterflies.

Like the Odonata collection, here's a small collection of Butterflies I have clicked over the last one year here in Europe.

Below a few species from Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

The next collage of the Comma is from Surrey (close to London) UK.

This image of the High Brown Fritillary Butterfly with a few moths from Texel Island (in the North sea), the Netherlands.

And last but not the least the Common Blue from Venice in Italy.

Mini-birding Mamallapuram (TN, India)

I made a very short business trip to India. And I managed a day off from work in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu. Check out this snap of some Painted Grasshoppers with the famous Shore Temple of Mamallapuram in the background.

Got some snaps of this Lifer - White-Browed Wagtail (Motacilla maderaspatensis) - in the lawn of the Shore temple. Check these out.

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Prinia from Dubai

Just got back from a quick stop in Dubai on my way back from India, because of the extreme summer I didn't quiet get a chance to venture outdoors. But nonetheless I did manage a decent snap of this fellow - GRACEFUL PRINIA -

in a garden in the middle of the city. I believe they are commonly sighted in gardens and other urban areas.

It's great to be able to go back to SGNP

I sneaked in a small birding session with my birding guru 'Addie the Birdie' and good old birding pal 'Nature lover Vidya' on my two day halt in Mumbai at my ex-Sunday home SGNP.

It was great to be back in the forest that formally introduced me to the wonders of nature along with the people who taught and learned with me how wonderful our mother earth is. And what's great about this Urban Forest is that it still holds a lot of surprises for everyone. I had two such experiences today - 1. These fresh Leopard pugmarks (below);

2. A LIFER in one of the most beautiful songsters of the world of birds. The amazing - Malabar Whistling Thrush (Myophonus horsfieldii). Seen in one of the famous Kanheri Caves.

Below a few assorted insects.

And I'll end with a image of the beauty that the Monsoons create every year in the park.

Payangadi, Kannur Dist. KERALA. IN

This small town in the Northern District of Kannur in Kerala plays host a great

variety of ecosystems and hence plant, bird and insect life.

I thought I'll start this post with an image of our common House Crows (Corvus splendens) . Strangely I find myself in Europe even missing these guys.

The small hillock (of mainly volcanic rock) around which the whole town sprawls is an amazing place to watch birds. The wide grassland like habitat attracts a lot of birds. Above aWire-tailed Swallow (Hirundo smithii) minus its famous wire-tail.

The hillock called MadaiPara is a great place to view two species of Lapwings - Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus) on the left; Yellow-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus malabaricus) on the right

And down the hill on one side is the nice backwaters of North-Kerala, and as you could imagine yet another great place for birding. Here's a Little Cormorant (Phalacrocorax niger)

An Adult and Juvenile Brahminy Kite (Haliastur Indus)

And lastly from here the Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea)

And this pair of Loten's Sunbird (Cinnyris lotenius) I found two days ago in my garden at home in Calicut. It seems to me that this species of Sunbird is the most common in Calicut city and it's surroundings.