Neelkanth: The Indian Roller Bird
This is one bird which you will commonly find perched on wires along roadsides. The Indian roller bird or the Neelkanth. As children whenever we had our trips to Nagpur, one of our common pastimes used to be counting…
Golden orioles: My favourite summer sight
Sevagram can be terribly atrocious in the summers with the temperatures climbing to over 45 degrees C. But there are some blessings of nature one can look forward to even when the sun is blazing down. Delicious…
Shy visitor: Black-hooded Cuckooshrike
Delightful morning. Waited with breathless anticipation wondering if this new visitor to the mango tree could be captured for posterity. Each time it shyly disappeared between the leaves in the canopy, my arms ached with holding the…
A divine morning
Some mornings are divine. You wake up to the find out that the rain gods decided to work overtime during the night. The whole world has been washed clean and the leaves are glistening green. The air…
The spot-billed pelican: Calm swimmer
It was so calming to spend several minutes watching this spot-billed pelican swim away at Kaziranga National Park. Pelicans are known for their distinctive beak and throat pouch, which they use to scoop and store fish. I’m reminded of…
The greater adjutant stork: Scavenger in chief
This huge bird, standing over five feet tall, is not considered pretty and was often an object of revulsion. One ornithologist went as far as to call it “a prodigy of ugliness”. This is the greater adjutant…
My marathon bird watching session!
What a glorious day of bird watching today has been! Ten hours of watching a whole cavalcade of birds, and all from within the comfort of my bedroom. How was that possible you might ask? Here is…
Oriental Magpie-Robins: A black and white romance!
Romance is in the air! And the colour of romance is not red- it is black and white! First it was the Asian koels with their jugalbandi which stole the show. But these days in Sevagram, the…
The peacock’s honk
It was getting warmer and I was planning to leave Arogyadham when I heard a loud noise. It was loud and ugly: like a donkey’s bray. I ignored it. But then I heard it again. It was…
Wooing your woman: Parakeet style
This Sunday, it was fun to witness the courtship display of a pair of plum headed parakeets. The male preened and tried to snuggle closer to its partner, but she fended off all his overtures. Sometimes indifferent,…
