Scorching times ahead
It has been a rather harsh summer. The earth is parched. We hear that wells are drying. We now get restricted water supply at fixed timings. Three hours in the morning and three in the evening. Summers…
Indian silverbills or white-throated munias
Quite often these drab-looking tiny birds are overlooked in favour of their more colourful counterparts. The Indian silverbills are one such species which though ubiquitous, are often ignored. They usually forage in groups and are very gregarious.…
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…
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…
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,…
