Again on Encroachment

The female elephant was supposed to be poisoned. She was pregnant.

Pls. click over the picture to enlarge to read.

Encroachment

Over the years as the number of humans on the planet grew, pressure on the land and the natural resourses grew and we began encroaching more and more on the forest land, mostly to cater to growing greed than needs of us .Now the situtaion has so worsened that the animals are forced to move out of their shrinking natural habitats and into the human settlements and plantations in search of food....Every other day we read stories of leopards mared in traps,elephants dead due to poisoning or munching on firecrackers or hit by speeding trains... Now who are the `Encrochers' we humans or the animals? The pictures are from the tea estates of Valparai,TN.

Think of the effect the pesticide laden foliage has on the breeding biology and genes of all these animals and smaller organisms.

Think how we are killing off the future- our own...

As some Red Indian chief said Earth is not inherited from our ancestors, but borrowed from our children...

Vishnu

Atlas moth

The Atlas moth (Attacus atlas) is a large moth found in the tropical and subtropical forests in Asia. Atlas moths are considered to be the largest moths in the world in terms of total wing surface area (upwards of c. 400 square cm or 65 square inches). Females are appreciably larger and heavier. Females are sexually passive, releasing powerful pheromones which males detect and home in on with the help of chemoreceptors located on their large feathery antennae. Males may thus be attracted from several kilometres downwind.

Once mated the female lays a number of spherical eggs 2.5 mm in diameter on the undersides of leaves. Dusty-green caterpillars hatch after about two weeks and feed voraciously on the foliage of certain citrus and other evergreen trees. The caterpillars are adorned with fleshy spines along their backs which are covered in a waxy white substance. After reaching a length of about 115 mm (4.5 inches), the caterpillars pupate within papery cocoon interwoven into desiccated leaves. The adult moths emerge after about four weeks.

This is a photograph of a male Atlas moth found in Kalady town on 15-10-10. In September 2009 also, there was a sighting of a male atlas moth from the nearby Onampilli.

JohnC

Aadaraanjalikal...

John C Jacob (1936—October 12, 2008) was one of the pioneers of the environmental movement in Kerala. He started a zoology club that would form the genesis of campus-based nature conservation activities. JohnC also started "green" magazines stressing the need to preserve nature. He also set up the Society for Environment Education, Kerala (SEEK), which published an environment-focused magazine Soochi Mukhi. He actively led and succeeded in the movement against the Silent Valley project

TREE PIE

We used to feed the squirrels around our place. Bread is their favourite food. Feed them banana or nuts, they look at you with an expression, "what the heck Lady, we get it all the time from your orchard!". Guess like human beings, they are also getting addicted to junk food.

Recently, our guest list has stretched to include a couple of other species - a pair of Red whiskered Bulbul , a pair of Magpie Robins, a family of Treepies and mynas and few crows. Among them, the juvenile Treepies are my favourites. They are so friendly that if I'm late to feed them in the morning, they unabashedly make a racket with their loud "kekke kekke kekke".(By the way has anybody noticed one thing? Treepies do make this sound when they come across food.)Infact, one of them is a such a daredevil that he/she doesn't mind taking the bread pieces left on my window sil.:)
They don't mind fighting with the squirrels for their share of bread. It's quite a sight to see them trying to intimidate the squirrels by puffing up their feathers.
So anybody interested in befriending a treepie, try to lure them with bread.

Chestnut Winged Cuckoo

Great pic. Vishnu. I myself had only two previous sightings (only glimpses) of the bird. One at Thekkady (dormitory area) and another at Thattekkad (?).

Greeenish Leaf Warbler

(Pacha Podikuruvi)

Heard the first GLW of this season today(8-10-10) at 6.55 am. The typical 'chiruvi... chiruvi...' call was heard three-four times and then the bird went silent.

Greenish leaf warbler (Phylloscopus trochiloides viridanus) is the commonest of the Phylloscopi wintering in Kerala. Breeds (summer) in N.Europe, W.Siberia, NW. Mongolia south to Gilgit and Kashmir.

CNHS Sparrow Monitoring Project

Thank you MI Jijo for your posting to the CNHS Sparrow Monitoring Project. Plz. continue posting.

HAVE YOU SEEN/HEARD THE MIGRANTS?

Hai everybody,

This is a look-out notice for Migrants. Have anybody seen any migrants of this season in Ernakulam?. There are reports of sightings from elsewhere.

Hi all,

Wildlife week celebrations organized by Forest Department was inaugurated on Sunday (3rd October 2010) by Mr.Benoy Viswom (Minister for Forest and Housing) at Mangalavanam Bird Sanctuary, Cochin.

Mr.V.R. Krishna Iyer (Former judge of the Supreme Court), Dominic Presentation (MLA), Simon Britto (MLA), Trivedi Babu (CCF), B.S. Corrie (CCF) attended the function. The Minister also presented prizes to the winners of various competitions held by forest department. An exhibition on biodiversity also began at the sanctuary. It will be on till October 8.

CNHS members Dr.Dilip KG, Vishnu, Manoj, Basil Peter, Nelson & myself attended the function in which Mangrove tree saplings were distributed to various organizations. Representing CNHS, Basil Peter a hardcore Mangrove enthusiast received a sapling from the Minister. CNHS will be receiving 100 more Mangrove saplings from the Forest Department which is decided be planted along the costal belt around Cochin.

Regards
Ginu George

Wildlife week

Hi all,

Wildlife week celebrations organized by Forest Department was inaugurated on Sunday (3rd October 2010) by Mr.Benoy Viswom (Minister for Forest and Housing) at Mangalavanam Bird Sanctuary, Cochin.

Mr.V.R. Krishna Iyer (Former judge of the Supreme Court), Dominic Presentation (MLA), Simon Britto (MLA), Trivedi Babu (CCF), B.S. Corrie (CCF) attended the function. The Minister also presented prizes to the winners of various competitions held by forest department. An exhibition on biodiversity also began at the sanctuary. It will be on till October 8.

CNHS members Dr.Dilip KG, Vishnu, Manoj, Basil Peter, Nelson & myself attended the function in which Mangrove tree saplings were distributed to various organizations. Representing CNHS, Basil Peter a hardcore Mangrove enthusiast received a sapling from the Minister. CNHS will be receiving 100 more Mangrove saplings from the Forest Department which is decided to be planted along the costal belt around Cochin.

Regards
Ginu George

tahr

Russell's Viper

Hai, all,

Chelamattom, Perumbavoor, 30-9-2010, 5pm

My neighbor caught a different kind of fish with his net - a lethal one. The plastic net he used to cover his well ensnared (accidentaly) a small sized Russell's Viper (Malayalam - Anali) and the poor creature died of injury, fatigue and starvation as the casualty was noticed only after some days. I myself have two previous experiences of snakes getting entangled in similar nets on their own.