Regd. Office: Revathi Bhavan, Edathala P O, ALUVA-683561. Reg.No.: ER 18/10 of 2010 Telephone No.: 0484-2837414 Email:cochinnaturalhistorysociety@gmail.com


WELCOME TO THE COCHIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

The Cochin Natural History Society is a non-profit making, non-political charitable institution registered under the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955. This is a society of amateur naturalists who live in harmony with nature and seek to protect and to preserve the biodiversity and healthy natural environment. The mandate of the society is to undertake studies and documentation of biodiversity around us and to draw attention to the aesthetic, economic, scientific and conservation aspects.The society also intends to provide a platform to those who are concerned to come together and share, enlarge and correct our knowledge about Nature and its magnificence. Any person, who has a love, interest and commitment towards conservation of our biodiversity and natural history may become a member of the society*.







"You can know the names of a bird in all languages of the world,but when you are finished ,
You will know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird.....
So let`s look at the bird and see what it`s doing --that`s what counts.
I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something."


-Nobel Laureate Richard P Feynman(1918-1988)


Friday, December 31, 2010


Happy New year My dear friends. May this year be filled with chirpings and twitterings galore.
Happy Birding. :)

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Prasanth’s Birdwatching Report 26-12-2010

Today I went for birdwatching in Fact Township Eloor along with Madhu Krishnan from 3.30 pm to 6.30 pm. We had seen the following birds,

1. Purple Heron
2. Median Egret
3. Indian Pond Heron
4. Black Kite
5. Brahminy Kite
6. Western Marsh Harrier
7. Bronze winged Jacana
8. Red wattled Lapwing
9. Blue Rock Pigeon
10. Rose ringed Parakeet
11. Asian Koel
12. Greater Coucal
13. White breasted Kingfisher
14. Small Bee-eater
15. Blue-tailed Bee-eater
16. White cheeked Barbet
17. Coppersmith Barbet
18. Common Swallow
19. White Wagtail
20. Large Pied Wagtail
21. Yellow Wagtail
22. Red whiskered Bulbul
23. Oriental Magpie Robin
24. Indian Robin
25. White headed Babbler
26. Streaked Fantail Warbler
27. Ashy Prinia
28. Blyth's Reed Warbler
29. Common Tailorbird
30. Greenish Leaf Warbler
31. Asian Brown Flycatcher
32. Asian Paradise Flycatcher
33. Rosy Starling
34. Common Myna
35. Black Drongo
36. Ashy Drongo
37. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
38. Indian Treepie
39. House Crow
40. Jungle Crow

Dr. S. Prasanth

Monday, December 13, 2010

Prasanth's Birdwatching Report 12-12-2010

Today I went for Birdwatching to Vallarpadam Container Terminal Road from 4.30 pm to 6.30pm. I have seen the following birds,

1. Grey Heron
2. Purple Heron
3. Median Egret
4. Cattle Egret
5. Indian Pond Heron
6. Brahminy Kite
7. Purple Moorhen
8. Lesser Sand Plover
9. Common Sandpiper
10. Asian Koel
11. White breasted Kingfisher
12. Small Bee-eater
13. Blue-tailed Bee-eater
14. White Wagtail
15. Large Pied Wagtail
16. Paddyfield Pipit
17. Red whiskered Bulbul
18. Oriental Magpie Robin
19. Indian Robin
20. White headed Babbler
21. Black headed Munia
22. Rosy Starling
23. Common Myna
24. Black Drongo
25. House Crow
26. Jungle Crow

Dr. S. Prasanth

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Nilgiri Pipit

Nilgiri Pipit-Anthus nilghiriensis
A resident of SW Indian hills.Comparatively heavily streaked body.Can be seen skulking at ENP Munnar.This picture was shot from Rajamalai in Feb.2010.It was very skulking but finally came out in the open from the dried grass bed.See how well camoflauged it is!Posted on the backdrop of Birdlife International plan to uplist the conservation status of Nilgiri Pipit to Vulnerable.See thr link below:
Regds
Vishnu

Bhoothathan Kettu-Idamalayar Birding Trip

Dear friends,
CNHS held a one day birding trip to Bhoothathankettu-Idamalayar region on 5th December.We started from Perumbavoor early morning and had breakfast at Bhoothathankettu and started our birding there.We saw a group of Grey Jungle in the fields behind the dam.On our way to old Bhoothathankettu we saw many birds including,a large flock of White Bellied Tree pies flying in a group.It was a good omen as it is our logo.Many chestnut headed bee-eaters were seen and photographed there.We also saw a guy with 600mm Nikkor lens on a strap around his neck.It was amazing how he could carry it so effortlessly;should be having a neck of steel!!!We next proceeded to Idamalayar at about 11.30am. We saw the eclipse male of Purple Sunbird on the way and all of us clicked it to the heart`s content in the scorching sun for some time....We reached the Dam site at about 2.00 and had a spartan lunch at the KSEB Canteen there.We went up to the tunnel , birding till about 5.30pm there and returned.
This is the complete list of birds sighted:

1. Darter
2. Cattle Egret
3. Indian Pond Heron
4. Little Green Heron
5. Crested Serpent Eagle
6. Shikra
7. Changeable Hawk Eagle
8. Grey Junglefowl
9. Red-wattled Lapwing
10. River Tern
11. Whiskered Tern
12. Blue Rock Pigeon
13. Pompadour Green Pigeon
14. Mountain Imperial Pigeon
15. Indian Hanging Parrot
16, Plum-headed Parakeet
17. Blue-winged Parakeet
18. Brainfever Bird
19. Drongo Cuckoo
20. Indian Edible nest Swiftlet
21. White-rumped Needletail Swift
22. Malabar Trogon
23. White-breasted Kingfisher
24. Lesser Pied Kingfisher
25. Chestnut-headed Bee-eater
26. Oriental Broad-billed Roller
27. Malabar Grey Hornbill
28. Greater Golden-backed Woodpecker
29. Heart-spotted Woodpecker
30. Dusky Crag-Martin
31. Red-rumped Swallow
32. Large Pied Wagtail
33. Large Cuckoo Shrike
34. Black-headed Cuckoo Shrike
35. Ruby-throated Bulbul
36. Yellow-browed Bulbul
37. Common Iora
38. Brown Shrike
39. Blue-headed Rock Thrush
40. Malabar Whistling Thrush
41. White-throated Ground Thrush
42. Black-headed Babbler
43. Jungle Babbler
44. Common Tailorbird
45. Greenish Leaf Warbler
46. Large-billed Leaf Warbler
47. Asian Brown Flycatcher
48. Brown-breasted Flycatcher
49. Asian Paradise Flycatcher
50. Plain Flowerpecker ( Nilgiri Flowerpecker)
51. Purple-rumped Sunbird
52. Small Sunbird
53. Purple Sunbird
54. Chestnut-tailed Starling
55. Common Myna
56. Jungle Myna
57. Eurasian Golden Oriole
58. Black-headed Oriole
59. Black Drongo
60. Ashy Drongo
61. Bronzed Drongo
62. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
63. Ashy Wood Swallow
64. Indian Treepie
65. White-bellied Treepie
66. House Crow
67. Jungle Crow
68.PlainPrinia
69.Little Cormorant
70. Egret
71. Gold-fronted Chloropsis
72. Red-whiskered Bulbul
73. Crested Tree-Swift
74.Cheeked Barbet
75. Crimson-throated Barbet
76. Grey Wagtail
77. Oriental Magpie-Robin
78. Southern Hill Myna
79.Green Imperial Pegion.

Participants:
Dr.Dileep K G,Ginu George ,Jai P Jacob and his son,Dr.Prasanth,Dr.George Moti,Prasad M George,Anna George,Gopinathan Nair,Madhukrishnan,Binny V A,Jayesh,Rifaz,Manjesh,Rajsree Bhatter,Firoze,Prof.Muthafa, Ramanathan and myself.

Vishnu

Friday, December 3, 2010

Should we sacrifice the sanctity of our wilderness for luxuries?

Friends,
Recently my attention was captured by an article that appeared in 'The Hindu" newspaper.
It seems like there's a move to introduce air taxi for sabarimala pilgrims. Is it really a necessity?
Don't you think it will create a disturbance in the pristine forests which is also a project tiger reserve. Wild animals and trees also need space to live and thrive. We cannot invade and steal what little is left for them for our luxuries. Necessities, I can understand, but luxury????



Please read the article.:
Helicopter taxis for pilgrims A Correspondent
From Nedumbassery to Nilackal base camp

Nedumbassery: With more number of devotees from the neighbouring States opting for a flight to Kochi en route to the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple, the airport here is expecting a quantum jump in the movement of domestic passengers during the ongoing two-month annual pilgrimage season.

According to official sources, the number of devotees arriving at the airport here had been registering a steady increase over the last few years and the trend was expected to continue in the current season as well. During the period, a largest number of devotees are expected to arrive from Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai.

Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), in association with Bharath Airways Private Limited, has introduced a helicopter taxi service to the Nilackal base camp.

The Travancore Devaswom Board, in September, gave permission to CIAL for operating the service, subject to the necessary security clearance and permission from the authorities.

The first flight of the season, carrying five devotees from Hyderabad, is scheduled to take off from here next week. The services will be operated with a Bell-407 type chopper having a passenger capacity of five. There are also provisions to avail of a bigger chopper with 12-14 seats. The flying time from Nedumbassery to Nilackal will be 30 minutes and the fares will be charged on hourly basis.

The airport has also introduced pick and drop services for the pilgrims landing here from various destinations.

CIAL has been reporting a consistent growth in domestic traffic on the back of a sharp jump in the number of domestic tourists arriving here.

Domestic traffic in the airport here during the last fiscal grew by a healthy margin of 26.7 per cent along with a 6 per cent increase in domestic aircraft movements.

Smitha Komath's Gallery

Simply awesome photographs. One would wish to see MORE pictures of this genre in this gallery. Congrats Smitha!!!