Category "Eco Talk"

The Blue Whistling Thrush is widely distributed in the mountains of Central Asia, China and South East Asia, and in India are found along the foothills of the Himalayas. They feed on the ground and are found along streams foraging for insects, crabs, snails and fruit. They make altitudinal changes in the Himalayas, descending in winters to lower altitudes. I photographed this specimen in Chakki Mor in Himachal Pradesh, about an hour’s drive from Chandigarh. […]

The Red-wattled Lapwing is a wader and are ground birds that are incapable of perching. Their characteristic loud calls that sound like ‘did he do it – did he do it’ are indications of human, animal or larger birds getting close to their habitat, especially when they are nesting or looking after the young. They nest in a ground scrape laying three to four camouflaged eggs. Adults near the nest fly around, diving at potential predators while calling noisily. […]

This is the third amongst the big four venomous snakes in India. The first two being the spectacled cobra and the saw-scaled viper. The Russel’s viper is found all over the Indian sub-continent. They are mainly found in agriculture fields as there is an abundance of rats to be found. […]

The Common Tailorbird is a songbird found throughout tropical Asia. It can be seen around gardens and bushes in urban areas too, hopping about quickly in search of food, giving themselves away by their loud ‘cheeup cheeup cheeup’ calls. They are a delight to watch and are not afraid of human proximity. […]

This species gets its obvious name from the famous star markings on their shells. They are found in northern, south eastern and southern India. In scrub forests, agriculture fields, grasslands and the edge of the desert. […]

The Crimson Sunbird is also a small Sunbird, about 11 cm. long. They are generally found throughout India but are a rare sight in urban areas, preferring forests and farms with tree cover. […]

The Purple Sunbird is a small Sunbird less than 10 cm long, found throughout India in both urban and rural areas. They can be seen early in the morning hovering around flowers and perched besides them on branches of flowering plants and trees. […]

The spectacled caiman gets its name from the bony ridges between its eyes that look like glasses if you look at them from the front at eye level. […]

The Indian Robin is widespread across the subcontinent, with its Southern species more black than its ‘browner’ Northern species. They are commonly found in open scrub areas and often seen running along the ground or perching on low thorny shrubs and rocks. The long tail is usually held up and the chestnut undertail coverts and dark body make them easily distinguishable. […]

This is a very small South American crocodile and usually grow less than 3m long. Found in Belize, Mexico and Guatemala, these crocodiles have a broader snout when compared to the rest of the crocodiles. They live in freshwaters like swamps, marshes and ponds. Marsh crocodiles are usually very shy, although there have been instances when they have attacked humans. Females lay between 20 – 45 eggs between the months of April and June. […]

The Baya Weaver is widespread in the Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia. Large flocks are found in grasslands, farmlands, scrub and secondary growth. Though widespread, they are not generally migratory and move about locally depending upon food and habitat factors. […]

If you are a forest lover, you would love watching Malabar Giant Squirrel closely. These canopy-dwellers rarely make it to the forest floor. […]

The Brown Headed Gull is found all along coastal India during winters in large colonies. They breed in the highlands of Central Asia from Tajikistan to Mongolia in reeds, marshes, islands and lakes from May to July; and migrate to the subcontinent in winter. […]

The Lesser Crested tern is found all along the coastal regions of India,and are widely distributed from the Mediterranean to Australia and parts of the Pacific. They winter to the south of the equator, and are often migratory, coming into the sub continent from Central Asia and the North. They have a distinct black crest, grey rump and yellow – orange bill and are thus identified from their fellow Tern family. […]

India does not have a rabbit species; what maybe called rabbits (if spotted in the wild) could be hares. Hares do not build nests on the ground. […]