The tales of the Crested Bunting!!

2010-04-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

A WILD EYE
by HOPELAND,

MCC has been a place where i have always spent a lot of my time over being at home over the last 3 yrs. It has never stopped to surprise me anytime, anyday! I always love to spend time with my feathered friends, my crawling buddies, the jumping critters and anything at all!!! The life forms recorded here include over 120 birds as recorded by Dr.Barnes, Dr.Gift S of statistics dept, John Mathew and Abhishek Harihar (Some of which exist even today restricted to certain parts of the college).Some of them are no more to be found here since they are extremely sensitive and shy birds/animals/insects. They include the ground dwelling birds mostly and the birds that feed on hoppers and the likes(That have considerably reduced).Quite a number of birds visit MCC as a part of their winter migration like Indian Pitta, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Orange headed ground thrush, blue flycatcher and many others while a few visit as a part of their local migration! Black naped oriole ,Greater painted snipe, stork billed kingfisher, black headed oriole ,Grey bellied cuckoo, grey breasted prinia and a few others are some of the birds that have been recorded over the years in MCC and ought to be treasured and preserved, for these birds are restricted to our campus in the whole of chennai!! Over 70 species of butterflies,30 species of dragonflies and damselflies, over 25 species of reptiles, smaller mammals like Loris, Jungle cat, Badger of which little is known have been recorded! Snakes like Barred wolf, Slender coral snake, Russells Kukri, Banded kukri which are considered to be considered to be rare are quite common sights on campus!!!

Lazing in the cafe with a wild eye:
Anytime while one could laze in the cafe if one were tuned to nature, one can always see the purple sunbirds, lotens sunbird and Purple Rumped Sunbirds feeding off the flowers overhanging around giving away calls and subsided by the noisy White browed bulbuls in the fruitivorous plants nearby!! When it comes to monsoon showers that naturally lead to lush grass encouraging hoppers that attract one can see the Black Drongos dashing from end of the football field to the other chasing away any intruder!!! Another occasional guest would be the Monitor lizards that slowly walk like a model on a ramp swaying its tail from one side to the other feeding off the ground and sometimes crawling slowly below some unsuspecting persons chair and dashing off to trees close by and up when threatened!!! On other occasions enjoying the early morning sun close to tree holes!! Some other sightings would be the white headed babblers (popularly known as 7 sisters) raiding the leftovers from the plates and Robins taking a bath from the chairs and plates(when left over) that collect rain water during the rains is quite a sight to watch! When all of a sudden you hear a cuckoo or a koel or any other forager being mobbed by the local babblers (giving the mob call) followed by the distress call of the bird!! Most of the days Asian brown flycatcher ( a bird smaller than a sparrow) can often be seen flying far off catching a mosquito or a fly and coming back to the same perch or a warblers that come and busily pick the worms off the teak trees above.

Sitting in the Zoo dept:
Well here, again being a zoology student i spend a lot of time here. Here again one is surrounded by Shikra (a bird of prey) behind the dept often there is a visitor, a male shikra with really focused eyes looking for any false move a possible prey could make(may be a squirell or a parrakeet).While walking by the dept one can walk right up to a hare and yet not know it until he/she has almost kicked it, a hare would dash off from the bush leaving the person in a shock! The noisy parakeets, the robin fighting over a tree hole for a nest and Tree pie giving away its racous call to be able to socialize among its kind can be witnessed!

The Halls:
Anywhere near the halls and still you can be tuned in to nature.
All halls have creeping visitors of all sorts like the cobra, rat snakes, kukris, chameleons, wolf snakes and geckos of all sorts. Moths greatly get attracted to the lights during the nights various birds like the Rose ringed parakeets fight over tree holes to nest and noisily feed off the trees! Barn Owls and Spotted owlets do spend a great deal of time near the halls waiting for an unsuspecting rat! Toddy cats are also known to move around busily in the nights when you might least care to notice them.

A Spotted Owlet in front of Thomas hall.

The main block and Millers Statue:
Mr.Millers and the surrounding area including the quadrangle have unsuspecting visitors as Monitor lizards that spend their day feeding and basking in the surrounding area!! After the rains when the flying termites are flying about feeding frenzy commences and possible predators and prey share the same table like the Egrets, Shikras, Drongos, Mongoose etc....Butterflies can be seen Hill –topping (guarding its territory from a vantage point) on different trees, egg laying in others or Basking in the grass!!
Farm:
This place in specific hosts probably the most diverse and highest number of wildlife. The marshland is fed by the water from the Halls etc and yet manages to support life. It supports the only known surviving populations of the Greater painted snipe in Chennai. Being primarily nocturnal birds often can be seen near the reeds feeding and retreat into the reeds on sight of threat or dash off in almost zigzag pattern into the air and return after several hours. Chicks of this bird were sighted in mid Feb. denoting their gradual growing up of their population and they need to conserved along with various other wildlife of our campus. Migratory Birds like the Rosy pastors, Brahminy Myna, Sand pipers, Green shanks (probably on their migration) often stop here to feed and to rest. Little egrets, cattle egrets and Pond herons often in large numbers feed and remain there for most of their day before they leave for roosting. The farm apart from these also hosts various snakes, porcupines and highest numbers of flap shell turtles and the biggest flock of Peafowls in college!!! The farm along with its adjacent grasslands also hosts jungle cats, very large Monitor lizards, Jungle cats, Pangolins(ant eater) including a record by Dr.Sanjeeva raj of a badger and unclear records of Jackals by individuals.

Lake
This has often been one of the most popular places of most MCCians. This place too happens to host a wide range of wildlife. This involved the 1st ever record in the whole of Chennai of a bird known as the Orange breasted Green pigeon on March 10 2010 by me and my friends. One of the beautiful sights that one can witness would be the Paradise flycatcher sitting on one of the low branches and looking for possible water striders(insects that walk on water) that might be seen and dives in, catching the insect with a swirl and going back to its same perch or do the same to take a bath in the morning or noons. On an evening in monsoon about 6.30 One can also witness birds like the Pitta, Orange headed thrush, Shikra and many other birds come to take bath with White Breasted Kingfishers ,Little blue kingfishers, and Pied kingfishers fighting over their favorite perch and fish. This place reaches its climax of life as the sun slowly begins to go down in all its serenity slowly welcoming the Deer, Peafowl’s and various others to either drink water or rest in the vicinity with the calls of various birds like the Indian Robins and Magpie Robins sweetly singing to their mates, mixed with calls of Brain fever Bird(sounds like it says "brain fever, brain fever....." ,the Lapwing that goes saying "Did-he-do-it" on the sight of an intruder, the Indian Pitta (called 6 o' clock bird, for it makes it calls mostly around 6 a.m /p.m) announcing that another day has come to an end.

To a visitor:
Anywhere you walk on the campus there is simply more than you can see, birds that are migrants coming from Russia, Himalayas and several other places do visit MCC and they are most often heard than seen. They arrive in October (though their visit seems to drift slowly causing them to return early thanks to the rise in temperature that they cannot tolerate/delayed monsoons) and leave by late April or May! They use our campus (we are a part of their migratory pathway) as their stop overs and generally on their return journeys are far greater in numbers as in the case of the Forest Wagtails. Butterflies like the Blue Mormon (2nd largest Butterfly in S.India) also visits our campus! The Longest migrating insect -The Globe Skimmer dragonfly is a common sight anytime any day anywhere in S.India and is found maximum in numbers during monsoon! Believe it or not! They are known to fly into India from Maldives fly a little upwards in India and into the Arabian sea over certain islands into Africa and to Maldives.

P.S: Different animal/bird/insect take over during different times of the year and ultimately forms a circle of life and flow of energy over a period of time!

Photo credits & write up: Hopeland.

--------------------------------------------------------------END------------------------------------------------------------------------

Occurrence of the elusive Ceylon Frogmouth in Phansad WLS, 150 kms south of Mumbai

2009-06-05T00:40:00.000-07:00

Photo credits:Ramnath
On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 4:19 PM, >
>
> A recent trip to Phansad WLS, Near Alibaug was splendid. Apart from the
> over 80 species of birds that we saw, there was one special highlight- A
> Ceylon Frogmouth (Now called Srilanka Frogmouth)
>
> We (Nine of us) were at Savrat Gaan (one of the waterholes) known for
> sightings of Brown Fish Owl and Brown Wood Owl at around 7 pm. The Nightjars
> were already active and the diurnal birds had just settled down. I was
> trying to play the calls of Brown Fish owl and Wood Owl on my mobile (a
> feeble attempt actually) when I heard the unmistakable call of a male
> Srilanka Frogmouth ...... Not many are aware that in this frogmouth species
> the male and the female has different calls........
>
> Now, this call is so itched in my mind and is so unmistakable that it
> cannot be confused with any other bird calls really (I am quite familiar
> with both the male & female calls, having being heard more than 200 times in
> field :-). All of us heard this call clearly several times. Though I never
> had this species in my mind then, very honestly it was not overtly
> surprising for me to expect this species in such habitat though this is far
> far north from its northernmost known range from Dajipur Sanctuary,
> Kolhapur...... I somehow always suspected its presence in a suitable
> habitat.....only that owing to its elusive habits the bird is difficult to
> get noticed.
>
> The Srilanka Frogmouth is distributed from Srilanka in south and along the
> dense evergreen tracts of Western Ghats upto Goa and as far north as Dajipur
> Sanctuary, Kolhapur. Infact it was only in 1930 that Salim Ali first pointed
> out its presence from the forests of Kerela......and as the calls become
> known, it was then reported from various places further north...... The best
> places to see this species in India is in Thatekkad Bird Sanctuary
> (Kerela), Backwoods Camp (Goa), Anamalai N.P., Anshi National Park
> (Karnataka) to name a few....... But it will be first time that this species
> is found north of Kolhapur........
>
> Dr.Vaibhav, Alibaug too visited the spot last week and heard calls of
> Female frogmouth.......
>
> Going tonight (Sat 30th May'09) to try and get images and recordings of
> this bird from Phansad to re-confirm its presence....... it could be a very
> significant record for the region and a hope to find this species in other
> similar habitat, north of Goa :-)
>
> Wish me Best Luck !!
>
> Warm Regards,
> Adesh Shivkar
>

Yes… We got it….. The Ceylon Frogmouth…… in a place far north of its
existing known range…..and not 1 or 2 but a healthy population….it would not
be an exaggeration, if I consider it as a common nocturnal bird in suitable
patches in Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary in Raigad district, Near Alibaug and
about 150 kms south of Mumbai.

(Click below to know more about this lesser known Sanctuary)

http://www.nivalink.com/kashidmurud/phansad.html

http://www.mustseeindia.com/Kashid-Phansad-Bird-Sanctuary/attraction/12294

http://sahilonline.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_sahilonline_archive.html

On 16th May'09 when I heard a faint call resembling the Ceylon frogmouth, I
didn’t have any equipment, call playback, Good torch etc., hence couldn’t
confirm, but I was sure….. I alerted Dr.Vaibhav Deshmukh from Alibaug about
the possibility of a Frogmouth and he promptly attempted to confirm by
visiting the same spot ….. however, his playback equipment batteries got
drained early, though he clearly heard the response calls of female
frogmouth…..this was a very encouraging news.

On Saturday (30th May'09), Seven* of us (Myself, Mandar, Mayuresh, Pallavi,
Abhijeet, Dr.Vaibhav & Mr.Pravin K.) planned to visit the sites well
equipped. Mayuresh had taken pains to get the desired calls on his ipod. We
reached Phansad quite late at around 9 pm knowing well that this species
would be active throughout the night. After dinner, we went to “Savrat Gaan”
where I had first heard this bird. As soon as we started playing the calls,
a female responded …… we were delirious with this…. Our excitement was
building up ….. then another female called…..then a male response…..then
another female…. then again a male….yet another female........They were
virtually everywhere.

However, we could still not locate any bird , as the low frequency calls of
this bird made it difficult for us to point our eyes in right direction…….I
knew it was not a large bird, but I had seen this species several times in
the night (In some other place in South India in good numbers)….. we
searched for almost 2 hrs without success, though they were calling from
everywhere…..there were atleast 10 different birds calling now…..and
suddenly we located one male (from calls) sitting on a medium sized tree on
an open perch…. It was responding to our playback ….and Mandar could just
manage a couple of record shots, before it flew and vanished in the
thicket….. Yes….we had discovered a Ceylon Frogmouth in Phansad WLS :-)

After spending few hrs here we returned back, with a winner’s attitude. I
was suspecting that this bird should be present in suitable dense patches
elsewhere in the sanctuary…..and sure enough, we got plenty of responses
from a couple of other such sites.

This species (as I had mentioned earlier) is distributed in South and South
West India and is considered Rare……possibly due to its extreme elusive
behaviour. Infact it is only through the calls, that one can actually locate
it in night…..during the day, its amazing camouflage keeps the birds
undetected. Even Dr.Salim Ali has stated in his survey report of birds of
Kerala “they are nocturnal, shy and seldom seen, apparently not very vocal,
hence possibly less rare than it appears” (Sugathan.R. JBNHS 78: 309-316)

Very less is known about the behaviour, distribution and status of this
bird. Its northern most range is reported from Radhanagari Sanctuary near
Kolhapur (Varad Giri, JBNHS 99(1): 116-117) which is almost 350 kms south of
Phansad Sanctuary…..and the occurrence of this species in such healthy
numbers here is very encouraging and also indicate their possible presence
in suitable habitats (there are several such) between these 2 locations in
Sahyadri’s and the Konkan belt. This find also challenges the view that the
CF is restricted only to wet evergreen habitat as Phansad is mostly semi
evergreen sanctuary receiving rainfall only from SW monsoon.

The C.frogmouth’s must be here all the time as they are not known to migrate
or shift their locations much…..it is only that due to their extreme elusive
behaviour, they remained hidden from us….. This particular feature could
have also helped them to survive quietly oblivious to the world.

A small survey can be carried out in the sanctuary to determine the exact
status and day roost sites of this species here……But Honestly, I would
prefer that this species should remain ‘concealed’ as it has always been,
from the evil eyes of humans …..and off course, without being disturbed by
the playbacks…. This is perhaps their best survival hope.

Happy Birding !!

Adesh Shivkar

*(…..and Dr.Vaibhav Deshmukh, Mandar Khadilkar, Mayuresh Khatavkar, Pallavi
Joshi, Abhijeet Narvekar and Pravin Kawale)

Site under construction

2009-02-10T07:36:00.000-08:00

The following projects will be completed in a week

Turtle walks

2009-02-10T07:35:00.003-08:00

A SURVEY ON THE FLORA AND FAUNA ALONG THE BEACH STRETCH OF NEELANGARAI TO
BESANT NAGAR – WITH AN INTENSIVE STUDY ON
OLIVE RIDLEY TURTLE ( Lepidochelys olivacea)

Department of Zoology
Madras Christian College, Tambaram, Chennai - 600 059

DEDICATED TO

The sensitive issues that require attention towards the conservation of our good old marine creatures and in specific the olive ridley, because of their high mortality rates and threats and due to the high climatic fluctuation.

Contents :

1. Introduction
2. Review of Literature
3. Material and methods
4. Results and discussions
5. Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

The place selected to do our study was our own beach stretch from Neelangarai to Besant Nagar Elliots beach down to Adyar mouth. The study stretch includes 7-10 Kms. The stretch is basically man intruded. The whole stretch has been manipulated and the settlement has thereby attracted a lot of other species including land snakes and land birds. This stretch has 7 fishing villages, at least 6 effluent streams from industries and factories. The species count during the study was……
*The distribution of species varied on the kind of human intrusion.
*The nos. of species was classified into migrants and permanent residents.
The fishing folk and the localities didn’t seem to seem a threat to life of the original bio diversity for they used only conventional means. The people along this stretch dug out crabs for means of living and were mostly fisher folk. Apart from them the people present there were basically the well-to do who live by the apartments and the encouraging encroachments onto the beach, In addition to this the government plans to construct a six- lane flyover extending from the light house over the important nesting ground of the olive Ridley’s resulting as a threat.
The S.S.T.C.N team conducts turtle walks on this stretch .Over a period of years the need for turtle conservation has brought awareness to the public. On weekends at least fifty people attend turtle walks .

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Family: Cheloniidae
Genus: Lepidochelys
Species: L. olivacea

The Olive Ridleys are one of the seven marine turtles and one of the five that visit the subcontinent of India and the only one that visits the east coast of India .they were listed as ‘critically endangered species’ and are now considered ‘vulnerable’ due the recent thriving populations while other local populations got extinct .They are omnivorous, feeding on crabs, shrimp, rock lobsters, sea grasses, algae, snails, fish, sessile, pelagic tunocates and small invertebrates. They are sometimes seen feeding on jellyfish in shallow waters. These turtles forage offshore in surface waters.Being called ambassadors of the ocean they are typical bio indicators of the health of the ocean and are hence considered as the wealth of the ocean .The eggs take a period of 30-45 days to hatch depending on the temperature .Like any other reptiles the temperature determines their sex .The temperature that determines the sex is called the critical temperature is 27 `C above which results in females and below which results in male turtles .Hatchlings have a tendency to go towards brighter horizons which is the sea under natural conditions they have yolk whick gives them nutririon for twentyfour hours before they head to their feeding ground which is sargassm (algae) .They enter a year called the ‘lost year’ since nothing seems to be known about them during this year .they reach sexual maturity around sixteen years and have the genetic maping to come back to the same place to where they were born ‘natal homing’.They nest every three years ,thrice in a season.During the process of egg laying the female goes into a trance .The female walks clumsily on the sand , their hind flippers are more powerful than the fore limbs. Therefore the movement and the digging are done by the hind limb makes a depression to camoflage with the terrain of the land and then with its hind flippers builds a nest which is round bottom flask shaped ,consisting of a neck and a chamber .The nest measures a net length of around 50 cm after which it lays the eggs and cover the nest with sand performing a dance to make the nest compact and camoflages the nest by throwing sand all over the place and this place is called clearing after which she heads toward the sea.The olive ridley in specific performs mass nesting termed as ‘arribada’ which in latin means ‘homecoming’.the ritual was once witnessed in costarica does not take place and now happens only in the beaches of Devi, Gahirmatha and Rushikulya are known nesting sites for the L. olivacea Indian Ocean population (Orrisa),which is also known as the ‘worlds largest graveyard for turtles .

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Tracking methods
Back against the light method: was used to avoid glaring our walks were done in moon light or with the help of shore lights. Torches were not used. Under highly humid conditions this technique proved to be supportive. Tracks of turtles were looked for, (i.e.) up tracks and down tracks.

Every track consists of a flattened portion in the middle, which depends on the size of the turtle.
The flattened portion consists of a middle line, which is the trailing of the tail; on either side are inverted ‘?’ like prints on the sand made by the hind flippers .The clearing is looked for which denotes the nest site.The clearing is the area where the turtle has performed the dance to make the nest compact and camouflage the nest.

Probe method: A probe, usually a steel rod measuring around 2 -3 feet to avoid damage of the turtle eggs. The clearing is demarcated and the sinking of the probe denotes the presence of the nest.
Note:Using longer rods might cause your job of probing easy but might cause damage to nest easily allowing maximum chances of damage and missing your nest.

Egg count: Depending on the number of eggs the number of times it has returned to its original hatching ground for egg laying in that particular season can be found out. The eggs count ranging around 150 –first time nesting in the season, 80- second time, 40 –third time nesting within the same season.

Camera: An Olympus FE320 was used to record the species. The camera with its super macro mode proved to be highly efficient. The camera with 8 mega pixel provided good clarity. To shoot under low light conditions the macro mode seemed to be effective. However zoom was not used.
Nikon coolpix sx10 was another camera used. This camera with its 10x optical zoom proved to be effective to shoot crabs.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Arthropods

• Mole cricket(Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa)
• Unidentified moths
• Spiders
• Cross crab
• Three spotted crab
• Ghost crab

Fishes
• Puffer fish (Diodon sp.)
• Parrot fish
• Box fish
• Common silver eel
• Mackerel
• Sail fish
• Carangids(
• Tuna(Tunas affinis)
• Torpedos
• Pomfret
• Thread fin bream
• Ribbon fish
• Star Gazers

Molluscs
• Common scallop

Reptiles
• Rat snake(Ptyas mucosus)
• Common Skink
• Calotes (calotes sp.)
• Sea snake.

Aves
• Barn owl (Tyto alba)
• Spotted owlet
• Crow (Corvus splendens)
• Red Wattled Lapwing( Vanalles malabaricus)
• Stone curlew
• Singing bush lark
• Jungle crow
• Pariah kite
• Terns
• Gulls

Mammals
• Cats
• Dogs
• Pigs
• Cows
• Indo pacific humpback dolphins
• Jackal
• Squirrel
• Flying fox

Plants
• Spinifex sp.
• Ipomea sp.
• Calotropis sp
• Phylanthus amarus

• Noctiluca

Details of few nests
NEST 1
Total depth- 50cm
Neck depth- 21cm
Neck width- 19*20
Chamber width- 30*33
No of eggs- 95+1(broken)
Dist. From high tide line- 8 mts

NEST 2
Total depth- 46cm
Neck depth- 22cm
Neck width- 17*19
Chamber width- 29*32
No of eggs- 90+0(broken)
Dist. From high tide line- 7.5 mts

NEST 3
Total depth- 46cm
Neck depth- 18cm
Neck width- 15*17
Chamber width- 25*32
No of eggs- 52+1(broken)
Dist. From high tide line- 4-5 mts

NEST 4
Total depth- 44cm
Neck depth- 22cm
Neck width- 19*19
Chamber width- 26*28
No of eggs- 135+0(broken)
Dist. From high tide line- 17 mts

DISCUSSION

There was a constant fluctuation in the sand heights along the shore due to tidal disturbances or air however no changes were seen over Ipomea stretches nocturnal birds like stone curlew seemed to be extremely active along the Ipomea stretches and often displayed distress as a tactic as a way of distraction, The Red wattled lapwing often giving its alarm call ‘did-he-do-it’ and dashed off when approached, often seemed to be the first to raise the alarm on all occasions even if it were a natural threat. Rat snakes seem to be found in these areas due to the availability of rodents .Along the stretch one can find 6 effluent streams from the factories nearby, emanating a foul smell. And near the effluent stream, no crabs or any vegetation was found, obvious of its adverse effect in the area. Most organisms present here are scavengers like the crabs, gulls, crows, pariah kites, dogs and jackals .On one instant it was observed that a dead eel measuring at least 3-4 feet was infested with at least 50 crabs .On other occasions crabs seemed to feed on a wide variety of food ranging from dead fishes, eels to insects like mole crickets by hunting. These crabs hunt along the Ipomea stretches. They often seemed to ruin the nests of turtles by laying waste the eggs. Fruit eating bats were seen eating fruits from Sapota plants along human settlement. Differences of making nests from the high tide line varied highly ranging from 4m to 40m. On some instances it was observed that the turtles did not make any good choices concerned with the selection of nest site. On a few instances the turtles made ‘False nests’ i.e. it dug a nest and after not being satisfied about the spot moved on to make another .On one instance at Elliot’s beach it was observed that the turtle had taken 6 loops and made 6 false nests and decided to lay the eggs on the bare body cavity depression and failed to camouflage the nest. Another sad sight was where a turtle had dug her nest, found plastic and abandoned the spot to move on to another and in yet another the turtle made its nest on a pile of garbage near the adayar river mouth and began to throw the plastic all over the site and laid eggs and left. In another case the turtle had dug a nest into a sewage line where the eggs were taken away by the sewage flow

Interesting sight was the presence of a bio-luminescent marine alga, Noctiluca, all over the carapace of the turtle.
Unusual sight of a headless green turtle was found.
Presence of dead adult turtles was a common sight. The barn owl seemed to feed on little nocturnal rodents and insects like the mole cricket which seemed to abundant along the Ipomea stretch between Elliot’s beach and the adayar river mouth at least on three occasions was raided by jackals and around 5 or more were lost to poachers nests on occasions were lost due to the loose ground along Ipomea stretches .Some seem to be lost to crabs and fungus. A total of over fifty nests were collected during the time of study .

CONCLUSION

With the increase in littering and the loss of nesting grounds, due to encroachments and the so called “GREEN BELT” by the government, and the presence of high intensity flood lights as well as street lights along the shore puts the life of the endangered Olive Ridley’s at stake and the idea to construct a flyover from the Light House at marina, as proposed, extending over the whole coast of Chennai, sounds to be a major threat to the whole species and may even result in the local extinction of The Olive Ridley Turtles.Studies have shown that a couple or more of isolated populations are known to visit this stretch!A sporadic nesting of Green Turtle would not be a suprise!

P.S:The description of species is extremely basic!A lot more species are known to exist or visit these areas!

Good Joke-20/12/09

2009-02-10T07:35:00.001-08:00

With the latest and rarest addition to our list in herping the Slender coral snake,We grew all excited and wanted to take our lessons on field on herping to another level and therefore decided to go herping beyond Croc Bank on the way to Mahabs and this time Nina could not join since she had had a recording the previous night.As i got closer to croc bank @ Kovalam were a lot of Pelicans, little waders like the Stints,curlews,plovers that would challenge even a trained eye to spot while on a bus.Kovalam has always been the place i just loved for the simple reason that it hosts a hell/heaven of Pariah kites on occasions i ve seen them in the 100's.I hopped down the bus @ croc bank and saw Arun there.He had just reached there.And together me, Arun and his mom left looking for a place where we could do our herpin, a few kms from croc bank where there was a small settlement of humans that looked like a slum or a little village with a few huts made of tatched roofs and a solitary hotel.The place had a few shrubs scattered all around the place....I suggested that it could be an apt place to start.With the Sun up already and bright we had less chances of finding them out and active for they are normally active in the early morn hours and its most apt to find the nocturnal and diurnal snakes....As we moved We found many Fan throated lizrads(Sitana sp.)Many little immature ones criss-crossed ahead of us as we walked and with the help of the snake hook that i took from home I managed to catch one,It happened to be a gravid female,realizing that we shouldn't give it stress we released it immediately and then as we moved further looking for snakes we came across a skink that very quickly buried itself under the sand by a hole, and Arun made an attempt to catch one of them when we realized that there was a whole family of them.We made many attempts but in vain and after applying a few techniques and common sense we managed to catch them and later realized that it was the same that we had found in our coll(MCC)They were the Brahminy Skinks.We then moved on towards the so called "green belt" of casurina plants where there was a snake slough

Chennai Bird Race

2009-02-10T07:33:00.002-08:00

All of a sudden i heard a knock @ my door by arond 3.45 in the morn

Photo credits:Arun.P.K
The followin is the article that was on Hindu-nXg by NINA SIMON

With two bikes between four of us, Arun, Hopeland, Rajkumar and I spent our time after an unfair Saturday at college (they don’t call it a weekend for nothing!) criss-crossing the city searching for birds. January 29 was the bird race held by the Madras Naturalist Society and we were in a hurry to finish our homework and be free. Arun named our team “The Common Crows” as we entered the race.

“D day”: I never wake up in time; my college attendance or rather its lack is proof. So Arun had to leave home at 3.00 a.m. to wake me up! At 4.30 a.m. we were on the road, cold wind whipping our skin and the first bird we saw was the common crow! Soon we were on the East Coast Road on the way to Vadanamali Village.

As dawn appeared we searched the bushes for lark, whimbrel, curlew, sandpipers and other birds found near the backwaters. We ticked more birds than we expected on our checklist but a fast fading “flamingo pink” sky told us that we had to get back on the road. This time to Pallikaranai spotting 46 species and seeing an eagle hunt a snake and feed on it.

Next visit: Sholinganallur where we spotted wagtails, pintails and greb along with a few raptors.At 9.00 a.m. we passed through Nanmangalam to see the booted eagle. Reaching Ponmar by 10.30 a.m. we got to see harriers up close perched on the electric cables as we searched for paddy birds while allowing our bikes to cool down. We visited Arun’s old friend the barn owl at Vijayshanthi Apartments too. We then spent a stiff one hour on the 365-acre campus of Madras Christian College since we knew where to find the birds (we study there).

Above us a Montagu’s harrier hovered in the air trying to find prey in the dense scrub jungle below. We spotted the yellow wattled lapwing, which made our day! Hopeland had to write down the birds we spotted sitting on a moving bike because we had no time.

It was already 12.30 p.m. and our next stop was one—and –a- half hours away! We reached Vedanthangal and set ourselves spotting birds: in no time we’d ticked off painted storks, pelicans, open bills, cormorants, darters, greb and a whole list of water birds from our list.

We drove back to the city just in time for a rush-hour traffic jam. Looking like vagabonds we limped past the President Hotel parking lot trying to look a little bit more presentable only to find that we were not the only ones around. Kids of eight and 10 were talking about their passion for birds, rattling off bird names; and old men and women were acting like children comparing notes like secrets!

All through this race I had only one thought other than spotting birds: “would we win?” But now I realised it didn’t matter for the experience of driving 310 km and spotting 131 species and sharing my experience with the rest was a trophy in itself. After the meeting and dinner hosted by the Madras Naturalist Society each of us walked out with a treasury of tales and a satisfied smile.

Each of us had contributed to a conservation movement that might one day save the birds of our city. If you have ever heard the owl hooting at night you will understand the satisfaction I got that day!

Humbled moment-A treasured and eventful day.

2009-02-10T07:33:00.001-08:00

15/12/'08
When my 4th hour class was called off,me and my frens went to the Day cafe and we were having a chat while i in my own world kept silent as i watched the Asian Brown flycatcher on a neem tree above me moving to distances of a few meters cathing insects ranging from mosquitoes to other small insects.The bird is here as a part of their migration probably coming down from the Himalayas and other places.Some vagrants have been recorded to visit even Britan and Russia.I had 1/2 hour to go for the next class and i decided to go for a walk and i went down to the International Guest House were the Babblers were feeding,foraging in the undergrowth and i was taken back to the moments when i had photographed a locust in the process of egg laying,digging the soil by the ovipositor(last segment) and later penetrated the ground to lay eggs and i was very sad to see the new hall for women in progres for that stretch and the banyan tree beside hosted a lot of birds including a Red winged crested cuckoo as recorded by Arun and i spotted the Forest wagtails and Indian Pitta around the last week of Nov on the deer count and i was saddened again when i saw the clearing extending all along the electric lines even in the thickest of areas measuring over 2 m in width.I then moved on to the lake and i was back taking the same IGH route to check out the Tickells Blue Flycatcher(migratory visitor) that me and my Frens saw the last week visiting a puddle of water bathing ,drinking and once it was aware of our presence,it was extremely shy and kept away from us and gave a flight distance of over 50 m.Meanwhile i could hear thr Dull green leaf warbler giving its feeding call thichit,thichit and at the turn to the IGH from the lake where i had seen the Iora on the same day as the Tickell blue flycatcher.I then set an assignment to myself to try and find out the distance i could cover in 1 minute simply to know time it would take to complete a job.And the assignment took me till the meet of roads beside the botany dept,pavilion.I then went to class and later that day me arun decided to go for a walk and we decided to take Allen this time and went to the lake and on the way could hear The white Browed Bulbulls(Pycnonotus luteolus) calls ringing all around us.These resident birds seem to have their own tastes preferences and each group observed all around the campus prefered different fruiting plants among Zizyphus oenophila(Illanthai pazam) and Toddalia asiatica(a thorny plant) according to their taste preferences and later crawled through the dense bushes often taking routes that were used by animals that being the only means of going through the bushes and ultimately reached the rear end of the pavilion and meanwhile when i was just crawling out of the bushes i got a thorn from a plant that dug itself through my scalp,i had similar experiences earlier, on one occasion i had my ear pierced and the branch breaking off which i have described earlier.....meanwhile we decided to look for snakes and then lifted a few sheets that were used to cover the gound that were old and lying around and found 2 species of pseudoscorpions-Tailess whip scorpion(Daemon variegatus)and vinegaroon whip scorpion and collected them there was a lot of life around that place.Note that the vinegaroon can spray acid which might cause an allergic reaction Don't handle whip scorpions unless you're sure of what you are doing and know that you are not allergic to the acid mist it can spray in defense.I on one instance took the container in which i kept one of them and tried to find out the kind of smell and had a severe running nose and a fever for a few days.And then together moved a Big sheet that lay close to the plants and saw all kinds of life running underneath,we collected a couple of termite hill geckos and saw The flatworm Bipalium sp.(specimen on which regeneration was studied when our eyes caught something crawling which looked like nothing what i had seen before(it measured 15 to 20cms,looked like a big earthworm,with orange ventral scales and 2 bands of white and black near the tail) and i thought it to be some kinda worm snake or shieldtail and said it would not be able to take even our own body temperatures
and decided to keep it in my pocket and meanwhile we got a couple of lil scorpions and decided to take 'em all and later bade and left and when my curiousity got the better of me i went immediately to find out the name of the snake and i found it to be a SLENDER CORAL SNAKE(Calliophis melanurur-an extremely rare snake).We had handled him and dint realise he was a venomous snake and i felt irritation in my hands and when i read that bite causes burning and irritation i felt the itching all the more.....Thankfully nothin happened to any of us.For a moment i felt seriously humbled and felt whatever we as humans master and be knowledgeble nature has still lots to unfold and its secrets unknown and yet to be unfolded. As told by Raghu Rai-The only Magnum Photographer of India. "Nature has a little gift to offer to the ones who pursue and persist in the context of photography" during the Inaugral Function of Photo contest hosted by Madras photographic society.

Immediately after tat eventful day followed another.....me,Arun and Allen decided to look for the Isometrus sp. scorpion that was pretty hardly seen on campus.we headed to the spot beside the pavilion and as we went around, the first to dash away were the Red whiskered bulbuls(P.jocosus) from around the waterbody,this area always abounded with life and as we walked,we found a dog dead with just the hair left behind and the whole skeletal system in tact as though it had been strewn together.Dogs have proved to be a menace all around the college,hunting down all forms of life,be it monitor lizards or whatever and a little away lay yet another system of a Deer,a full grown male possibly brought down by a dog.As we moved around we saw a lot of synthetic materials that had been earlier used to set around the plants for some kinda protection....and as we lifted 'em there was so much of life underneath insects bustling around,as people can be seen in city streets and as we moved further,right in front of us not a meter away dashed a huge Monitor(varanus sp.) measuring atleast a meter or so and for a second we froze and then dashed but in vain and as we moved on we found a skeletal system of a snake it seemed to be thin and extended a lil long it could have been a Bronzeback however am not sure and later when we had to move further into the thickets there was no way out it was fenced and we manage to crawl out the escapades used by Deer possibly from dogs and then as we moved further we decided to split since it was a bigger area to be covered and Allen joined Arun while i moved alone and to my right was a shallow and yet far and wide waterbody and to my left and front were dense Velikaathaan shrubs so thick that

TO BE CONTINUED

Pulicut

2009-02-10T07:32:00.000-08:00

Point Calimer

2009-02-10T07:26:00.000-08:00

2008-08-15T02:38:00.000-07:00

Parambikulam Trip- an attempt to document wildlife by videography and photography

2008-08-08T23:41:00.000-07:00

Our trip started when 3 students,Me Arun and Nina came unified in one thought to document wildlife and met at central railway but had darkness all around of not knowing wat to expect and not knowing wat we were gonna do for a weeks span in the jungle and met at the railway station on a friday dated 18/o7/08 by 10 pm.The article on the trip on THE HINDU-nxG

To see the pics taken at parambikulam visit

http://hopeland-photoblogging.blogspot.com/

Contributors:Arun,Hopeland

A new species of lizard discovered

2008-05-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

The sp. Was named as Hemidactylus aaronbaueri . the new discovery is the largest varity in this genus measuring128 mm the largest prior to this was 115mm.There is a total of 21 species identified in India under this genus. This was 1st photographed by Dr.Ashok Captain, Scientist Varad and Aparna worked on them and found it to be a new species.this is the only known species of the locality which is in the western ghats of mahrastra. Apart from anthropogenic pressure ,this is highly unprotected.The discovery proves the place to be a unique diversity of herpetofauna.

The threatened Painted roof turtle (Kachuga kachuga):

2008-04-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

A pair of eggs of the Painted roof turtle placed in incubator at croc bank hatched on 23rd.The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust( MCBT) has stepped forward in saving these highly endangered species and taken another batch of them.it was 1st bred by them in may ’04.
Painted roof turtle (Kachuga kachuga) is protected under schedule 1 of Indian wildlife protection act of 1972. it was once found in few areas of MP, UP,Bihar, assam West Bengal .but with the problem of habitat destruction such as sand mining, pollution and over harvesting their numbers have dwindled.Chambal is the last remaining habitat.there are just 200 -300 nesting turtles left in MP and UP.This is a very slow breeding species where the females reach sexual maturity at the age of 15.The breeding stock was collected from kukrail reptile conservation centreof the UP forest dept on loan but is supported by British Chelonia group and the Turtle Survival alliance .Last year 19 2 year olds were successfully released into the wild in UP.8 have hatched in this breeding program but there have been no fruits in KUKRAIL.

2008-04-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

PET PASSION
Tips for dog owners:
As the summer has picked up intensity….Animals have begun to die of dehydration,heat stroke.so during this summer provide them with plenty of liquids like cold milk ,butter milk and provide plenty of water find out means for them to stand the heat.give them a little shower .if they are placed in sheds ensure them shade and place wet gunny bags so as to cool them down and avoid taking them on strolls under soaring temperatures when there is a scorching heat.
Loss of hair in dogs:
When dogs lose hair while scratching and begin to look mangy get the Notix liquid scrub and remember to shake well before use for max effect,lather the dog after a 10 minutes pause rinse him well and apply Ascabiol lotion over his coat .ina span of 3weeks dramatic change shall be seen.Himalayas oil could be used too.

A good dependable fren:
The Labrador is a typical retriver.. It ranks one in demand the world over. They are used as sniffing dogs in many a country and rank 2 nd at that. They are exceptionally intelligent energetic and good natured. They have a life span of 10 -12 years and a maximum of 16 years .They come in shades of black,yellow or chocolate.
They make excellent companions of kids. They are loyal animals and get alomg with kids. Although being boisterous they tend to put on weight and become lethargic when not trained properly. They reach adulthood only at the age of 3 while others reach at the age of 2. They require a lot of exercise and should not be confined to a place for a long time.During summer they require a plenty of water a highly nutritious food.they are pure breeds of dogs.Its good to provide them with commercial food products. Its advicable to give the dog a bath when it smells or in a fortnightly interval since there is an absence of sweat glands.their skin is sensitive than that of a human baby.this will make them lose their natural moisture. Their fur has to be brushed,nails trimed regularly.grooming is a must for labs fond of outdoor.their keen sense of smell helps them locate objects easily therefore biscuits need to be out of their reach.They love swimming g and need people to spend time with them and play.Health problem concerned with them needs to be identified. Closely associated problems arehip,eye and elbow disorders. Injured animals require immediate vet attention.overweight animals are vulnerable to various problems including arthritis and heart problems.

Myths and Beliefs

2008-03-02T17:10:00.000-08:00

MYTHS and BELIEFS

1.A small snake is supposed to be so deadly that that it melts snow as it goes but the fact is that venom is rich protein and venom is to a snake as saliva is to us.
2. It is said that if you kill a snake,its mate would come back to take revenge.but the fact is that snakes can do do nothing beyond feeding,mating and reproducing,this may have some basis in fact.when a snake is being beaten,in the process of killing in its anger it expels MUSK,which is a sex attractant.when the mate comes to investigate and it is connected with the above.
3 snakes supposed to like milk.where could they find milk in nature when they have no powers of suction and wit a 100s of teeth of what use will a few spoonful of milk be
4.snake s are said to dance to music especially cobras.snakes do deduct airborne sounds via lungs or by resting the lower jaws on the ground.the thump on the ground by the feet of the charmer and the movement of the the flute from side to side makes it move along with him.snakes have no power of appreciating music.
5.People belive that a snake well advanced in years has its venom turn to diamond which ofcourse is not true …An irula-snake catching tribe at chennai would tel they would be kings not charmers when this question is asked.
6.The idea that snake have comb on head could be due to fakery of a s.charmer or the skin peeling off from the head
7.vine snake/pachai pambu/hara samp-hindi/laudanka-oriya/laudoga-bengali is belived to poke out a persons eye the nose is rubbery.they inflict painful but harmless bites.
8.a lickfrom sand boa/mann pambu/matti ka samp-hindi/boda sapa-oriya,is said to cause leprosy because of the pattern.but snakes are clean and free from disease.
9.the tail of rat snakes are said to have stingers and lash cattle and paddy and so on ….they are no dangerous than pieces of rope except for the harmless bite.
10.bronzeback/kombaeri mukan pambu/lal dhanum-hindi/baetachrha-bengali is accused climb trees to observe,the funeral pyre of its victim but it’s a non poisonus snake
11.bite by a snake wit rings causes rings on the body of the victim.
12.in north western India kraits/kattu viriyan/maneer or karait-hindi/chitti-oriya suck a man’s breath as he sleeps.this could be explanationfor the resp paralysis that a krait brings on.
13.In mahrashtra,earth bound saw scaled vipers/surutai pambu/phorsa-hindi/dhuli naga -oriya said to jump over6 feet but to say 6 inches would be accurate.
14.cobra’s and rat snakes/saari pambu-tamil/dhaman-hindi/dhanaras-bengali/dhamana-oriya are said to mate , a full grown cobra will have to avoid a cannibalistic rat snake, and mate wit its own species.
15.a red sand boa/ sowp mun pambu-tamil/do mu samp-hindi/do mundia-oriya which has an extremely blunt tail fools humans as it fools the mongoose as a snake with two heads

source :common indian snakes,compiled,elaborated by Hopeland

MCC wildlife

2008-01-19T05:13:00.000-08:00

Madras Christian College has an expanse under the sky which includes over 365 acres of land ....which abounds with wildlife and has gone around the sun for over 171 years.It is belived to be the 2nd largest scrub jungle in india!!!!!The jungle at MCC is basically a scrub jungle with a lot of introduced trees where every tree has a story to tell since nearly all the age old trees were literally hand planted and other creatures.It includes over a 100 species of birds nearly 20 species of reptiles and 14 species of dragonflies and 8 species of damselflies and over a 60 species of butterflies and moths and around 15 species of smaller mammals and not much is known about the nocturnal life which has been hardly seen by anyone and innumerable number of species of the insect world....The vegetation and wildlife in all forms seems to be stedily on the decline during my study on the campus drastically from the smallest grasshoppers to lizards and mammals like the Jackals and what not in the name of devolopment......Mowing the grass all across the campus on either sides of the pathways and clearing of a lot of plants and shrubs and loss of undergrowth leading to a decline in the number of migratory birds and ground birds that forage the forest floor like the Thrushes and adorable Indian Pitta....Stray dogs turning wild and breeding on the campus leading to a decline in the numbers of Smaller mammals like the Hare,Jackel,Jungle cat......Sad to say students following in the near future even the immediate batches in a year or two may not really see what NATURE REALLY HAD IN STORE FOR THEM.