~~~~~
Day: 21st December 2008
TIME: 4:15 AM
Place: Gundulpet "Coffee Day"
2 Cappuccino's and one Assam tea were "washed down" the throat by 4 KANS members to set the tone for the day. Saying bye-bye to sleep, we set off for a long and fruitful day. (what a "relief" this one gave!)
TIME: 10:15 AM
Place: Bandipura Check post (Karnataka border)
Officer Names:Prakash, Satish and Chandu-- Trainee KANS Awareness officers :) and Soumyajit (officer-in-charge)
Task: Stopping vehicles and educating people, while our almost Forest officer look alike Soumyajit doing the vehicle "census"
Typical Dialogues:
"Excuse me sir/Mam , please drive slow, do not stop anywhere, do not get down from the vehicle, and please do not honk, no music please"
TIME: 12:00 PM
(The Probation completed Officers...)
Prakash: "Do you know at what speed you are driving?"
Driver: "No sir, I think 20-30 (in fact he is drining at 50+)"
Prakash: "Do you know what is the speed you are supposed to drive?"
Driver: "No Sir!"
Prakash: "40, you should not cross it and no honking, no music .. go..
On the other end..Satish handling things for KL, TN (the registration numbers)-"There can be elephants in the forest, don't stop sir. "
Chandu: "Forest department rule says the maximum permitted speed is 40 kms, do not let anyone, especially kids to get down.. Switch off the music till you go out of the forest."
TIME: 4:00 PM
Prakash:(no more questions)... "Oye maximum speed should be 40.., no stopping , no honking...no getting down.. OK?? .. understood?? go..!"(annoyed with attitudes)
Satish: "There are elephants in the forest, be careful- this is for your safety, they might attack you if you try to get down or do something silly."
Chandu: "No honking & over speeding, there is a squad few kms down the road waiting to penalize, you better drive slow. "
~~~
Did you perceive the change in tone?? Blame not on the amnesia! It came out after witnessing the attitudes and lack of awareness in the people who drive through jungle. Just listing the rule won't help much, you have to show a bigger picture and we tried to sketch the same.
Let's switch over to few more things...
Some "situations" we were "put in":
1. One guy: "Sir, from where will the wild animals start ??" (you are in the wrong place moron..Do you think all animals in the jungle queue up for you to watch??)
2. Another fella:" Sir, is something happening in the jungle? Any wild life movement "(what to say?? it happens everyday if only we allow it to happen)
3. (3 drunken fellas in an a/c maruti car):
Prakash: "Sir, there might be elephants around, so don't stop,it's risky!!"
Feellas: "We can take care of elefant, no prrroblem, we will take rishk..."
(.... go get "crushed", wish the jumbos are around)
4. Few people carried their big egos along, and one impatient fella who had no time to listen had droven over my toes and another one was about to crash into Satish.
5. Some tourists: "..Oh we know it, we are from Coonoor!"- Another guy-"I know, I am from Ooty!!"....(does that make a difference??)
6. One cab Driver: "Sir, i have been driving on these road from past 6 years, but no body told me about these rules !!?” (no surprise, that's why we are here!)
7. A bunch of guys were stopping on the road in the mid of the forest- drinking and driving at 4 pm!! But when the forester checked their cars, they managed to hide all bottles!!
8. "Why should we switch off the music??? Where can we see animals??" (go to zoo man, there is no sighting-guaranteed scheme out there!!)
9. Few people are too generous to offer us money even before we start explaining things- assuming we are guards creating a "situation" there.(Corruption, tell me d place u haven't been..!) Couple others promptly came down with RC book and license!! :)
Few appreciations:
"You guys are doing a great job!!!... "
"I have a suggestion for you.... "
"Where are you based at? Can we have some details about KANS!?"
"Can we join KANS??"
~~~
Hope, that sums up quickly how we dealt with people and their attitudes during the weekend Road kill awareness program in Bandipur forest with "Kenneth Anderson Nature society". Overall, it's fun talking to so many people (count must be 500 vehicles). It's a good feeling to educate people. We had a great time- but we had our share of irritating moments as well. But witnessing the kind of ignorance people displayed was appalling.
Drunken driving, over speeding, stopping, honking...we witnessed everything that can be considered as "breaking the rule". But, What hurts me MORE is NOT the ignorance of people-but the impatience, in sensitiveness and attitude of the some of the so called educated class whom we interacted with. Somebody tell them that the ego-filled, closed minds are not going to help them !!
With the new year eve around, the drunken driving things is going to get even worse! God save the wild. I wish we can suggest the DFO to deploy few guards on the new year eve to check the drunken drivers. I am sure, a huge "penalty" money is awaiting the Forest department which can be used for other useful purposes(not sure where the money goes!)
Although we do not know how long the drivers and tourists remember the guidelines, but now they at least know that there are few "guidelines" while driving through the forest.
Kudos to our team -
Prakash- For driving most part of the journey with hardly one hour sleep and the officer kindda look (shades+khaki shirt with half- folded sleeves) that scared the hell out of few people out there!!(although unintentional)
Satish- For coming down all the way from Chennai and sleeping in advance on Friday evening to save energy for the program and handling Tamil and Malayalam and for sharing the driving time!!
Soumyajit- Our officer-in-charge of the operation and who never showed signs of fatigue and sleep despite of not sleeping the previous night and did the vehicle count without a break!!
Chandu- For writing this report & clicking pics !:P
As we pass on the baton to the next group of volunteers, let me tell you- Being a volunteer for this program is FUN with a little drama and "surprises"(like the sighting of elephant and a calf we had) and you can leave for home feeling better and few reasons to smile!
It's unforunate that many of us do not know the rules of driving through forest-I am listing them below:
1. Drive slow and enjoy the ride esp if your loved one's are next to you.... hey wait but don't make it a long drive ;)
2. Do not feed animals, they get used to it and stay on road inviting trouble for everyone. Yo are disturbing their natural diet.
3. If you spot an animal trying to cross the road, let it cross and then you proceed. After all, you are at their place.
4. Stay far from elephants, don't honk or annoy them, reverse the vehicle and wait for the animal to cross the road (no animal tries to attack you, unless you provoke or intrude it's privacy)
5. Don't honk or play loud music. Switch off the music while driving through jungle. Enjoy the silence and bird calls..!Yo have no right to disturb it's serenity.
6. Don't stop or try getting down from your vehicle unnecessarily
7. If you notice drunken driving or rash driving or smoking or animal killed on road or incident of people stopping in the forest-Report it to the nearest forest check post.
Share these with your friends and let us try to be "humans"
**************************************************************
Friday, December 26, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Random Update
Nothing much, just landed in office straight from a trip to hometown and bloody APSRTC buses always runs slow and I repeatedly trust them and ends up feeling cheated. Finally after some grueling 16 hours journey I went straight to office (barring the 2 hours break to fresh up) and half asleep as i was typing this post. (continuing it on Wednesday below.. )
Trip to home town was refreshing and urban birding was exciting. I started noticing things at home town which I never did before!I tried sharing the observations with our family and thankfully they think I am not insane!!Here is the strange perch of the White throated King Fisher that is commonly found across.
Must be waiting for it's mate to play see-saw!??It is not it's usual perch, once can find it usually near water bodies, wonder what is it up to?
I always felt that my hometown do not have those special or bright or colorful birds. But I was proved wrong. Just when I moved out for a haircut, there came the highlight of my whole trip.. the Eurasian Golden Oriole. What a beauty!!!I was very happy to see this one at my hometown! Not surprisingly my uncle never noticed it.,. I told you it's just a matter of "noticing" things that makes a difference..
These bright golden yellow birds leaves you at awe and this one is no exception. It is a winter migrant to South India and not a "resident". The Drongos are chasing it away from their territory. This made me resolve that I would explore more wooded areas around my hometown pretty soon.
Now I am sure all of us had seen this guy near our homes.
This is the DRONGO and look at it's beautiful tail, the big give-away. They are found very widely across India. A couple seems to have nested close to our home and they put up a great show.
Next came the black beauty - the male ASIAN KOEL with it's stunning RED eyes!
A generic note- All beautiful and colorful birds are male!! (although we have very few exceptions). So next time you see a beautiful bird with a bright colors or plumage, the chances that it is MALE is high.God is a Fair man!:)
Besides these, I noticed the Ants and their relationship with the ticks (another post) and few other birds. Finally the urge in me to find our the birding places around my home town is increasing!! This trip had given the right inspiration!!So donno where I end up...
Now if you are tired of watching and reading about birds... (you need to bear with this trend in my new blog for a while..) here is a Homo Sapien at work..
A naturographer at work!! or PAW- Photgprapher at work .. the way my friend Deepa called it.
The most exciting thing I am looking forward is the 15 day vacation that we are going to enjoy this year end starting 19 December and ending 4th Jan.. Thank god I am with this company!!! (aah I can smell some J factor)
Trip to home town was refreshing and urban birding was exciting. I started noticing things at home town which I never did before!I tried sharing the observations with our family and thankfully they think I am not insane!!Here is the strange perch of the White throated King Fisher that is commonly found across.
Must be waiting for it's mate to play see-saw!??It is not it's usual perch, once can find it usually near water bodies, wonder what is it up to?I always felt that my hometown do not have those special or bright or colorful birds. But I was proved wrong. Just when I moved out for a haircut, there came the highlight of my whole trip.. the Eurasian Golden Oriole. What a beauty!!!I was very happy to see this one at my hometown! Not surprisingly my uncle never noticed it.,. I told you it's just a matter of "noticing" things that makes a difference..
These bright golden yellow birds leaves you at awe and this one is no exception. It is a winter migrant to South India and not a "resident". The Drongos are chasing it away from their territory. This made me resolve that I would explore more wooded areas around my hometown pretty soon.Now I am sure all of us had seen this guy near our homes.
This is the DRONGO and look at it's beautiful tail, the big give-away. They are found very widely across India. A couple seems to have nested close to our home and they put up a great show.Next came the black beauty - the male ASIAN KOEL with it's stunning RED eyes!
A generic note- All beautiful and colorful birds are male!! (although we have very few exceptions). So next time you see a beautiful bird with a bright colors or plumage, the chances that it is MALE is high.God is a Fair man!:)Besides these, I noticed the Ants and their relationship with the ticks (another post) and few other birds. Finally the urge in me to find our the birding places around my home town is increasing!! This trip had given the right inspiration!!So donno where I end up...
Now if you are tired of watching and reading about birds... (you need to bear with this trend in my new blog for a while..) here is a Homo Sapien at work..
A naturographer at work!! or PAW- Photgprapher at work .. the way my friend Deepa called it.The most exciting thing I am looking forward is the 15 day vacation that we are going to enjoy this year end starting 19 December and ending 4th Jan.. Thank god I am with this company!!! (aah I can smell some J factor)
Saturday, November 29, 2008
The Love of Nature
**********************
Prelogue:
~I woke up in the morning, got out of bed. Picked up the news paper. Read it a while sipping coffee.
~I started to office, cursed the traffic, waited impatiently at the signals and finally reached the office and rushed in with impatience.
~I took a break and came out of office, crossed the road cursing the traffic yet again and finished off my work and get back to office.
~While walking on the road with friends and collagues, we gossiped and discussed about job, manager and gals of course ;)
~On weekends, I sit back at home on saturday morning wondering what to do !
Epilogue:
~I woke up in the morning, went out and my eyes searched for the daily visitors- the whitebrowed wagtails and the spotted dove. While I read the newspaper I lent an ear to enjoy the song of the wagtail.
~I started to office, scanning the skies and the tress tops. Traffic signals provided ample time to look out for birds around. I reached office glancing the "resident" Rock pigeons and the huge fig tree.
~I took a break and came out of office and noticed the regular Pariah kites that dominate the skies. I found that a group of rose ringed parakeets too were making lot of noise.
~While walking on the road with colleagues gossiping, I talked less and scanned the skies and trees... besides regular gossip. I picked up something from the ground aaah a fig fruit, I opened it and searched for the fig wasps!!
( at times preaching friends about how wonderful fig pollination is..)
~On weekends, I started wondering how to manage time with so many birding places to visit!!
**********************
Aaah.. you are right!!! I misplaced the Epilogue!!. But, it was intentionally done!
Now some questions-
What can a 3 day program do to a city/town-born spoiled brat?? - Magic!!
What can a meeting with other nature lovers can do to a nature lover--? Rub-off effect!!
What can an enlightenting session do to someone who think wild life=forest?Discover the city outskirts!!
The answers for all those can be searched by analyzing the prelog and epilog I wrote above
Between the prelog and the Epilog happened the Jungle Lodges and Resorts-Naturalist Training program! (henceforth referred JLR-NTP)
When Shalini called me on one fine day in September and informed me about the JLR-NTP Program plan, I jumped up at the thought. How can I reject such an offer, it's something that I have been looking forward to, but never thought it could happen so soon. So how can I reject such an offer. I need to attend a wedding around the same time, but gave it a slip and decided that I will spend 3 days away from the civilization learning what is it to be a naturalist. I blocked my calendar, applied for leave and was counting days.
Finally the D-day arrived and I packed off my bags and reached Ramesh's place albeit with regular delay.We are joined by a group of women and in total 11 of us set off in 2 cars to Bannerghatta to spend 2.5 precious days away from home. We stopped at one of the darshini and finished our breakfast and reached the Bannerghatta zoo well in time. From there finally we were "escorted" by the JLR staff into the herbivores park and eventually to the JLR-Bannerghatta camp where our trainer Mr.Karthikeyan was waiting for us.
I read Karthik's blog (http://wildwanderer.com/journal/) and learned more about him through websites and forums and admired him. So, the idea of meeting him excited me.Karthik came to receive us and ushered us into the meeting room. Another student named Rachana joined us. After completing the formalities, the "ice-breaker" session started where we tagged each of us with an animal or bird name and Karthik added more insights into each of those.The fun has just started!! I was asked to start the naming and I smartly passed on to my neighbour to start, but evenutally we were told that everyone should reiterate all the names quoted till then and proceed that put me in a spot!! :)Now the ball passed on and I should thank god we are only 11 members. I quicly picked up the Copersmith barbet name looking at the name of one of the tents and co-incidentally I was alloted accomodation in the same tent.That is not the end, we spotted Coppersmith Barbet in almost all 3 outings that followed and I fell in love with this bird.
The first session was very interesting (infact all sessions). It's on the "Naturalist" and "Bio-diveristy of India" which amazed us and we started to get a feel of the whole thing. We had a break which prompted us to take our cellphones and go hunting for signal. Ramesh and I went searching for signal in the JLR campus and somebody told us that we can get decent airtel signal if we walk beyond the dinner place taking the small clearing that reaches the border of the campus.
We went promptly looking at our cellphones signal and while we are searching for signal as I stepped further I heard some noise in the bush next to me. I was curious but then started looking at the signal and stepped further.I heard another sound from the bush that drew my attention and bingo out came a colorful small bird out of the bush, glanced at me and flew away.!! It's the INDIAN PITTA. It's colors are stunning and awesome and made a vivid combination. I know instantly that I had seen this birds before. Memories from childhood flashed for once. I remember, we tried rescuing it when we were kids but failed to so. It's a complete surprise to me.
Back to the sessions- the afternoon session was when we tried to draw a sketch of birds. It's fun and imagination at it's best and we are anxiously waiting for the "nature trial". Eventually at 4-30 we set out albeit a bit late on a nature trail.We started geared up wtih cameras and bincos and first spotting if i remember right was none other than the "Copper smith Barbet"...way 2 go.. !!It's an interesting birds with beautiful bright colors and never seazes to amaze me.No wonder that's why they had choosen it to be on the cover of the Grimmett and Inskipp's "Birds of Indian Subcontient ".
Once we moved out of the campus,we saw a millipede and karthik told us that it's harmless and we handled it with ease. We learnt the difference between the Centipede and Millipede.
Interestingly it had ticks or parasites clinging on to it's body. Then we debated what we say was a Jungle crow or a Common crow and moved toward the lake.We had a good outing and we started to identify birds...oops I should say we started to find out birds to identify.
I must admit as a starter it's tough on first hand to spot the bird leave alone identifying it.With the kind help of Karthik, we saw the White cheeked barbet and Pond Heron and then moved on to see the "Resident Sambar" of the Herbivore park. The light was quickly failing and just when we are about go back we saw this active brid flying around and catching something in air.The beautiful blue color and tiny body made it look awesome. It put up a great show for us. Karthik eventually told us that is' the TICKELLS BLUE FLY CATCHER.
With the ligh failing, we returned to our rooms and refreshed and watched a wonderful part from the "Life of birds" series of Sir Attenborough. Later we had a dinner and with that we called it a day and retreated to our rooms and set off to sleep.
The next day morning we set out to a lake and it rained birds in that session. We started with the bulbul cousins. The redvented and the white browed perched on the same branch and gave us a good show.The cocophony started, "where is it??", "I can't see the bird", "aah yes I can", "can you give me the binocs", "it's red tail", "no it's white, bigger than crows", "smaller than sparrow"... anwyays, we had good sigthings and returned to the resort and munched happily on the yummy breakfast.
The first session of the second day was on Bird behavior and we dwelled deeper into the subject. It helped us understood and made us awed by the depth of the details we are witnessing. It's just the introduction to the big world of Birds.Late in the afternoon Deepa and Mohan joined us. That's the second person I have been looking forward to meet in this training. I read deepa's blogs and when Shalini mentioned about deepa during some conversation and told me that she knew deepa and that she is going to drop by at the training, I was looking forward to meet her in person.
Finally I met her and yet again I realized the power of blog. If you follow someone's blog and meet the person I am sure you tend to feel that you know each other from quite some time. It's different from a situation where you hear about someone from a third party/person and meet him/her. Deepa is sweet, warm, open, active, friendly, witty (the kinds of friends I always wish to have) and Mohan who enrolled for the course was my roomie and they make a good couple!!Anush also joined us for the evening.
The afternoon session is when where we are supposed to go for lion-tiger safari. But we did not want to trouble the poor beasts and instead had a session on Mammals which was a learning experience.During a break in that session we came out and saw the drama of a WASP paralzying a spider,laying eggs inside it and trying to dig in a hole to secure it!! what a drama.. more on it here.. http://deponti.livejournal.com/451434.html
Later in the day another nature trail and some more sighting. But as we are about to start, it drizzled a bit but we procceded. We proceed in a different direction and since it just stopped raining and an overcast october sky didn't do any good to us. We could spot few drongos and barbets and just when the excitement is going down Mohan managed to see and click an EURASIAN EAGLE OWL. Although the pic shows it facing the other side, it's such a a beautiful one. It made our day and we spent quite sometime tracing it as it went into the bushes after we started looking at him. Anush with his sharp eyes was quick to spot it and then he had his belly full and left for home.
We then proceeded to the lake when the heavens thought the otherway and it started pouring. We got drenched and karthik managed to call the resort to send us a vehicle and we all were transported back. On the way back, few of us wished to have some pakods+chai in such a chill weather and Karthik had them ready by the time we got freshened up.We attacked the pakodas and tea... reminded me of Youth hostel treks....! Later, we watched video from the "Life of Birds" and concluded the day.
On the morning of the last day we went for another trial and our list of birds almost doubled on this eventfull day. We saw the malkoha, the cuckoo shrike, the robins....
Interestinlgy, we DISCOVERED a new species of birds. :) In all our nature trials Ramesh used to spot lots of birds, but eventually most of them ended up as Red-vented Bulbuls. The last day was no exception and finally mohan suggested renaming the bubuls as "Ramesh Vented Bubuls" instead of Red vented bubils
The last day had a session on Ubran wild life which was an eye-opener and dispersed the myth we usuallly have that Wild life is only in forests!!. We started to know what a big world we have around. Karthik quoted that he spent 400+ hours watching just a bird from his house window. We learnt lot which I cannot share all here, rather it need to be felt and experienced than read.
With a heavy heart (at least me) we packed off and checked out and reached home.
Now let me differ from what I wrote above. I want to share something I learnt.
~Nature hosts so many miracles that it never ceases to interest you.
~There is so much happening around us that we fail to notice and all we need is an attitude to understand and learn.
~There is never a dull moment in life when you stay close to nature.
~The joy of being with nature is unmatchable and less told and more to be experienced.
~The way you look at things will change and you will start observing minute things and details when you get used to being with nature.
~It's a duty of naturalist to spread the awareness, share knowledge and I promise myself to do so.
~Nature is a delicate web of interdependancies where a distrubance at one palce can make a big impact on lot other. So be sensitive when dealing with nature
~Every living creature (incldues flora & fauna) have a role to play in this world and all of them are equally important. An ANT is as good as a TIGER to me.
~Ultimately the same generic logic applies to be a naturalist- Be curious, Be energetic, Be patient, Be hungry to learn more, Be open to admit NO or say I DON'T KNOW....
There is so much to learn , so much to understand, that once you start exploring or understanding nature you can't help yourself from admiring it. The bonus here is there is never an end to this learning since a life time is not enough to completely understand each and everything thing that constitutes the nature and I am glad I started my journey....
Prelogue:
~I woke up in the morning, got out of bed. Picked up the news paper. Read it a while sipping coffee.
~I started to office, cursed the traffic, waited impatiently at the signals and finally reached the office and rushed in with impatience.
~I took a break and came out of office, crossed the road cursing the traffic yet again and finished off my work and get back to office.
~While walking on the road with friends and collagues, we gossiped and discussed about job, manager and gals of course ;)
~On weekends, I sit back at home on saturday morning wondering what to do !
Epilogue:
~I woke up in the morning, went out and my eyes searched for the daily visitors- the whitebrowed wagtails and the spotted dove. While I read the newspaper I lent an ear to enjoy the song of the wagtail.
~I started to office, scanning the skies and the tress tops. Traffic signals provided ample time to look out for birds around. I reached office glancing the "resident" Rock pigeons and the huge fig tree.
~I took a break and came out of office and noticed the regular Pariah kites that dominate the skies. I found that a group of rose ringed parakeets too were making lot of noise.
~While walking on the road with colleagues gossiping, I talked less and scanned the skies and trees... besides regular gossip. I picked up something from the ground aaah a fig fruit, I opened it and searched for the fig wasps!!
( at times preaching friends about how wonderful fig pollination is..)
~On weekends, I started wondering how to manage time with so many birding places to visit!!
**********************
Aaah.. you are right!!! I misplaced the Epilogue!!. But, it was intentionally done!
Now some questions-
What can a 3 day program do to a city/town-born spoiled brat?? - Magic!!
What can a meeting with other nature lovers can do to a nature lover--? Rub-off effect!!
What can an enlightenting session do to someone who think wild life=forest?Discover the city outskirts!!
The answers for all those can be searched by analyzing the prelog and epilog I wrote above
Between the prelog and the Epilog happened the Jungle Lodges and Resorts-Naturalist Training program! (henceforth referred JLR-NTP)
When Shalini called me on one fine day in September and informed me about the JLR-NTP Program plan, I jumped up at the thought. How can I reject such an offer, it's something that I have been looking forward to, but never thought it could happen so soon. So how can I reject such an offer. I need to attend a wedding around the same time, but gave it a slip and decided that I will spend 3 days away from the civilization learning what is it to be a naturalist. I blocked my calendar, applied for leave and was counting days.
Finally the D-day arrived and I packed off my bags and reached Ramesh's place albeit with regular delay.We are joined by a group of women and in total 11 of us set off in 2 cars to Bannerghatta to spend 2.5 precious days away from home. We stopped at one of the darshini and finished our breakfast and reached the Bannerghatta zoo well in time. From there finally we were "escorted" by the JLR staff into the herbivores park and eventually to the JLR-Bannerghatta camp where our trainer Mr.Karthikeyan was waiting for us.
I read Karthik's blog (http://wildwanderer.com/journal/) and learned more about him through websites and forums and admired him. So, the idea of meeting him excited me.Karthik came to receive us and ushered us into the meeting room. Another student named Rachana joined us. After completing the formalities, the "ice-breaker" session started where we tagged each of us with an animal or bird name and Karthik added more insights into each of those.The fun has just started!! I was asked to start the naming and I smartly passed on to my neighbour to start, but evenutally we were told that everyone should reiterate all the names quoted till then and proceed that put me in a spot!! :)Now the ball passed on and I should thank god we are only 11 members. I quicly picked up the Copersmith barbet name looking at the name of one of the tents and co-incidentally I was alloted accomodation in the same tent.That is not the end, we spotted Coppersmith Barbet in almost all 3 outings that followed and I fell in love with this bird.
The first session was very interesting (infact all sessions). It's on the "Naturalist" and "Bio-diveristy of India" which amazed us and we started to get a feel of the whole thing. We had a break which prompted us to take our cellphones and go hunting for signal. Ramesh and I went searching for signal in the JLR campus and somebody told us that we can get decent airtel signal if we walk beyond the dinner place taking the small clearing that reaches the border of the campus.
We went promptly looking at our cellphones signal and while we are searching for signal as I stepped further I heard some noise in the bush next to me. I was curious but then started looking at the signal and stepped further.I heard another sound from the bush that drew my attention and bingo out came a colorful small bird out of the bush, glanced at me and flew away.!! It's the INDIAN PITTA. It's colors are stunning and awesome and made a vivid combination. I know instantly that I had seen this birds before. Memories from childhood flashed for once. I remember, we tried rescuing it when we were kids but failed to so. It's a complete surprise to me.
Back to the sessions- the afternoon session was when we tried to draw a sketch of birds. It's fun and imagination at it's best and we are anxiously waiting for the "nature trial". Eventually at 4-30 we set out albeit a bit late on a nature trail.We started geared up wtih cameras and bincos and first spotting if i remember right was none other than the "Copper smith Barbet"...way 2 go.. !!It's an interesting birds with beautiful bright colors and never seazes to amaze me.No wonder that's why they had choosen it to be on the cover of the Grimmett and Inskipp's "Birds of Indian Subcontient ".
Once we moved out of the campus,we saw a millipede and karthik told us that it's harmless and we handled it with ease. We learnt the difference between the Centipede and Millipede.
Interestingly it had ticks or parasites clinging on to it's body. Then we debated what we say was a Jungle crow or a Common crow and moved toward the lake.We had a good outing and we started to identify birds...oops I should say we started to find out birds to identify.
I must admit as a starter it's tough on first hand to spot the bird leave alone identifying it.With the kind help of Karthik, we saw the White cheeked barbet and Pond Heron and then moved on to see the "Resident Sambar" of the Herbivore park. The light was quickly failing and just when we are about go back we saw this active brid flying around and catching something in air.The beautiful blue color and tiny body made it look awesome. It put up a great show for us. Karthik eventually told us that is' the TICKELLS BLUE FLY CATCHER.
With the ligh failing, we returned to our rooms and refreshed and watched a wonderful part from the "Life of birds" series of Sir Attenborough. Later we had a dinner and with that we called it a day and retreated to our rooms and set off to sleep.
The next day morning we set out to a lake and it rained birds in that session. We started with the bulbul cousins. The redvented and the white browed perched on the same branch and gave us a good show.The cocophony started, "where is it??", "I can't see the bird", "aah yes I can", "can you give me the binocs", "it's red tail", "no it's white, bigger than crows", "smaller than sparrow"... anwyays, we had good sigthings and returned to the resort and munched happily on the yummy breakfast.
The first session of the second day was on Bird behavior and we dwelled deeper into the subject. It helped us understood and made us awed by the depth of the details we are witnessing. It's just the introduction to the big world of Birds.Late in the afternoon Deepa and Mohan joined us. That's the second person I have been looking forward to meet in this training. I read deepa's blogs and when Shalini mentioned about deepa during some conversation and told me that she knew deepa and that she is going to drop by at the training, I was looking forward to meet her in person.
Finally I met her and yet again I realized the power of blog. If you follow someone's blog and meet the person I am sure you tend to feel that you know each other from quite some time. It's different from a situation where you hear about someone from a third party/person and meet him/her. Deepa is sweet, warm, open, active, friendly, witty (the kinds of friends I always wish to have) and Mohan who enrolled for the course was my roomie and they make a good couple!!Anush also joined us for the evening.
The afternoon session is when where we are supposed to go for lion-tiger safari. But we did not want to trouble the poor beasts and instead had a session on Mammals which was a learning experience.During a break in that session we came out and saw the drama of a WASP paralzying a spider,laying eggs inside it and trying to dig in a hole to secure it!! what a drama.. more on it here.. http://deponti.livejournal.com/451434.html
Later in the day another nature trail and some more sighting. But as we are about to start, it drizzled a bit but we procceded. We proceed in a different direction and since it just stopped raining and an overcast october sky didn't do any good to us. We could spot few drongos and barbets and just when the excitement is going down Mohan managed to see and click an EURASIAN EAGLE OWL. Although the pic shows it facing the other side, it's such a a beautiful one. It made our day and we spent quite sometime tracing it as it went into the bushes after we started looking at him. Anush with his sharp eyes was quick to spot it and then he had his belly full and left for home.
We then proceeded to the lake when the heavens thought the otherway and it started pouring. We got drenched and karthik managed to call the resort to send us a vehicle and we all were transported back. On the way back, few of us wished to have some pakods+chai in such a chill weather and Karthik had them ready by the time we got freshened up.We attacked the pakodas and tea... reminded me of Youth hostel treks....! Later, we watched video from the "Life of Birds" and concluded the day.
On the morning of the last day we went for another trial and our list of birds almost doubled on this eventfull day. We saw the malkoha, the cuckoo shrike, the robins....
Interestinlgy, we DISCOVERED a new species of birds. :) In all our nature trials Ramesh used to spot lots of birds, but eventually most of them ended up as Red-vented Bulbuls. The last day was no exception and finally mohan suggested renaming the bubuls as "Ramesh Vented Bubuls" instead of Red vented bubils
The last day had a session on Ubran wild life which was an eye-opener and dispersed the myth we usuallly have that Wild life is only in forests!!. We started to know what a big world we have around. Karthik quoted that he spent 400+ hours watching just a bird from his house window. We learnt lot which I cannot share all here, rather it need to be felt and experienced than read.
With a heavy heart (at least me) we packed off and checked out and reached home.
Now let me differ from what I wrote above. I want to share something I learnt.
~Nature hosts so many miracles that it never ceases to interest you.
~There is so much happening around us that we fail to notice and all we need is an attitude to understand and learn.
~There is never a dull moment in life when you stay close to nature.
~The joy of being with nature is unmatchable and less told and more to be experienced.
~The way you look at things will change and you will start observing minute things and details when you get used to being with nature.
~It's a duty of naturalist to spread the awareness, share knowledge and I promise myself to do so.
~Nature is a delicate web of interdependancies where a distrubance at one palce can make a big impact on lot other. So be sensitive when dealing with nature
~Every living creature (incldues flora & fauna) have a role to play in this world and all of them are equally important. An ANT is as good as a TIGER to me.
~Ultimately the same generic logic applies to be a naturalist- Be curious, Be energetic, Be patient, Be hungry to learn more, Be open to admit NO or say I DON'T KNOW....
There is so much to learn , so much to understand, that once you start exploring or understanding nature you can't help yourself from admiring it. The bonus here is there is never an end to this learning since a life time is not enough to completely understand each and everything thing that constitutes the nature and I am glad I started my journey....
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