Wanderer's Eye

Asian Lady Beetle - An Invasion!

2009-10-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

Harmonia axyridis

"There are around 18 species of ladybird beetles in Ontario, all of which feed on aphids and mealy bugs. However, Harmonia axyridis was considered very effective in eradicating the pest problems associated with crops such as soya. Hence it was introduced into USA and thus entered Canada. Here is an account entailing general information and observations on this beetle. "

Asian Lady Beetle showing the "W" mark on it's pronotum

Asian Lady Beetle is a beautiful ladybird native to eastern Asia. It is easily identified by the “M” or “W” mark – whichever way you see it, on the pronotum (just behind the head). It lives for one to three years, depending on the availability of food and surviving winter several times. When disturbed – or handled – it produces an odor to deter predators, the smell is however insignificant and can be easily washed away. They are gentle and do not bite to humans, but some people are allergic to this beetle.

It was first introduced in USA in the year 1916 to control the pest population of aphids, and after consecutive efforts, it became acclimatized to the area. Thence it ever spread farther, and reached Canada. It is now abundant than the native Ladybird beetles seen around. In Europe as well, the species spread quickly and almost replaced native ladybirds of Britain.

- Photographed at Lake Huron during Summer

This is one of the rather skeptical cases of introducing an exotic species to control the pest population in a certain country. There are failed instance which includes introduction of Cane Toad in Australia, to control the beetle grubs that damaged sugarcane. However, the toad developed taste for the native beetles, and soon became an invasive species. This resulted in a decline in the native insect biodiversity along with receding reptile population due to competition for food.

There are several successful cases of biological control of pest population by exotic species. One of the cases is, in which the cottony cushion scale insect – a pest on citrus trees, was the reason for major loss of the Californian citrus industry. A vedalia beetle and a parasitoid fly were then introduced from Australia to control the pest population. After a few years, the pest was completely controlled by these exotic predators. And the availability of food, in this case, the scale insect, determined the population density of the exotic predator, thus controlling its invasiveness.

Aphids are hemiptera bugs, feeding on plant sap. They reproduce extremely rapidly and thus expand and exploit the food sources available, including crops. Photographed in India.

However, not all such cases are like these. In case of Harmonia axyridis, the beetle was successful in eliminating aphids – a farmer and a gardener’s nightmare. So long as the beetle consumed the aphids, all was okay. But it spread rapidly all over the place, and replaced the native populations of ladybirds – through competition for food. This resulted in a loss of native biodiversity, and that is not good! Also, it is known to damage crops such as grapes.

“Adults feed on grapes in the late fall for sugars to survive during hibernation. However, they get harvested along with the grapes. When crushed with the grapes they impart a musty odor to juice or wine. The odor is because of a compound called methoxypyrazine, which is a stable compound and resistant to heat, fermentation and filtering. ” Timothy E. Martinson et al, The Buzz on Asian Lady Beetles

Albeit these facts, this beetle is still considered a blessing by a farmer – thanks to its gregarious appetite for aphids.

All Ladybird beetles hibernate during winter season. And so, the best time to see them – in their thousands – is during autumn. This is the time when, all of a sudden, they come and land on trees and buildings. They make it into your homes, and are a menace. But they don’t mean to. They are actually seeking shelter from the coming of cold. Therefore, they seek the corners and warm places so as to survive the winter.

“Houses – particularly light colored ones – look like rock faced cliffs to lady beetles in the fall. This has been a minor problem in Central NY since the mid 90s.” Timothy E. Martinson et al, The Buzz on Asian Lady Beetles

Five different morphs as seen during the invasion

Now, you may come across a myriad of colors from orange to red and melanistic forms, and patterns (such as no spots, less spots, dark spots, so on) on these lady beetles marked with an "M" on the pronotum, and thus around fifteen morphs - or more, exist today, out of which, I recorded only five in London ON. These morphs are a result of genetic variation.

In nature the lady beetles shelter in tree crevices, under rocks and in leaf litter. But unfortunately, they land up on big structures like high rise buildings – mistaking them to be trees, and seek shelter in apartments. But worry not, it’s a pleasurable company!

Two, dormant lady beetles inside home

According to my observations, many of these beetles that made into my house died after two weeks. And the ones that were all over the place outside, vanished. I think the death was because of being active throughout the time – thanks to the constant warmth provided by my heater but, no food source. The rest of those who vanished must have sought a protective shelter and slept calmly.

So, after a long winter sleep, the ladybirds rise up and go on a search for mates. This happens during spring time. That’s the time when they congregate again and invade homes – actually, to seek shelter for mating. Thus be the life of these beautiful, yet invasive Ladybirds – Harmonia axyridis.

Thank you for reading!

References:

1. Timothy E Martinson, The Buzz on Asian Lady Beetles, Finger Lakes Vineyard Notes #8, August 12, 2002
http://www.grapesandwine.cals.cornell.edu/extension/edocs/Asian%20Lady%20Beetles%201.pdf

2. Kevin W Ker, Questions and Answers about H. axyridis (Pallas), April Harmonia axyridis Seminar, 2002
http://www.brocku.ca/ccovi/news/Q&A.html

3. Kevin W Ker, Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle – New Insect or just Overlooked in Ontario
http://www.brocku.ca/ccovi/news/Asian_Lady_Beetle_-Harmonia_axy.pdf

4. Catherine R Weeden et al, Biological Control: A Guide to Natural Enemies in North America
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/info/biocont.html

5. Caltagirone, L. E., Doutt, R. L. The History of the Vedalia Beetle Importation to California and its Impact on the Development of Biological Control
http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.en.34.010189.000245

Other websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonia_axyridis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_pest_control

Eastern Gray Squirrel

2009-10-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Sciurus carolinensis

A common mammal of the neighborhood in Canada, it is seen scurrying on parapets and on top of houses, on pine trees and maples. I spent a pleasant time photographing and video-shooting these squirrels.

Here is one of her stance where she curiously and slyly gave me a glance. It is a squirrel native to Eastern and Midwestern USA and southerly Canada. It was introduced in UK and has largely displaced the native Red Squirrel (S. vulgaris). The Gray Squirrel shares its distribution with Fox Squirrel, which is often confused to be a Gray Squirrel. - Wikipedia

From my observations, I found these squirrels fairly common in Mississauga – a suburb of Toronto, and came across several but rather uncommon melanistic forms. The melanistic forms were more conspicuous compared to the common, ordinary squirrels. I also found them to be timid as compared to the latter.

On a contrary, in London ON, I saw a healthy population of the melanistic Eastern Gray Squirrels, about three individuals per one ordinary squirrel. I cannot ascertain why such a difference, but surprisingly, the melanistic squirrels here are not as shy as in Mississauga, and will be often seen sniffing right beside the path. I have seen only two ordinary coated squirrels here.

The melanistic form, which is almost entirely black, is predominant in certain populations and in certain geographic areas, such as in large parts of southeastern Canada. - Wikipedia
It is a typical pose of a squirrel that defines its binomial name. According to Wikipedia, “The genus, Sciurus, is derived from two Greek words, skia, meaning shadow, and oura, meaning tail. This name alludes to the squirrel sitting in the shadow of its tail.”

Given HERE is the video that show’s one of the Squirrel behaviors. The Squirrel sat all cuddled up in the pose in the above picture.

After sensing my presence, this Squirrel started making squeaking and chucking sounds. It started wagging its tail and seemed to tell me “I have seen you!” It is a warning signal that Squirrels all over the world use, in territorial disputes, or in presence of a predator such as a raptor or a snake. This squirrel did not start displaying warning signs until I was pretty close to her (at about 15 feet). I presumed a low profile, laying flat on the ground and making no sudden movements. After a while I stood to my feet and the squirrel – in a fraction of a second – vanished in the trees. This is because she probably thought my stance to be threatening and big. It is obvious and easy to observe this behavior – whether you are in the field or, just gardening in your backyard!

All these squirrels observed were not tamed in anyway and I did not see people feeding them, which is a good thing. They do however visit backyards and eat up the pears and apples! These squirrels are the wild-neighbors who now share their natural habitat with a human habitat. Rest of the wild-neighbor list includes Raccoons, Skunks and Rabbits, and in areas close to woods – White Tailed Deer.

I am glad to have sighted these until now, but never had an opportunity to photograph them. The squirrels, on the other hand, are always present and give you a nice company if you’re alone! I find it amusing to see them chuckle and play around trees and lawns as I walk huddled in a hoodie to the lectureroom.

For more on Eastern Gray Squirrel - HERE (Wikipedia)

For more on Fox Squirrel - HERE (Wikipedia)

And another very interesting documentation on Eastern Gray Squirrel -HERE (Hiker's Notebook)

This is my first post away from India. I squeezed out time to do some natural observations around my base in Canada, and this is the creature that struck me first. Keep watching for more!

Nagla Range - SGNP

2009-08-12T08:04:00.000-07:00

Nagla Block – August 10th, 2009

A fine day to explore! Thought I, and headed to the ST stand on a Sunday morning. The day was bright, sky open and faintly blue. No cloud was in the sight, and the effect of the Sun was already setting in. The air was humid, scarce and smelled of fresh vada paav and chai. It was a busy morning, as usual, with beggars going about their business, students going to tuitions, travelers unloading, workmen rushing, trekkers grouping and drunkards blissfully sleeping. The scene at the city street was as normal as expected, which relieved me. I hoped for some early morning rains but the sky was devoid of it. I sighed and waited for a friend – and we boarded the Virar bound ST. We were heading Nagla Block.
When I think of Nagla Block, I think the word “different” expresses it well. For it is indeed differently beautiful compared to SGNP or Yeoor. Comparing Nagla to the latter places is righteously possible since Nagla is indeed a part of SGNP. Lying north of Vasai Creek, it is thus isolated from the mainland SGNP. It is a place so dense that one can easily get lost in its sheer beauty and what it has to offer. Nagla is a place to be visited during any season, if you can bear the heat and least I forget, mosquitoes.

It is more like Karnala Bird Sanctuary, and the forestlands near shorelines. It harbors a high density of butterflies and birds, famed leopards and other lesser fauna. Nagla is special because of its location, its habitat and its flora. I found Teak to be as abundant here as anywhere in SGNP, although other trees which I could only wonder of were beautifully gracing the sunlight with open arms and at their feet were lined masses of shrubs and herbs and whatnot.

Nagla has an aroma that is different, a scene that is different and the feel to it. It’s undoubtedly different! Done saying that, I was glad to be back, exploring this familiar place at-the-back-of-mind after a long time. There is a tiny village at the base of the Nagla Range, typically made of dung and mud and everyday paving its way into the forest ahead. The guard house is always open, and someone or the other is always at the door to greet familiar faces. Armored with equipments to keep mosquitoes and horseflies at bay, not-to-forget rains, I awaited reaching there, which takes about 30 min from Thane.
The weather cheated at the last minute. And we were standing in a heavy downpour, cursing the very wish of mine but that’s wildlife! I was sure then that the sightings will be even better when it stops. After a while it opened, the light sunned the leaves and all the sun-loving creatures came out of hiding. The trail lasted for several hours, trying to capture all the animals I could, I also cherished the place dearly. I was surprised to find no plastic littering when we wandered away from the village. That was the best part!

One must expect the unexpected here and you will see bizarre and beautiful things all around you. Unfortunately, the rain has been scanty over a period of several weeks. This has hampered the seasonal-cycle of many. Wherever I expected water, that stream lied dried and devoid – except some stagnant ponds harboring the remaining aquatic life. Is it us or El Nino? I gravely ponder.

Photographs:

Commelina - A beautiful shrub of Commelinaceae family. Common during passing of Monsoon.

Cyanotis - Another member of Commelinaceae family.

Begonia - Common Begonia growing wildl on boulders in a dry streambed. It was a beautiful view! Shown beloe is the full-shot of an individual Begonia plant.

Above image shows a colony of Common Begonia flowering plants. A treat to watch during Monsoon months.

Impatiens minor - A common abundant shrub, often covering open patches and neath thick canopies. Seen on every trail during monsoon.

Impatiens balsamina - Another yet common and striking flower of Monsoon. Given below is a full length image of the entire plant. It is easy to identify by only looking at flowers, but the leaf patterns on many are equally important.

Tree Gum - This excessive tree gum was oozing out of an open wound. It had several insects trapped in it.

Unidentified Dragonfly - This dragonfly is probably Neurothemis intermedia.

The above image is that of a beautiful wasp so common around that you might get tired of seeing it! But what's frustrating is clicking it, for it is hardly ever seen in one place. However one best place to find this one is while feeding on flowers like Leea. I was only lucky to see it drenched in the rains and taking a break.

Who hides there? I asked, and tried to get a better view of the above grasshopper. But he was so shy that he did not heed me. Finally I managed this photograph.

Above image shows a grasshopper and a pink aura of Wild Turmeric around it. Fresh monsoon feel.

Katydid - Enough is said about this creature on previous posts. Here it probably was feeding on Commelina, and my presence was not entertained, so it was about to jump away. But I remained brief, and managed this shot.

Spittle Bug Adult - Remember seeing some frothy spit-like thing on plants? It is done by the larva of the above (and below) bug. They were very abundant.

A beetle cleaning or rather wiping itself after morning showers.

Another beetle played hide-and-seek with me!

A caterpillar doing about its morning exercises? No. A caterpillar stuck in spider web? No. It's a caterpillar holding onto it's own silk as rain pushed her down!
Now this is hard to believe, but it is a caterpillar. It is called a Looper caterpillar, that of a moth. The far extended side is the head, while it's hind appendages cling to the green stem.

A Bird-dropping moth, yet unidentified.

Yet another unidentified moth.

Unidentified Skipper. Belongong to Hesperidae, they are kind of moth-like butterflies. Some say they are the pioneers of today's real butterflies. But it's an entire unique family of thise small supersonic butteflies really.

Monkey Puzzle - One of my favourite butterflies! Wonder why such a name? Well, look at it's wings and you will see the puzzle game commonly called monkeypuzzle!

A Crab Spider stations itself on Balsam leaf.

...and another stationed on a different plant succeeded on capturing a honeybee! (Thomisidae)

An Orb-weaver successfully captured this Horsefly. (Araneidae)

A curious Jumping Spider! (Salticidae)
Lastly, a fresh raindrop. A life-giver.

Karjat - An Excursion

2009-08-04T05:58:00.000-07:00

Karjat - 31st July and 1st August, 2009

Sweat trickled down me brow as I awaited the coming of a train with the symbol ‘S’. An hour passed and the train arrived on platform 2, when it was to arrive at 5. Such things happen here that leaves the commuters fuming; nonetheless it did not bother me from being absorbed in the countryside, a dreamy world that shows up only during Monsoon.

Aboard the filthy, hot and cramped train and with a burden on shoulders, I managed to find a place and settled. It was a two hour journey. Two hours of boredom, chaos and waiting. It was that moment when I achieved a seat at the window that I breathed easily. The view out of the window changed dramatically – from tall buildings to slums and from slums to huts. Then followed fields of lush green grass and crops, and mountains called Sahyardis – the northern mountain ranges of Western Ghats, standing tall on the plains of Maharashtra. The weather was warm and humid, cloudy and sticky – a good day to explore Karjat, thought I.

Do not dream, just see – is the thing one must follow while on a trail. And if you are in a dreamland, see more. See as much as you can. I did that, became isolated from the human world made up of bricks and stones (and enjoyed amidst the hounding and hammering that constantly stalked at the back of my mind.

It was those tiny flowers that were hard to be noticed and that tiny ant guarding its nest so bravely that even I could do naught but salute her. It was a chirping Munia and a fishing Kingfisher. It was the South-western winds and the singing of the leaves. Waves on the lake and rush of the streams. It was everything, everything consumed me. I was wholeheartedly obsessed. Dissolved in the depths of the greens, but it was this reality that brought me back. I want to do something for Earth. I have to do something for my home.

The trail around the place was nice and pleasant, with beautiful sightings and some satisfying photographs, yet I thought of something amiss. It was time. With so few hours left I tried to behold all the beauty around me. It is gives me the strength to be strong, and undeterred. I managed a short trail in the night. But it was on the second day that my wish was fulfilled.

While sitting down, bending over and clicking birds at the stream, I got up to change the teleconverter. I wonder why I had to get up, but I did. And I happened to glance below where I sat, casually so, and there it was – flicking its tongue, sensing me, watching me curiously from the thicket. I was as excited as I was nervous. It was a Russell’s viper.

List of Sightings:
Rain was scarce, weather hot and humid, overcast and often windy.
Birds
1. Pied Kingfisher - 4
2. Red Wattled Lapwing - 2
3. Black Kite - 1
4. Pied (Crested) Cuckoo - 1
5. Scaly Breasted Munia - 4
6. Black Shouldered Kite - 1
7. Indian Robin - 3
8. Oriental Magpie Robin - 1
9. Little Cormorant – 1
10. Night Heron – 2
11. Cinnamon Bittern – 1
12. Coppersmith Barbet – 3
13. Cattle Egret in breeding plumage
14. Pond Herons
15. Asian Koel

Some Insects - *Glitch in Blogspot!*
16. Black Stream Glider – 3
17. Common Gull – 2
18. Coromandel Marsh Dart – 1
19. Danaid Eggfly - 4

Reptiles
1. Russell’s viper – 1
2. Garden Lizard – 3
3. Gecko unidentified – 3
4. Skink feeding on ants – 1

Amphibians
1. Rana tigrina – 2
2. Polypedates sp. – 1
3. Fungoid Frog – 1

Insects
1. Plain Tiger - 2
2. Striped Tiger – 2
3. Common Indian Crow – Plenty
4. Blue Tiger laying eggs on Wattakaka volubilis– 1
5. Dark Grass Blue -1
6. Tamil Grass Dart (?) – 1
7. Pseudagrion rubriceps – 3 mating pairs (2 laying eggs) and several individuals
8. Green Marsh Hawk – 1
9. Wandering Glider – Two swarms of around 15 individuals each
10. Trithemis aurora – 3
11. Crimson-tailed Marsh Hawk – 1
12. Ditch Jewel – 4
13. Yellow Bush Dart - 3
14. Senegal Golden Dartlet – 1
15. Bark Mantis – 1
16. Danceflies – 2
17. Camponotus sp. – 2 different species + C. sericeus red morph on Calotropis
18. Mud dauber Wasp – 2
19. Tetraponera rufonigra

Arachnids
1. Daddy Long Legs (Pholcidae)
2. Wolf Spider (Lycosidae)
3. Orb Weaver (Araneidae)
4. Ground Spider (Gnaphosidae)
5. Nursery Web Spider (Pisauridae)
6. Two Tailed Spider (Hersilidae)
7. Jumping Spiders (Salticidae)

Photographs:

Some Garden flowers...

Jatropha podagrica - An ornamental plant showing brilliant red inflorescence, it is in fact native from tropical America. Jewel Bugs (Scutelleridae) are commonly seen on this plant.

Caesalpinia pulcherrima - Another ornamental tree of the gardens.

Some wild flowers...

Vernonia cinerea - A herb of Asteraceae family.
Murdannia (wightii/simplex?) - A small herb with beautifully designed flower can be easily missed. But if only you look carefully will you see it's beauty.

Justicia procumbens - An abundant herb, easily seen during the ongoing season.

Impatiens (balsamina?) - Another common plant, commonly called Balsam. Abundant during Monsoon, even near railway tracks.

Neanotis lancifolia - Another yet beautiful, very small herb dusting the green lawns with pink dots.

Trichodesma indicum - Also called Indian Borag, this herb has many medicinal properties. The photograph was taken in it's natural state. The flowers are always head-down!

Unidentified flower - Probably in the family of Fabaceae. An entire image showing it's entire length is given below.

Few more herbs...

Neanotis lancifolia - I showed the close-up of the flowers. This is a habitat as well as full-length shot of the entire herb.

Unidentified Herb - Many white flowers adorned some patches of grasslands. The leaves were thin and needle-like.

Another Unidentified Herb - This is how the Yellow flowered herb looks like. Any idea which one it it?

Yet another unidentified herb - Many of these small plants were seen just near the lake - and never far from it.

And another tiny herb I failed to identify. This is the smallest and most beautiful of them all. Any idea?

A full-length shot of a flowering grass. The grass in the above image was also very common everywhere.

Flowers and Fruits of grass. Scaly Breasted Munias were seen feeding on it.

From insects to birds...

Camponotus sp. - This ant was cheating! It was feeding on the nectar of Bauhinia. So what's cheating in that? Flowers produce nectar to attract insects and thereby help in pollination. But, look at the image above and below - the ant is going directly to the base of the stamens - thereby getting the nectar without pollinating. That's cheating.
Another Camponotus sp. (above image) seen busying itself on Calotropis. Many were seen at the base of the leaves.

Camponotus sp. are in news again. This time, tending to Aphids (I will speak on it later). So we have Camponotus ants cheating on a flower, doing something 'neath leaves and now tending to Aphids. These ants sure were the most abundant animal at Karjat.

Camponotus sericeus (most probably!) - Catch of the day! This is a Morph of the C. sericeus ants - with a large red head. Also considered rare, it is a brave ant with a determination to bite any intruders. I had mentioned of C. sericeus - Common Golden Ants - in the post on "Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve" June 2009. The above image is clearly distinguishable. I am yet to come across C. sericeus around Mumbai region, so this find made me happy :). The ant in the above image, and several of her sisters were defending a Calotropis plant ferociously. They did not like me around them. I then searched the ground - but none were seen on it. I counted about 4 individuals on Calotropis, one of them was smaller as compared to the image above.

Tetraponera rufonigra - Commonly called Bicoloured Arboreal Ant, it goes by it's common name. A relative of the ant I posted in the latest Yeoor Hills report. It's sting is nasty!

Pseudagrion rubriceps - A beautiful fast damselfly that took a lot of my time running behind them. It was seen at a stream, infact there were so many of these - more damselflies than dragonflies! If you see last year's Karjat post, you will know.
The above picture shows a mating pair of P. rubriceps. The above flying one is a male and the lower one in water is female. They layed eggs on grass blades in the flowing streams with approx. 1 feet deep water. The male never let's the female go to lay eggs separately to avoid other males from mating with her. Thus, he ensures that his progeny survives the future. Took a lot of time to capture this moment. It was worth it!

Ceriagrion coromandelianum - Another damselfly that was seen pretty far from any waterbody - this is very usual of C. coromandelianum.

Trithemis aurora - A male T. aurora carries crimson colour that literally glows. It is a small and cute dragonfly, fond of streams.

Unidentified Dragonfly - The above image shows a female Dragonfly. Dimorphism in sexes is clearly distinguishable in Odonata, and many scientific as well as common names are derrived from the colours displayed by the males - which are most colourful than their counterparts, females which carry a rather drape colour combination.

Trithemis festiva - Another cute and dark blue coloured Libellulid, it is rather fond of forest streams, but there were 3 of these at this rather-open stream.

Can you spot-the-mantis in the above picture? That's a Bark Mantis.

Orthoptera nymph - An interesting find according to me. If you compare the above critter with the Camponotus ants, you might even think that this nymph mimics those ants. That's what I thought. It was sitting pretty on Calotropis leaf, very small in size. I dont think it is that of a Grasshopper (Caelifera), I would strike out Katydid (Tettigoniidae) nymph also. Perhaps it is the nymph of a Cricket (Gryllidae) due to thick femur, tiny visible cerii and my bet.

Danceflies - These really tiny flies, getting nectar out of Neanotis lancifolia, were seen by chance. I happened to lay down to click these pretty flowers being tended by the flies. And by chance, two of them started dancing! Danceflies belong to Empidae. They dont actually "Dance" but their "displays" seem as if they are dancing - as is one of the flies in the image above.

Aphids - Every gardenists' nightmare and every farmer's worst enemy. These tiny rather cute looking bugs are considered pests all over the world. Their size is almost 2 to 3 mm, really small - but it's their sheer number and the way they reproduce that is of concern to us. They give birth to live young ones, and u will see many of these as tiny yellow dots in the image above. Aphids belong to Hemiptera - and feed on plant sap. Ants tend to these bugs for their sugary excretions, and thus get protected in return. Many were seen on Calotropis.

Mud Dauber Wasp -A mommy wasp was busy bringing food for her youngones in her home. Mud dauber wasps are one of the extremely nice mum wasps. They build a "nest" like in the picture above and lay eggs. Then they go to hunt for food such as insects, sting them and thereby paralyse them - and bring them back to their nest. The paralysed prey do not die, they just can not move. After stacking the nest with enough food material...see the next image.

...the Wasp closes the door to her nest, and flies off. Now the home contains lots of food and eggs. The eggs hatch - devour the prey - break open the locked house - and fly away.
A Nettle Caterpillar - Probably that of Limacodidae, those thorny spines can give a nasty sting.

An unidentified moth so small and so intricately designed...

Agaristinae sp. - A pretty moth very common during Monsoon, the last Yeoor Hills post contained it's picture. This time, it was attracted by the light and preferred posing in the above manner. The image below show's it's upper-wings.

Plain Tiger - A very common, beautiful butterfly basking in the sun.

Dark Grass Blue - A tiny Lycaenid butterfly.

Danaid Eggfly - Male - Very common during this season. Males are territorial and are often seen shooing away rival males. Its a treat to watch these butterflies "fight", for it seems as if they are dancing!

Common Gull - Seen here sipping nectar off Lantana camara. A weed that got so used to our forests that it is not surprising to see it in dense forests. It is one serious insect attractant and a good one to experiment photographing butterflies. Also used abundantly in "Butterfly Gardens".

Common Indian Crow - Seen here getting "that extra potion". The damaged plant is Heliotropium indicum. If you read SGNP report posted in July 2009, you will know for sure.
Above image is a close-up of Eulpoea core on H. indicum
Above image is that of a "Spider Retreat" rather a house of a spider. It was small and covered by a thin layer of silk, like a door - probably to keep rain away.

Two-tailed Spider - Belongong to Hersilidae, these "bark" dwelling spiders are excellent camouglage. This fellow was photographed in the night. Commonly called so because of two "Tail" like projections at the end of the abdomen, which is in fact two spinnerets - from where Spiders spin their silk.

Hanging by own silk? - A title suiting the above picture, only thing is it doesnt mean the spider commited suicide. It is actually a Spider-molt. Lets not forget spiders are Arthropods - and to live, they must molt. The above molt was that of a Nursery Web Spider, Family Pisauridae (See SGNP June 2009 Post).

Daddy-long Legs! - A common sight, eeky and... ugly. No way one likes them walking on them! But worry not! They are our friends! Keep mosquitoes and dust away, however spoil the decor of home. They are tiny and may seem brain-less but are loving mothers. Will guard the eggs as well as spiderlings dearly.

Rana tigrina - a big fat frog, put on the brink of near extinction, thanks to our apetite for frog legs! Things have changed now, however. This fellow still has a future.

...and a small froggy!

Polypedates sp. - A Tree Frog. It was nicely perched high on a pipeline, and we were extensively searching for it in the thickets!

Rana malabarica - Commonly called "Fungoid Frog" since it "emits" a kind of fungi-like smell. I have never observed it. A Western Ghat endemic, it is one of the beautiful frogs seen around Mumbai. It was high on my wish list, higher still during night trail, but I stumbled across this fellow sheltered in a concrete hole on the next day. You always find the unexpected in unexpected places. This is what makes wildlife an addiction.

Unidentified Gecko - Perhaps a Bark Gecko? I have no idea.

Skink - Probably Brahminy Skink - beautifully jucilicious for snakes. It was seen licking its lips after a nice snack of ants!
Daboia russelii: Russell's Viper - Dream come true!
...and it vanished into rocks.

Black Shouldered Kite - Seen hovering over the lake.

Little Cormorant - Shot late in evening.

Mystery bird - I bet on Pied Cuckoo.

Indian Robin - A juvenile, seen feeding on the ground.

Fence - Something that separates us from nature.

Landscapes...

Goats feasting on lush green grass. A merrry sight, but mere sign of destruction. It is of growing concern to the Forest Depts., keeping shepherds at bay from the Protected Areas.

...a lone tree standing tall at the edge of a hill. Hope this is not a common scene in years to come...

Water summed upon forestland by the Dam.

Goodbye :)

Yeoor Hills - 4th Trail

2009-07-28T22:50:00.000-07:00

Yeoor Hills - 24th July 2009
This was a fourth trail at Yeoor Hills. If you tread across all the four trails, you will find a considerable difference in the sightings. It was an interesting trail and as usual, we learnt more as we discovered.

Photographs:
Orthosiphon rubicundus: A tall herb with beautiful inflorescence, it is used in medicines in India. It attracts a lot of butterflies. Above is the photograph of the entire inflorescence, and below is an image of a single flower.

Impatiens minor - Also called Lesser Balsam, it is one of the monsoon flowering shrubs growing hardly 10 - 15 cm. The flower is very small but dots open forest surfaces in white and Purple shades.
Justicia procumbens - Another tiny beauty that dots the forest floor at Yeoor, it is also commonly called as Water Willow.
Polyrhachis sp.? - This image was taken on 21st June (Yeoor - Day 2 Report). I identified it as a Polyrhachis sp. According to a website dedicated to Insects, "Polyrhachis is one of the largest and most diverse ant genera in the old world tropics. These insects are closely related to the cosmopolitan genus Camponotus, but are often ornamented with protective spines. Polyrhachis is found in many different habitat types and show a wide variety of nesting behaviors. Species in the subgenus Cyrtomyrma are weaver ants, nesting in folded leaves held together with larval silk. Others nest in the soil, in rotting wood, or arboreally. One Australian species even inhabits intertidal mud flats and can swim." - Source http://www.myrmecos.net/formicinae/polyrhachis.html
Above is a tighter crop of Polyrachis sp. Identified by their armoured, flat body and spiny petiole.
Camponotus (compressus?) - The above image probably shows a Major Worker of Camponotus sp. As everyone is familiar with the caste system of Ant colony - Queen and Drone, Workers and Soldiers, so on... there is sub-caste system also - literally distinguishing worker ants based on their size and shape. Thus, there are minor, median and major workers.

Tetraponera (allaborans?) - An arboreal ant, this glossy cute little ant with big eyes can be identified up to the genus level by only looking at it. It's slender body, a uniquely shaped gaster and the walking pattern tell us that it is Tetraponera. This perticular ant will always scan the leaf edges - as also seen in the above picture. I noticed several individuals on approx. 30 cm plants.

Tapinoma sp. - A really tiny ant, photographing it through a digi-cam becomes impossible. In the above photograph, you will notice small ants on a dead moth which was probably preyed upon by a spider. Tapinoma sp. of ants are also called Odour ants since they give out a specific odour, wikipedia notes that odour as that of "pungent coconuts". The species sessile is the highly distributed of all, also commonly seen at homes.

For more on it - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapinoma_sessile

Leafhoppers - Many of these infested Teak trees (picture above), belonging to the order Hemiptera and family Cicadallidae, they are also commonly referred to as Hoppers. A closer look at this bug is given below:

Fly - Another interesting but gross looking fly. It probably belongs to Bombyliidae - I am not sure. It was big in size. And uglier. But none the less a curious creature of the woods!

Grasshopper - A common creature, so green in colour and so fresh - it reflects the moods of Monsoon. Grasshoppers live in well vegetated forests and feed on leaves (some may also feed on other insects). Grasshoppers (Family Caelifera) are one of the members of Order Orthoptera which contains the following other members:

Katydid - Family Tettigoniidae, commonly also called as Bush-cricket, they are the cousins of Grasshoppers. They prefer living just like Grasshoppers, in a well vegetated forest and feed on leaves. Distinguished easily from grasshoppers by a rounded abdomen, extremely long and thin antennae and thin legs as compared to the grasshoppers. A misnomer for these is "longhorn grasshoppers", although they are not grasshoppers, but even closely resemble Crickets (see below).

PS. It has a broken leg - not my mistake! :(

Cricket (Family Gryllidae)- A creature of darkness, they wander out in the open during dark and prefer to live well hidden during day time - such as under stones and fallen logs. They are easily distinguished by a strong and stout body, stong hindlegs as compared to grasshoppers and katydids. They are omnivorous and may also devour their own dead.

An interesting note from Wikipedia - "Crickets are popular as a live food source for carnivorous pets like frogs, lizards, tortoises, salamanders, and spiders. Feeding crickets with nutritious food in order to pass the nutrition onto animals that eat them is known as gut loading. In addition to this, the crickets are often dusted with a mineral supplement powder to ensure complete nutrition to the pet."

Otheris sp. - A large moth that was seen resting in a thicket, it measured atleast two inches in length. It belongs to Noctuidae, Catocalinae. The hindwings of this moth are bright orange with two black spots.

Agaristinae sp. - A beautiful moth, this specimen was damaged though.

Yellow Orange Tip: Ixias pyrene - A wet season form of the male.

Common Indian Crow: Euploea core - A beautifully dark butterfly very common all around us.

Common Bushbrown - Hard to give it's specific name, the Wet Season Form of it looks beautiful!

Long Brand/ Dark Brand Bushbrown - An unidentified species, this fellow was larger than the earlier image. The Wet Season Forms come on the darkest of the colour combinations, and most beautiful ones at that.

Land Crab - Several big land crabs are seen walking on the forest trails. After a few days of heavy rains, the baby crabs come out of their mother's nursery. This is one of those babies, hardly measuring a cm.

Wolf Spider - I had pleasure photographing this tiny Wolf Spider. It was really small and well camouflaged against the cement pipe. After seeing the image did I notice it feeding on something! Wolf Spiders are interesting spiders and easily identified by those typical eye-pattern - Two large eyes on top and four lined below it, and two more just behind the two large ones. They are ambush hunters and do not make webbed homes.

Spitting Spider - Belonging to Scytodidae, they are one of my favourite spiders. I was lucky to find good sized fellows - healthy and strong ones - which make it easier for my camera to capture the details. The above image shows the spider typically sitting 'neath the leaf surface, however they usually fold a leaf and stay inside it.

Spitting Spider (Scytodidae) preying on an Orb Weaver (Araneidae): This was the most interesting documentation of a Spider-related-foodchain. Spitting Spiders do not build webs like Orb Weavers, so this Spitting Spider had probably captured an Orb Weaver unawared - outside its web. Spitting Spiders are aptly named, since they truly spit. However, their range is within 20mm, so capturing an Orb Weaver from it's Orb-shaped-web is an impossible task. Hence it's my theory that this poor Orb Weaver was on the leaf-surface, unaware of the danger. The fight and the struggle for the survivor of the fittest must have been fascinating!

Lynx Spider (Oxyopes superbus?)(Above and below): Two beautiful brightly coloured Lynx Spiders, unidentified as yet, were seen feeding on Hoppers (we spoke of earlier). Many hoppers = ample opportunity = plenty prey = full tummy = happy spider = good photograph!

Giant Wood Spider: Nephila sp. - A wonderful Giant of the Webs is a common sight after the onset of monsoon. This is the season for smaller ones, and as days grow older and monsoon comes to an end, they will be in their biggest of sizes. A full grown Nephila will build webs at great heights. Many fear these spiders for their size - but let me tell you, they are harmless. And beautiful, not to forget. The males are very tiny and often confused to be spiderlings.

Dome/Tent Spider - Belonging to the family Araneidae, this spider however does not make the typical Orb Web. It makes a rather unusual and beautiful form of web that is shaped as a dome. The spider rests just below it's dome. This dome shaped web is often changed as it gets damaged. Above image shows a beautiful coloured Dome Spider in it's home. The image below show's another Dome Spider - probably different species as the above one - that has captured a Horsefly (we spoke on, on previousYeoor Post) - an example of how Spiders help control pest population.

Crab Spider - Of the Thomisidae family, this one is the most unusually shaped fellow Crab Spider I have ever seen. Unidentified as yet.

Unidentified Frog - There were many tiny frogs near a stream (where the Wolf Spider was photographed).

Lastly, an image depicting hope, wish and blessings for this beautiful, common yet uncommon, easily underestimated place. It is in your eyes to see beauty, for beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

Matheran - Clouded in Mists

2009-07-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

Matheran - 11th and 12th July 2009

Introduction

I have already written twice about Matheran during August 2008. I visited this place again this year, just to enjoy and learn what Monsoon brings with her.

Matheran literally means “a forest on top”. It is a small hill station, smallest in the northern Western Ghats, about 7.2 sq. km in area. It is well connected from Mumbai as well as Pune – and hence attracts a lot of tourists. It is a place developed long ago by the British, and since then it is an escapade for holiday goers, trekkers and naturalists.

Matheran comes under the Economic Sensitive Area, it is a category of conservation areas that is more flexible and open than present day Protected Areas (Wild Life Sanctuaries and National Parks); which face pressures beyond their resilience power and thus are vulnerable to ecological degradation. It does not prohibit livelihoods except from hazardous industries. The Matheran ESA encompasses 214.73 sq. km area, in and around it and 200m buffer zone. More than 60% of Matheran comes under reserved forest category.
Reference - www.rupfor.org/downloadq/casestudy_ankur_patwardhan.pdf

An Account

Before we went Matheran, one of my friends made a detailed plan of places we were to visit. But it is in the law of Murphy; nothing goes as easily as planned. Instead of reaching Matheran at 9, we reached by 11. It was discouraging enough, but we still decided to visit Lords Point and Hart Point. It was a fine view, with south-west monsoon winds carrying moisture-laden clouds to these lands and bathing it in gallons of water – giving a new look to the forests.

Matheran is very populated during this season. There is nothing like an “off season”. When it pours, it pours tourists to this place too. People come here to enjoy the rain, the waterfalls and leave behind traces of heaps of garbage. Matheran is an example of failed tourism coordination. The hotels have increased tremendously and randomly as more and more tourists come to this hill station. There is no ban on the use and disposal of plastics. There is no ban on feeding monkeys and lastly no police to patrol the place!

The tourism industry of Matheran is shaped haphazardly. It is this that is exerting pressure on the wild flora and fauna of the place. Albeit all of this, Matheran is yet an excellent place for nature enthusiasts – be it flora or fauna. And Monsoon brings out everything if you have an eye for one. I hope it lasts for eternity.

It was pouring heavily on the first day, but we had some common sightings. It was in the night that many creatures wandered out – and was the best night trail ever. The next day was fine, except that I was totally burdened by my heavyweight sack!

The sightings were scarce, but many of these were top on my wish-list.
List of Sightings

Birds
1. Malabar Whistling thrush – sighted and heard
2. White rumped shama

Insects
1. Cicadas
2. Glow worm
3. Leaf beetles
4. Diacamma rugosum
5. Scorpionfly
6. Stick Insect
7. Tiger beetles – 3 types
8. Common Gull
9. Common Rose

Arachnids
1. Theraphosidae spider (tarantula) - 3
2. Unidentified spider – 1 – Theridiidae?

Annelids
1. Earthworms
2. Leech

Amphibians
1. Eel – Monopterus sp. Family Synbrachidae
2. Ramanella sp.
3. Philautus sp.
4. Common Indian toad

Reptiles
1. Vine snake – 5
2. Bamboo pit viper – 2
3. Forest calotes – 1
4. Deccan Banded Gecko – 1
5. Brook’s Gecko – 1

Mammals
1. Macaque
2. Tree Shrew - 1

Photographs

Tylophora sp. indica (?)
Buttresses of a giant tree. It was a massive tree on the side of a wrong path which we took. We are lucky to have such giants stretching out to the skies, still. The buttress roots prevent the tree from falling. Trees growing with shallow roots or poor soil usually show these types of roots. The buttress roots dont bore deep but usually remain well near the surface. A Mushroom that caught our eye. It was bang in the middle of the unused path. Mushrooms are the dead-eaters, like how bacteria help break down animal products, mushrooms are one of the decomposers of dead plant material such as the tree-trunk. Monsoon is the best season to look out for them. They come in various shapes, sizes and colours.
Stick Insect - A well camouflaged Stick Insect did not escape our eyes. Stick Insects belong to Phasmatodea Order, They chew onto the food - such as leaves - which distinguish them with the true bugs of Hemiptera that have sucking mouthparts. The eggs of Stick Insects closely resemble seeds, and are capable of waiting for a year before they hatch, depending on the suitable weather. A female stick insect - Phobaeticus serratipes is the longest living insect today.
Unidentified Ant - An ant about 15 mm in size, with wings on top was resting on the wall of the hotel. Ants with wings are either fertile male or females - in accurate terms - drone or a queen. They are the pioneers of a new colony. The "winged" ants fly out at of the nest, much like "winged" termites, and wander far off to mate and establish a new colony. However, in some species, the Queens are wingless and Males possess wings - but males are very small compared to the Queens. The Queens can live upto several years while males mate, eat and die early.

But things are not so pretty as they seem. There is more than meets the eye.

"Parasitic ant species enter the colonies of host ants and establish themselves as social parasites; species like Strumigenys xenos are entirely parasitic and do not have workers, but instead rely on the food gathered by their Strumigenys perplexa hosts. This form of parasitism is seen across many ant genera, but the parasitic ant is usually a species that is closely related to its host. A variety of methods are employed to enter the nest of the host ant. A parasitic queen can enter the host nest before the first brood has hatched, establishing
herself prior to development of a colony scent. Other species use pheromones to confuse the host ants or to trick them into carrying the parasitic queen into the nest. Some simply fight their way into the nest.
A conflict between the sexes of a species is seen in some species of ants with the reproductives apparently competing to produce offspring that are as closely related to them as possible. The most extreme form involves the production of clonal offspring. An extreme of sexual conflict is seen in Wasmannia auropunctata, where the queens produce diploid daughters by thelytokous parthenogenesis and males produce clones by a process where a diploid egg loses its maternal contribution to produce haploid males that are clones of the father." - Wikipedia, for more - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AntDiacamma (sp. rugosum?) - It is an ant with a golden sheen, the workers of which scout the forest floor singly. Earlier I spoke about the Queens and Drones, but these specific ants - of the Subfamily Ponerinae - lack a Queen! They have a Queenless ant colony, a lesser known fact in today's academia. Usually, gamergates - female workers who have mated, produce the offsprings. The gamergates will either mate inside the colony, or with an outsider. Lesson to be learnt, the Ant Colony is as complex as a human society. Glowworm - One needs luck to see it, which comes easily in the night than during the day. This glowworm had a glow at it's bottom (the lower right corner is the bottom). Too bad I could not manage any shot without flash to display the glow - thanks to its constant movement and the rain. There are several larva of insects that are commonly called Glowworms, but the Order with many Glowworms is Coleoptera - Beetles. In Coleoptera - two families viz, Lampyridae and Rhagophthalmidae are known from Asia to produce light, in larval or adult stage. The photograph above is that of a female Firefly that has retained it's larval shape.

The females use it to attract males * Needs Citation. The light is is bioluminiescent - produced biologically with the help of a pigment Luciferin.

Unidentified Blister Beetle - A beetle belonging to Meliodae - well known for producing a blister-causing pigment. It was with an unusually long neck, seen on the night trail. He was fond of my umbrella and was trying to get on it no-matter-what! He was a curious little creature, probably attracted towards the torch. Or it wanted to bite me?!Unidentified Cat-legged Spider * needs citation - Of the Theraphosidae family, the infamous "Tarantulas" are healthily present at Matheran. Stumbling upon one on the path at night is probable than finding one in the day. It is a big spider, and a primitive one at that. Tarantula is a term coined abroad, literally meaning "Bird-eating-spider, and it is usually referred to as the same in India too. There are 49 endemic species of Tarantulas in India. They have small eyes, situated on top of the prosoma (Cephalothorax), just above the chelicerae (fangs). They dont have a good vision, and can only distinguish between light and darkness. The greatest sense is the sense of touch - thanks to those hairy legs - the Cat-legged Spider can detect vibrations on ground and in air. These spiders pose no threat to humans in any way - unless you agitate them, however their bite does not kill a person.

For more on Indian theraphosids, this research paper freely available on the internet is very interesting and helpful for Spider maniacs - Common Names of South Asian Theraphosid Spiders

This baby Tarantula, a spiderling was seen taking shelter in an abandoned home during heavy downpour at daytime. it was hardly an inch and very cute!

Here is another Tarantula picture (above) showing the hairy abdomen. Why was I so eager to see the baby's bum? Well, tarantulas, when agitated, rub their hind limbs against the abdomen, releasing these hairs. These hair when enter the nose cause a lot of irritation, and if by chance pierce the skin - an allergic reaction. The hair are extremely small so getting them off is impossible.
Cob-web Spider - The name "cob-web spider" is a misnomer, this spider most probably belongs to Theridiidae Family, they are very common yet lesser known, small and ugly looking spiders that make up untidy webs. They prefer dark corners and are also seen inside houses. But dont underestimate them for they are the ones who help in keeping mosquito and fly population in check! The spider photographed was about 40 mm in length. Theridiidae family is well known because of the Black Widow Spider which is considered clinically significant. The bite of this spider does have a serious allergic reaction. However, the photographed species is not identified and is probably not dangerous.

Synbranchidae Eel - An interesting find without upturning the stones, this Eel first startled us - it was a Caecilian for us until Andrew Arunabha Rao, an expert, wrote me regarding the true identity of this elusive creature.

Here is an excerpt of the e-mail:

"Two days back you posted a pic of a caecilian type which you shot at Matheran. This is actually an Eel of the genus Monopterus or Amphipnous. Basically, there are two types in the Western Ghats : Monopterus fossorius & Monopterus indicus. The former the rarer of the two is reported from Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala, standard length : 23 cm and the latter from Robber's cave, Mahableshwar, Maharashtra, standard length 8.5 cm. The status for both species is RARE.

The photo taken by you is of a Monopterus or an Amphipnous. These two groups although recently lumped together, are very distinct and deserved to be recognised at the generic level or even higher. Each of them has subterranean as well as surface-dwelling species like Monopterus albus, Amphipnous cuchia which grow pretty large upto 90 cm or more and often find themselves being sought after as 'medicine' food. Thought to do wonders for blood ailments. The specimen seen in the photo could very well be a subterranean species.

At this moment I cannot tell whether it is an undescribed species. The first things is to find out whether it is a Monopterus or an Amphipnous. Amphipnous invariably has small, more or less regularly overlapping scales, while Monopterus are always without scales. In Amphipnous cuchia the entire body is covered with scales. In subterranean forms usually only the posterior part of the body -- but usually as far forward as the vent -- is covered with scales."

These scaleless "fishes" live most of their life underground, and hence very less is known about them such as their feeding behaviour, breeding, offsprings and even their distribution.

Ramanella sp. - A cute little frog, Ramanella is a genus of Microhylidae they are commonly seen in rainwater ponds, croaking in the night. They have characteristic discs on their fingers but lack it on their toes. The above picture shows one in an ankle deep puddle, croaking. The below picture is of the one seen on the path. They tend to swell up if touched (as in the picture below), or press flat against the ground.

Philautus sp. - Commonly called Bush Frog or Shrub Frog, they are abundant at Matheran and will make their presence felt on the path. Their constant croaking and superfast vanishing (jumping, really) makes one run for their money!

An interesting note on Wikipedia - This genus is unique in that there is direct development, with all growth inside the egg and no free swimming tadpole stage. Some species have been found to bury their eggs in soil although they are arboreal and others attach their eggs to leaves.

Duttaphytnus melanostictus - A very common toad all around the country side. Very rare in cities now. It was once so common at my residence, now there are no toads surviving here, forget frogs. It is another common fellow to come onto the path at Matheran. Using torch at night is very important you are likely to step on one.
Banded Ground Gecko: Geckoella sp. (deccanensis?) - A treat to the eyes, this beautiful ground gecko rushed on the path through my feet. I first thought it to be the toad, but a glance of it running into the thicket left me mezmerized. We are well accustomed to geckos in our houses and gardens, those dull coloured, easily camouflaged fellows everyone dislikes. This gecko sure took my breath away! This beautiful lizard was an icing on the cake. A first timer for me. They are nocturnal and hunt on the ground - hence the name. They are quick and good hunters.
Green Vine Snake: Ahaetulla nasuta - A common resident of Matheran, yet so uncommon that only keen and trained eyes can spot it. A beautiful snake, it is also commonly referred to as Whip Snake. It is semi-venomous, meaning it causes a mild allergic reaction if bitten. They are arboreal but will use ground to go onto an unreachable tree. Their main diet is frogs, lizards and insects - some are also recorded eating other snakes and small birds. The above picture was taken during a night trail, in a dense bush. It was foggy and raining.

The above picture is that of another Vine snake seen on the second day trail. It was raining and this guy was sitting motionless just besides the path. It had this waterdrop hanging from it's snout... so beautiful!

The above image is of a cute little Vine Snake, barely measuring 30 cms. It was small and aggressive yet very adorable - cutest Vine Snake I've ever seen!

Bamboo Pit Viper: Trimeresurus gramineus - Another beautiful reptile of Matheran, the Bamboo Pit Viper is a venomous viper seen in Southern India. It is a creature known for patience and ambush. They lie in wait just above ground level for a passing prey such as a lizard, frog or a bird and strike with lightening speed. It measured approximately 35 - 40 cm. The above image was taken in its natural, undisturbed pose.
A side-view of the Bamboo Pit Viper lying in wait for food. This was another fellow seen just besides the path, lying in wait of a passing prey. Here you can see the "turns" on it's body, and how the forked branch is holding its weight. He will lie like for for several hours! It measured approximately 30 cm. The above image was taken in a natural, undisturbed pose.

Another image of the Bamboo Pit Viper, after it sensed us around, he started changing the path and going upwards. It is not an aggressive snake, but can bite if agitated.

The above is the last image of a pit viper - known for it's heat-sensing pits. Those two holes just below the eyes are the heat-sensing pits. The vision of Bamboo Pit Vipers is not so good, so they depend on a "third eye" and that's those pits. They make the snake see a "thermal image" of either a cold or a warm object. Just adjacent and a little below the heat sensing pits are the nostrils unlike us, snakes "smell" through their forked tongue. Those eyes are typical of a nocturnal hunter, but it's those pits that set this extreme predator apart from others. Amazing creature!

Bonnet Macaque: Macaca radiata - The menance of Matheran, they can, however, be subtle and loving. We observed this mother and child for a long time as we sipped our chai. Many tourists also noticed them and took their pictures. It was her restless kid. In this photograph, she was seeing her other troop members while her kid was busy playing with himself. Adorable monkeys!

Landscapes of Matheran:

While going Garbet Point

From Lords Point

While going Garbet Point

While going Porcopine Point

The last image shows the back size of the Bazaar (just before u hit the main Bazaar) taken on the way while going Garbet Point. The tiny white dots on the cliff are garbage - plastics and everything else. So if you ever wonder where they dump your waste plastics you left in your hotel room, it's down there in the valley. It was a revelation so bare and sad.

Kille Mahuli

2009-07-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

Mahuli - 19th July 2009
A Nature Trail was organized by WWF MSO, India to Mahuli. Mahuli is a fort, the highest point in Thane district at 2815 feet. The forest surrounding Mahuli Fort has been declared as a sanctuary – Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary. The place is dominated by semi deciduous forests, and gives a different picture in wet and dry seasons. It is near Asangaon – a station on the Central Railway line, which easily connects Asangaon to Mahuli. The State transport bus service is an economic way to reach the Mahuli Gaon (from Asangaon), but there are auto-rickshaws that might take you there too. However, having own vehicle will save a lot of effort.

The climb to the fort is considered tough and tougher during wet season. But it is a favorite destination for serious trekkers. It is also flocked by picnickers during monsoon to enjoy the abundance of free water in the shape of streams, rivers and waterfalls. Last but not the least, it is a favorite sought after destination for nature enthusiasts whether the season is dry or wet.

Mahuli is still a less known place amongst the masses, and I’m glad it is. The tourism has not taken a serious shape here, if you compare it with Matheran. But signs of destruction are yet everywhere, and that sign is plastic.
On my short trail at the base of the Fort, I came across heaps of garbage. In fact there was more plastic than any insect at certain places. This can be due to excess tourists visiting this place to enjoy the result of monsoon, but it is serious. There is a temple at the beginning of the climb to the waterfall, with all the four sides of its walls covered in plastic. One reason for this – school children who come for picnic, who are unaware of their habit, throw plastic bags outside. This needs to change. Second reason – people who feel bored or dirty of carrying plastic with them prefer to throw it, for example – I saw people eating food and throwing the plastic that once carried their dabbas into the river! Third reason – no one picks it up. If you do not belong to the first two reasoning types, you certainly belong to the third. Let us be more humane, and add a fourth dimension to protect nature – a reason to practice what we learn – to pick up that plastic littering the forest floor. I heard people complaining of that littered forest, how bad it look, how bad people can be and so on, but none made an effort to bend and lift that plastic. This is what needs to be changed. We are good people we do not litter, but we are not better than them either. I did a little effort of picking up plastic and shoving it in my bag, but that effort was negligible. If many hands do it, imagine how nice the forests will look.
The vegetation of Mahuli is beautiful and hides a lot of fauna in her cover. There were so many moths, butterflies and beetles that I failed to capture each and every one of them. Yet I came home satisfied with what I sighted, although it was not the best of the sightings one expects from Mahuli. We were very short of time, and were delayed by unforeseen glitches – no ST buses, not enough rickshaws, etc. Yet in these couple of hours, I felt fresh as a flower, strong as a tree, and learned as everyone else. This is a small report of the sightings Mahuli offered me, and I offered her my little help. I yearn to return to her again!

Photographs:

Vitex negundo - It is a common shrub common along roadside and river banks. It is a food-plant of Death's Head Hawkmoth. This shrub attracts a lot of butterflies, and thanks to the Vitex bloom, I was lucky to find many butterflies on it. - Reference - Common Indian Wild Flowers by Issac Kehimkar pp.98

Leea indica - A small tree that blooms during Monsoon, also attracts many butterflies. We saw more than 20 butterflies on a single tree feeding on it's flowers. It was a sight to watch! It is, as it is clear, a strong butterfly attractant, but other insects such as Beetles and Weevils, Bees and flies and spiders that come to prey on these are commonly seen on Leea.

Cleome sp. - These tiny flowers dot the forestfloor and give it a refreshing feel. They are commonly seen during Monsoon, in forest clearings. The herb is very small, hardly measuring 10 cm.

Jasmine: Jasminum malabaricum - A Jasmine smells as nice as it sounds. It is one of my favourite flowers (the name of the plant even!). Jasmine was also in bloom along the road.

Breynia retusa - A beautiful plant, the flowers and seeds of which resemble Cup-and-saucer, hence the common name also. It is the most commonest sight during Monsoon at SGNP, Yeoor and other places.

The above image is of an interestingly dead plant. The brown support is actually a dried fruit, on which the seeds have probably sprouted. After a few days, this dried support will fall off and give the seeds to rise up through the earth. It is so fascinating to see the mother plant, still caring for her plant-lings, even after death! Being on the parent plant itself provides these sprouts enough sunlight than might reach the ground. Not only that, but they will not have to compete with other plants until they are tall enough. Up there - on the mother plant - they get water through rain and nourishment from their mother. That's a strategy to compete in the world of plants!

A snail seen crossing a strong current of water in a stream.

Camponotus sp.? - There were many ants including Major as well as Minor workers tending to some "Hemipteran" nymphs, probably that of Hoppers. One small nymph is seen just near the mouth of the topmost, up-side-down ant. Many Hoppers excrete excess sugar from the body, which is loved by Ants, and thus get protection from the ants.
Leaf Beetles - A pair of these were seen hiding behind the leaves.

Many moth caterpillars were seen all over Lea and Teak. This peculiar pose of the caterpillar is a "threatning" display. They raise their head and rock it, and regurgigate the eaten material. Its a gross sight, so many predators would possibly keep away!
Another interesting sight was a moth caterpillar making a cocoon. Many moth families make cocoon, before transforming into a pupa. It is woven around in silk, keeping enough room for the caterpillar to transform inside it's new home, safely.
On a contrary, butterfly caterpillars do not make a cocoon. They directly transform into a "naked" pupa, as seen in the above picture. However, this pupa never survived - the milky white patch on the pale pupa is fungus.
Phazaca sp. - A moth belonging to Uraniidae, the family of Uranid moths.

Parasa herbifera - A small moth that would possibly go unnoticed, was resting on a wall. It belongs to Limacodidae, the family known for its "nettle" caterpillars.

Bright Babul Blue: Azanus ubaldus - A small Lycaenid, only one specimen was seen feeding on Vitex flowers.

Plum Judy: Abisara echerius - The only species belonging to Riodinidae is seen in-and-around Mumbai. It is a beautiful butterfly with plum and purple colours. The above and below photographs are of the same male specimen.

Pioneer: Belenois aurota - Also called Caper White, I had always wanted to photograph it. Identified easily by it's "hockey" shaped mark on the forewing, bordering the outer margin of the cell (just above the head, in the picture), it is not as common as Common Gull.

Chocolate Pansy: Junonia iphita - A common pansy, here it was sitting on my pant, absorbing the salts - a good sign that I must wash my pant. Image below shows it's proboscis in action.

The bent tube in front of it's leg is the probiscis. It was extracting the salts so eagerly, that it didnt mind my camera just beside it!

Lemon Pansy: Junonia lemonias - A pretty and common Pansy, it was seen feeding on Leea and Vitex. Whats unual or not hardly observed is shown in the photograph below.

The above picture is a tight crop of Lemon Pansy, showing "flies" resting on it. I took several pictures of this pansy over a period of 5 mins, and these flies seemed to have "settled", in the sense, they were not flying around it. They were probably only saving their energy and riding on a butterfly - or they were parasitic? No idea.Common Leopard: Phalanta phalanta - It is a beautiful brightly coloured nymphalid, it was the commonest one seen at Mahuli. Even P. phalanta were seen puddling on sweat and cowdung. They were seen feeding on Vitex and Leea also.

Painted Lady: Vanessa carudi - A beautiful and common nymphalid throughout, only one specimen was seen at Mahuli.I managed to click it feeding on Vitex, up close :)

Peacock Pansy: Junonida almana - A beautiful nymphalid but not so beautifully captured. I managed this horrid record of Peacock Pansy feeding on Vitex. A beautiful butterfly!

Great Eggfly: Hypolimnas bolina - Another nymphalid, it was resting nicely on a rock just beside the road. It was the eyes of curious nature enthusiasts who saw it. Thanks to them :)Crab Spider - A tiny Crab Spider was sitting on a bare branch. Perhaps lost, it was looking worried and not so happy by my presence. Crab Spiders are known for their camouflage and will prefer flowers to dissolve into the environment. This fellow was probably blown away by the wind and managed to crashland on this dry twig. Tiny spiders are light enough to glide in the wind. By releasing a long strand of silk in the wind, they easily get carried away by its force but land at undetermined places. This sort of transport is seen in tiny spiderlings. Perhaps it is used by Crab Spiders too?Lynx Spider - A very common spider throughtout the year, here it is seen guarding it's eggsac.

Harvestman - A common occurance during Monsoon, also commonly called "Daddy Long Legs" and also commonly confused to "Daddy Long Legs spider" of Pholcidae. Some species are considered as a good indicator of a healthy habitat, while many are present in disturbed ones.Forest Calotes: Calotes rouxii - Commonest reptile occuring around Mumbai, the male's often pose nicely and are a good subject to learn photography.Flameback Woodpecker - A Record shot of a Flameback.

Landscapes:

The above image is that of the fort. Fantastic secenery.

On the way to Mahuli Fort, through Mahuli Village.

Last but not the least, the last stop for all vehicles. Source of many things.

Yeoor Hills - 17th July 09

2009-07-21T09:35:00.001-07:00

Yeoor Hills, a trail on 17th July 2009

Yeoor is my backyard, where instead of discarding old goods I go to find some new goods. The goods include everything good, the Nature's work of art. Yeoor has taught me a lot of things - and butterflies were a beginning - back in 2006, with Krushnemegh Kunte's Butterflies of Indian Peninsula in one hand, I remember cautiously approaching butterflies to identify them.

Yeoor has been and still is a better place. Whether budding naturalists or experts, everyone visits here and there is always a surprise waiting. For those who litter that place, and many other places, you are doomed. And for those of us who go to just enjoy the air, so are we. So to change that, let’s make an effort. That effort is to carry with you an ultralight-weight “garbage” bag - and pick the plastic that you see littering the forest floor. Be it a Paan Masala cache or a bisleri bottle. It’s worth the effort to bend down, as you just might to click a photograph. Honestly, in the end, you will be satisfied to see that garbage in your garbage-bin and not on the forest floor.

This trip to Yeoor was planned at 11:59th Hour. With a small water bottle and camera bag, I left home with nothing in my stomach and headed into the forest with a friend. It was a new track for me, and it seemed untouched – the path was wet, slippery, old and perfect. As it is always my wish-cum-nightmare, we got lost. We never reached where we wanted to, but the views on the way were breath-taking. We walked for six hours, wished if we had a GPS and wished again for at least a Compass! But we knew we won’t be lost for long, so the panic was not set on us. We saw many tiny creatures on the way, and wild flora that was either flowering or fruiting. On the lost way, we saw dried shrubs of Karvy, and then all of a sudden, a field of lush green young Karvy plants. It was a revelation; I wondered how it will look 7 years later? An astonishing view! There were many Cotton Stainer bug nymphs (Pyrrhocoridae) on the leaves, at least ten and more on every visible plant. Karvy sure attracts a hell lot of attention, be it bugs or humans!

We wandered for couple of hours and then decided to trace back our way, and ultimately found the path all of a sudden. And that’s when our hike finished and we hit the tar road. It is amazing to be lost in the woods, trust me – but if you are lost in some really vast forest – such as a rainforest – please make a note to remember your bearings. Every landmark counts and will save your life. It is these landmarks that helped us on the way back home. It is no big deal to be lost at Yeoor or SGNP, but do not under estimate forests! On a last note, remember to collect plastics and respect nature!

List of Sightings
The sightings had been ordinary, the weather very windy and cloudy with short showers and short period of sunlight.

Insects
1. Cicadas
2. Common Gull
3. Chocolate Pansy
4. Common Pierrot
5. Spotted Small Flat
6. Scorpionfly
7. Jewel Beetle – 2 sp.
8. Leaf Beetle – 1
9. Zygaenid Moth UNID
10. Plume Moth – 2
11. Blue Bottle flies
12. Flesh Flies
13. House Flies
14. Mosquitoes
15. Robberflies
16. Common Leopard
17. Baronet
18. Pyrrhocoridae bugs
19. Spot Swordtail
20. Tiger Beetles
21. Horseflies
22. Yellow Crazy Ants
23. Camponotus angusticollis
24. Crematogaster ants
25. Grasshoppers

Arachnids
1. Spitting Spider
2. Ant-mimicking Spider
3. Harvestman
4. Nursery Web Spider

Photographs

Wattakaka volubilis (Above and the image below) is a spreading liana seen on rocky slopes. It is commonly found on plains. It is a food plant of Blue Tiger butterfly. The leaves are much employed as an application to boils and abscesses. The roots and tender stalks are considered emetic and expectorant. The young roots are cut and the exuding juice is inserted into the nose to cause sneezing. - Source Flowers of India

Solanum indicum - It is a food plant of Death's Head Hawkmoth. It's roots are used in traditional medicine.

Helicteres isora - It is a beautiful shrub with nectary flowers. The caterpillars of Common Sailer and Golden Angle feed on this plant. It flowers during July to September - Source Common Indian Wild Flowers by Issac Kehimkar pp. 42

Inflorescence of grass - Grass flowers are very tiny, this one measured about 10mm in diameter, and within it's inflorescence was a tiny beetle - you can imagine it's size. Grass seeds are nutritious and form a major part of the diet of many insects as well as birds.

Chlorophytum sp. - Fruits of this shrub, that flowers in June can be seen abundantly now. The picture of Chlorophytum shrub is displayed in the report on SGNP (July 2009).

Ampelocissus latifolia - A creeper, commonly called Wild Grapes, the seeds of which resemble the grapes but are not edible. Previous Yeoor post (June 2009) displayed it's flowers. This is how the fruits look.

Land Snail - Many of these come out during Monsoon and vanish during dry season. Wonder where they disappear? They go underground and hybernate - that helps them conserve water as well as food, and wait for months together for the rain to arrive. The land snails lack an Operculum that covers the shell opening, so during hybernation, the mucus secreted hardens and forms a door at the shell opening - containing the snail body inside.

Unidentified Bee - A bee was seen feeding on the flowers of Leea indica. Bees are exclusively nectar seekers, and if you do not bother them, they will pose for you - but if u try to catch them, they will sting! Bees, butterflies, beetles and other flies love Leea flowers. It's party time for them when Leea is in bloom.

Pagoda Ant Nest - I took many pictures of Crematogaster Ants in earlier Yeoor Hills post (June 2009), here is how their nest looks. It is called "Pagoda" because of the shape of their nest. According to Wikipedia, "Pagoda is a general term for a tiered tower with multiple eaves, common in China, Japan and other parts of Asia." Crematogaster ants are ferocious protectors of their homes, and if you happen to stand below a tree that has the Pagoda Nest, you are likely to get bitten by its residents!

Anoplolepis gracilipes - A ferrocious ant, I spoke about it in previous Yeoor Hills post (June 2009). It was again seen in mass numbers... all over the forest floor and all over the tree trunks. I also located a subterranean nest. They are the indicators of a disturbed habitat. I yet again failed to photograph it well, they are restless and small!

Grasshopper - The commonest of all insects everywhere, many nymphs were seen this time.

Pyrrhocoridae bugs - Also called Cotton Stainer bugs, they were in thousands on a lush green bloom of Karvy saplings. In the above photograph, you will also notice "Eaten away" leaves, but these bugs do not eat. They are true bugs belonging to Hemiptera - which have sucking mouth parts and feed on plant juices.

An unidentified fly, that resembles the Blue Bottle Fly (Calliphoridae family), perhaps a deformed Blue Bottlefly?

Horsefly - The infamous Horseflies of Mumbai and surrounding region. They are worse than mosquitoes, but nonetheless beautiful to look at. They are approximately 10 mm in size, and capable of biting. Only the females require a blood diet for reproduction, the males feed on nectar.

Leaf Beetle - An unidentified Leaf Beetle of Chrysomelidae family landed on a twig in front of me. Chrysomelidae family is vast and identification of many beetles through photographs is near impossible task.

Jewel Beetle - Of the Buprestidae family, they are famous for their shining exoskeleton. The above beetle was hardly an inch in length, and it was a fast flier.

Jewel beetle (*now identified as Empestes viridiscuprea) - Another kind of a Jewel Beetle, a larger one - he was conveniently feeding on the leaves until we arrived, and then...

...he was dead! Or so he thought I would think. But I ain't fool! He was pretending to be dead, a phenomenon called "Thanatosis". Many insects do that, but this is the first time I observed it in the Jewel Beetle, they are of the quick-at-flying type. The below image is of the same beetle, pretending to be dead. So cute!

Tiger Beetles - Two mating pair of these were seen. They are my favourite beetles! When you say quick-at-flying, you will think of the Tiger Beetles. They are so fast that you wont even know where they disappeared while you clicked their photograph!

The Tiger Beetles mate like any other insect. As usual, the lower partner is the female, and the one mounting is the male, notice how he is holding her with his mouthparts. He wont leave her until they have mated and he is confirmed that she will carry his generation, and none other! The grubs of Tiger Beetles are equally predatory as their parents, but instead of running and flying so fast, they prefer ambushing their prey. They make a verticle tunnel and rest inside it, with it's head at the opening of the tunnel. When an ant approaches, the grub attacks with blitz krieg - and the ant doesnt even know what happend! The image below shows the lustrous colours of the Tiger Beetles...

The above beetle has been identified as Cicindela azureocincta, an endemic of Northern Western Ghats!

Unidentified Moth - This moth remains unidentified as yet. They are a common sight on Leea flowers.

Spotted Small Flat: Sarangesa purendra - A skipper with colours to camoflauge well with the surrounding was seen basking on the leaf surface.

Chocolate Pansy - A common Pansy, it was seen feeding on Leea flowers.

Danaid Eggfly - A male that sat just besides me while I was busy searching for the path. Eggflies are territorial and will not tolerate another kind of a butterfly, if it is not the female of the same species!

Spot Swordtail - I was lucky to see this beautiful swallowtail butterfly basking with its wings wide open. But, I couldn't manage a close-up of this one.

Nursery Web Spider - Belonging to Pisauridae family, I have spoken about these spiders in SGNP (July 2009) post.

Spitting Spider - Belonging to Scytodidae, it is one spider to see since it is only commonly seen during Monsoon months. They tend to fold the leaves and live inside it.

Ant-mimicking Spider - Belonging to Salticidae, the genus Myrmarachne, are excellent mimics of ants. They are the spiders in disguise of an ant. This one seemed to mimic the Crematogaster ants.

Harvestman - From the family of Opilionidae, Order Arachnida, these creatures closely resemble spiders - and are in fact their relatives. This fellow had recently molted and it's moult can be seen on the right side. The fresh, new Harvestman, is infected by a mite (the red dot).

Lastly, we came across this dropping on a bare rock surface. It contained only seeds, and hence the fact that it is that of a ruminant is cancelled. It could possibly be Langoor, since we also saw them in the vicinity, or perhaps another herbivore like a Civet?

After enjoying the flora and fauna of the backyard, I always yearn to go back to greet them.

Landscapes:

A few landscapes on the way up and back again.

The lush green tender grass is the result of Monsoon - a season of blessing to everything that lives, and lived, and is to take birth.

The above image is of the dense forests of Yeoor, home to so many species we can just sit and wonder about.

The "Urban Landscape" a view from the hilltop. Look at the construction, a misleading term and another irony of destruction by us.

The lake you see is Upvan Lake. On the right is Yeoor, a small range of Kanheri Hills, and on the left is Thane city, ever expansing.

A Day At Sanjay Gandhi National Park

2009-07-07T11:51:00.001-07:00

Sanjay Gandhi National Park - 4th July 2009

A place like none other, SGNP is every naturalists' fantasy. It is the only known forest to be surrounded by a megacity - Mumbai. Being in the city does have many problems, like encroachment, illegal business of liquor etc., poaching and deforestation, but this is the last resort for the wildest of animals to be seen in Mumbai today.

It is not a place for couples, joggers, and picnickers. It’s high time they move out and busy themselves in manmade gardens, and it's certainly not a place to live in. But this is happening for real and there is no stopping it.

I went there to cherish the environment, the monsoon, flora and fauna, and collect some plastic littering on the forest floor. I succeeded in collecting some! Like anybody (yes some people do) would, people asked me with a funny note in their voice (or was it sarcasm?) if I'm really going to "Borivli" National Park. I said yes, it's a beautiful place! The reply to it was, yeah certainly, wish you a happy picnic, and tell me if you spot a leopard. I was glad for not inviting them.

So I went SGNP and not Borivli NP - people often consider Borivli National Park a superb picnic spot. It was the same trail I went on (if you read the previous July 2008 post on SGNP, you will know) last year. The weather was wet and it was pouring every now and then. We walked for many hours, resting only to see some creature move on the forest floor or in the canopy above and the trail lasted for about 6 hours. Every minute of it was breath taking, I never could imagine such a place within Mumbai!
The sightings were very low, but sight-seeing was best. SGNP rocks :)

Sightings:
SGNP RANDOM SIGHTINGS 0810 HRS. TO 1600 HRS.
A - Abundant, P - Plenty (A > P), Numbers elsewhere denote exact sightings.
M - Male, F - Female

Birds
1. Oriental magpie robin – 1 M

2. Little Egret – 3

3. Little cormorant – 1

4. Pond heron – 2

5. Racquet tailed drongo – 1

6. Crimson sunbird – 1

7. Indian pitta – 1

8. Malabar Whistling thrush – 2 calls

Insects
1. Painted lady – P

2. Common Indian crow – 1

3. Spot swordtail – P

4. Black Stream Glider – 2

5. Baronet – P

6. Tiger Beetle – 4

7. Longhorn beetle – 2

8. Horsefly – P

9. Granite ghost – 1

10. Blue darner – 1

11. Ophiusa triphaenoides – 1

12. Red silk cotton bug – 3

13. Antlion adult – A

14. Camponotus compressus – P

15. Camponotus angusticollis – P and 1 nest

16. Harvester ants nest – 1

17. Robber fly – 2 mating

18. Scorpionfly – P

19. Termites

20. Grasshoppers – A
21. Common Leopard - 2

Reptiles and Amphibians
1. Ramanella sp. – P

2. Duttaphrynus melanostictus – P

3. Garden lizard – 1

4. Green keelback – 1 Juv

5. Gecko UNID – 1

Arachnids
1. Nursery web spider – 2

2. Tarantula – 1

Crustacean
1. Land Crab - A

Mollusc
1. Snails - P

PhotographsLand crabs are very common during Monsoon, and come in tiniest forms to very large ones. This fellow was on a plateau, threatening me with arms wide open under the monsoon cover.

Antlion adults prefer thickly covered forests. They were in their abundance here. They belong to Family Myrmeleontidae, Order Neuroptera. They have a weak, fluttering flight and short visible antennae which are visible distinguishing characters from Damselflies (Zygoptera, Odonata).

Camponotus (angusticollis?): A large ant with a long-neck common on the forest floor and tree trunks at SGNP. A nest was also sighted on the ground.

Camponotus compressus: Another large ant, distinguished from C. angusticollis by its large bulky head and no distinguishable neck. This ant also shares habitats with the previous ant.

Harvester Ant nest: Harvester Ants (dont know which species) build fortress like nests. Only one nest was seen on the trail. They are called Harvester ants because of the habit of harvesting seeds. One will usually come across sead coat - the outer membrane of seeds, just outside Harvester Ants nest.

Grasshoppers belong to Orthoptera. They are very common throughout the world. Grasshopper abundance at SGNP only means that there is lots of food to eat for the grasshoppers, the other thing it means is that there is lots of food (now grasshopper) to eat for the birds!

Scorpionflies belong to family Panorpidae, Order Mecoptera. After seeing the picture of this male, you will believe why they are called Scorpionflies. But they do not sting with their "sting" like abdomen, but are actually modified genitals. Females lack this scorpion-like feature, however are very similar to the males.

"Food items such as caterpillars, bugs, and flies are offered to be eaten
during copulation. The female is first attracted by a pheromone emitted by one
or more vesicles or pouches at the end of the male's abdomen. When the female is
near, the vesicles are retracted. The female examines the offering while the
male searches for her genitalia with his own. If the gift is rejected, the
female flies away. If the gift is accepted, the genitalia of the male couples
with that of the female, who lowers herself until she is hanging upside down.
She consumes the offering during copulation. The male supports the female by
holding her legs or the prey. Field observations show that both sexes mate
several times per day. Small or unacceptable offerings result in no or a very
short copulation time." - Wikipedia

Termites are often considered relatives of Ants - for their ant like shape and social behaviour, but they are very different from Ants. Termites belong to Order Isoptera, and are distant relatives of Cockroaches. They are highly social and well known for the same reason. Several Termite Mounds were seen at SGNP, and are a common sight inside the Park. This picture was taken where these Soldier Termites were busying themselves on a damaged region of the Mound. I have no idea who could have damaged it since there were no humans present in that area except for us. We watched them seal the opening, and were fortunate to observe how they do it. The workers chew onto the mud, and make little balls of mud + saliva, and stick it together - just how humans use brick (mud) + cement (saliva) = strong home!

Robberflies of Asilidae are sighted on every trails. This time seen mating.

Tiger Beetle: Another superbly coloured tiger beetle, were again very common. Several types of Tiger Beetles were seen although I was successful in photographing just one. They are really superfast! One reason why they are called Tiger Beetles is because of their like-ness to hunt. They stalk their prey, and are agile and powerful like a tiger.

Nursery-web Spider or Fishing Spider, belong to Pisauridae. They are commonly seen during wettest monsoon months. This time I was lucky to see this one sitting on water! I have always seen them sitting on leaf surface, much away from any waterbody. They are associated with water and are also sometimes reffered to as Fishing Spiders. They resemble wolf spiders of Lycosidae, but a closer look at the eye pattern reveals their secret (see picture below).

The Eye Pattern of Nursery Web Spider is much different than Wolf Spider.

Ophiusa sp. (triphaenoides?): A moth belonging to Noctuidae,Catocalinae. Many other moths were seen.

This is one of the several caterpillars seen on a plant (Cissus sp. probably). Here, this fellow caterpillar was seen consuming its moult. Caterpillars undergo ecdysis (molting), and the stages of a caterpillar based on its molting are called Instars. So when a caterpillar is just out of it's egg, that's First Instar, after first moult, it's Second Instar.. and so on until it pupates. The caterpillars, after hatching from an egg, have a habit of consuming the egg - for its nutritive value. Likewise, they also consume their moult after undergoung molting.

Baronet - Euthalia nias: A beautiful brightly coloured Nymphalid, Baronet is a delight to watch and sometimes a headache to get-close and shoot it, but sometimes luck pays off. We saw several individuals here and there, and then this mating pair. They were still at one place for an hour, a good subject to photograph and record.

Ramanella sp.: A tiny frog was calling for its mate in one pond. Several frog eggs adorned the pond (some eggs are visible on the right side of frog), several mating pairs were also seen.

Same frog, shot from above, you can see the gullar sac that enables the frog to call. The frog swells up with air hence the baloon like shape of the body.

Common Indian Toad - Duttaphrynus melanostictus: A common toad, seen mating in the same pond shared with Ramanella sp.

Garden Lizard - Calotes versicolour: A well camouflaged lizard was sitting on the boulder, perhaps basking in the monsoon clouds.

Gecko unidentified: A well camouflaged gecko!

Green Keelback - Macropisthodon plumbicolor: A juvenile Green Keelback was seen slithering amongst leaf litter. It is a non-venomous snake, often seen at SGNP. Adults grow about 2 feet and lose the beautiful black-and-yellow marks on the head. This juvenile snake quickly coiled itself into a defensive pose, see picture below.

Green Keelback is not know for being aggressive, and will often find a way out of intervening humans. Here, it had coiled itself into a tight circle, and given a chance, escaped into the thicket.

That's about all the fauna I could capture through the lens. A little more on the flora I sighted along the trail:

Maidens Hair Fern - Adiantum sp.: A fern from Pteridaceae family, they grow all over the path, on wet walls and humus rich soil surfaces - often near streams, at SGNP during monsoon, and are one of the most beautiful, brilliant green ferns that adorn this land.

Chlorophytum tuberosum: A beautiful plant that sprouts and blooms with first monsoon showers. They spread across the open forestland and are a delight to watch. The above image is of the plant in it's habitat, just on a cliff.

Chlorophytum flowers attract many insects, like a Stingless Bee gathering it's pollen and thereby helping in polination. Another Leafhopper nymph rests on the buds.

Crinum latifolium: Another beautiful plant with large leaves and fragrant pink flowers that blooms only during first monsoon showers. This plant prefers hilly and rocky areas and is another treat to watch!

Curculigo orchioides: A little plant, common on forest floors and easily identified by a small star-shaped yellow flower at the base of the leaves. Flowers during monsoon season.

Heliotropium indicum: A small herb common in forests, well known for Daniane butterflies such as Blue Tiger, Plain Tiger, Common Indian Crow, to sit on and suck the alkaloids in mass numbers, however, only dead or damaged H. indicum are prefered by these butterflies.

"Interestingly, danaidone is not available from the plants that the larvae feed
on and must be obtained by the adults after emergence. And this task is
accomplished by feeding on plants that do contain these substances. Two widely
distributed plants that contain danaidone precursors (often lumped together and
called pyrollidizine alkaloids) are Heliotropium indicum and Crotalaria palida.
These are annuals that come up with the onset of the rains, and are quite common
in the dry and intermediate zones of the island. It is principally from these
two plant species that the male Danaids obtain most of the chemicals required to
synthesize their pheromones. All Danaids are irresistibly attracted to these
plants. The dead or damaged plant parts of Heliotropium indicum are preferred to
undamaged plants. In the case of Crotalaria pallida, the developing pods are
preferred over all other plant parts. The chemical that is so gleefully sought
after by these butterflies has now been identified as lycopsamine. Studies
elsewhere have shown that males that do not accumulate danaidone are
consistently refused by the females. So it seems that the females not only seek
chemicals for their own survival and their progeny, but also indirectly select
for genes that are correlated well with good foraging ability; an excellent
strategy for survival of the species." - Butterflies of Sri Lanka, http://www.srilankaninsects.net/Butterflies/Danaidae/General_Danaidae.htm

Hill Turmeric - Cucurma pseudomonata: A beautiful plant which again flowers during Monsoon, decorates the forestfloor with such brilliant colour shades.

Argemone mexicana: It is actually a native of West Indies. A gregarious spiny plant invading degraded lands. It was seen near the tar road and not in the pristene forests.

Landscapes: Few breath-taking scenes, right in Mumbai!

The last one image shows skyscrapers competing with the mountains in reaching the heaven. But only nature can succeeded in touching the heaven, for it is heaven in itself.

Uran - A vanishing paradise

2009-06-30T05:36:00.000-07:00

Uran 28th June 2009

"Uran has a vast wetland ecosystem and a naval base near Mora
Gaon. It is known for fishing and the bird life that exists there – and all of these are at stake due to the SEZ that falls under 10,000 hectares of this wetland ecosystem."

Introduction

I went on a walk at Uran, a township in the Raigad district famous for its wetlands. It takes around one hour to reach this place from Mumbai. It is a hotspot for flora and fauna, especially birds. It is also a hotspot for industries, and is in the eyes of the government.

The day was not so perfect for any sighting, we presumed, since it had been raining on and off for few days but I guess I underestimated my luck. Uran is a place where, if you go during any time of the year, will see many birds. And they will make sure you see them too! It is a place with excellent birdlife and others associated with the wetlands.

Uran is exclusively known for fishing, thanks to the abundant water sources, whether fresh or creek. It is also known as the infamous SEZ that is going to literally wipe out all the ecologically significant wetland habitats.

An Account

1.
I was reading a newspaper one morning, and in the readers’ feedback section, somebody had written in favor of SEZ. I am not against those who speak in the likes of SEZ, but that person also spoke of environmentalists in a harsh way, that they are always against development and are never in favor of the city (Mumbai). He was so straightforward, that I thought environmentalists are corrupt politicians, and they do what want to do.

I’d like to tell him that environmentalists are not dumb to stage protests against development. I’d suggest him to step out of his concrete walls and walk in the wild. I’d advice him to open his eyes and look out him self. I’d shove the pictures of destruction done at Uran on his face. I wouldn’t get agitated now for it’s worthless.

It is sad to see people ignore the wild, so much so that they get blinded by development. Raigad district has 17 SEZs and one of it is Uran – closest to Mumbai. It is said that around 10,000 hectares of land will be used for industrial development. All at the cost of villagers, their fishing spots, mangroves, reptiles, mammals and the resident as well as migratory bird life.

2.
It has been in picture for past 5 years, and NGOs are doing their best to protect these wetlands, mangroves especially seem to be paved and buried in heaps of dirt and wastes. Reliance, the “pioneer” of wetland destruction, seems to be a deaf ear and a blind eye towards this, even today.

"We sent the British packing, but they seem to have come back in the guise of Reliance," said one, who made a special placard for Martyrs Day, asking the company to go away. - SEZ: farmers plan satyagraha, The Hindu
Farmers and landowners have been protesting against forced acquisition of land in the Raigad district. Some of them have expressed apprehension that official documents may be manipulated to show that their land has already been sold. – The Hindu
However, following the pressures from the villagers, the government asked Reliance to scale down the size of its proposed multi-product Maha Mumbai SEZ from 10,000 hectares to 5,000 to avoid dislodging farmers and villagers unwilling to relocate in 2007. – Economic Times

The SEZ at Uran will be using up vast agricultural and fishing grounds of the villagers, relocating them somewhere else. This has caused all the concern but aren’t we forgetting something?

3.
We saw huge garbage dumps – where once existed vast mangroves. We saw mangroves burnt and chopped, chemicals from a nearby factory running into waters, a man building a wall of mud to contain water in it so as to use it as an aqua culture (that is illegal) – thereby suffocating the mangroves and letting them rot. We saw huge debris spread over a shocking vastness, all to build factories upon it.

Masses of soil and dirt used to reclaim the wetlands

I remember reading on reports by Adesh Shivkar, best birder in town, speaking his mind out about Uran, a nigh two years ago. Now it is vastness of nothingness, save a little area with scattered mangroves and inlets of industrial effluents.

4.
Mangroves are important to us and the wild. They are the lungs of our planet. They are known to absorb largest amount of CO2 – a greenhouse gas. They are known to keep the water at bay, thereby helping as a buffer against sea water from coming in – and saving the mainland from flooding.

Mangroves are a haven for wildlife – aquatic, terrestrial as well as aerial. It is a shelter for young fishes, a place for birds to eat and nest and for wild animals such as Wild Boar, Jackal and a variety of reptiles to stay. All this, 10,000 acres of this, will be gone. It isn’t coming back.

All we did was, wow this place is awesome, is it going to go too? Alas, this place must have had thousands of flamingoes flocking here. Some even said, oh I remember this place, it was so beautiful before! Some remembered seeing a huge python, all in the recent times.

The destruction is fast proceeding, with tonnes of wastes thrown in the mangroves everyday. We were startled to see medical waste lying near mangroves, along the roads in heaps. Medicine bottles, syringes, injections, so many other things that should have been incinerated and vanished. But it is here, in the middle of wetlands contaminating it! We thought twice before stepping in the mud barefooted.

Medical waste lying on the roadside

5.
Amidst this pitying landscape we saw flocks of flamingoes, many in numbers. Other water birds were present in lesser numbers. We also saw some mangrove associated animals, living on the brink of extinction. The overall diversity was lesser than expected and I would like to do something about it! Stop development! Stop encroaching in the mangroves! (Pokes the reader I spoke about earlier).

Lastly, I hope whatever development they do, they consider the natural flora and fauna of this place and leave them some space to live and sleep. If they protect their habitat, they’ll be protected by the forces of nature. If they want business, they can save wildlife and show it to the world AND make sure to dispose their waste smartly. That’s development – Sustainable Development.

6.
For more reading on Uran and SEZ:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uran
http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/28/stories/2006092808341200.htm
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/05/18/stories/2007051802422300.htm
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=RVRDSC8yMDA3LzAzLzI5I0FyMDAxMDE=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_uran-mangroves-fast-disappearing-greens_1104283
http://www.accommodationtimes.com/freesection/sez.htm

LIST OF SIGHTINGS

Uran 28th June 2009 0819 Hrs – 1150 Hrs – RANDOM SIGHTINGS
P – Plenty, A – Abundant, Numbers elsewhere denote exact figures, M – Male, F – Female

Birds
1. Brahminy Kite – 2
2. Black Kite – 2
3. Cattle Egret – 2 M Breeding Plumage
4. Common Kingfisher – 2
5. Lesser Flamingoes
6. Spoonbill – 7
7. Lesser Whistling Duck – 3
8. Asian Pied Starling – 6
9. Spot billed Duck – 1
10. Oriental White Ibis – 2
11. Ashy Prinia – P
12. Eurasian Marsh Harrier – 1 Pair
13. Red Wattled Lapwing – 2
14. Great Egret – 2
15. Purple Heron – 1
16. Purple Rumped Sunbird – 2
17. Pond Heron – 2
18. White Cheeked Bulbul – 2
19. Night Heron – 1
20. Cinnamon Bittern – 1
21. Black Winged Stilt – 2
22. Cormorant
23. Little Grebe
24. Purple Moorhen – 2
25. House Crow
26. Little Egret
27. Plain Prinia – 2
28. Red vented Bulbul – 3
29. White breasted Water hen – 1
30. Oriental Magpie Robin – 1 M
31. Black Drongo – 1
32. Plovers UNID – 2

33. Greater Flamongo - 2

Insects
1. Pigmy Dartlet Ischnura pygmaea – 1 M
2. Camponotus compressus - A
3. Black Crazy Ant
4. Tiger Beetle – 6
5. Ischnura senegalensis – 2 F
6. Small Salmon Arab – 5
7. Green Marsh Hawk – A
8. Ruddy Marsh Skimmer – 2 M 1 F
9. Ditch Jewel – 2 F
10. Black Marsh Trotter – 1
11. Glassy Tiger – 1
12. Ground Skimmer – 3 M
13. Grass Yellow – 1

Reptiles
1. Glossy Marsh Snake – 1
2. Dog Face – 1

Mammals
1. Indian Gray Mongoose – 1

Photographs

Black Marsh Trotter: Tramea limbata – A dragonfly hard to miss, prefers perching high over a water body to get a better view, scanning for prey. It is known to be active throughout the day. Only one individual was seen far off in the marshes.

Senegal Golden Dartlet: Ischnura senegalensis, female – A female damselfly, seen with a broken abdomen. I. senegalensis has many morphs in females, this one being one of them.

Tiger Beetle – The fastest and quickest beetle, belonging to Carabidae family of Coleoptera, is predatory in nature. Many Tiger Beetles were seen on mud lined by dried as well as green grasses.

Camponotus compressus – A big ant, seen throughout Uran, several colonies were located in tree holes. These workers were seen feeding on Prosopis sp. inflorescence. It is a specie that indicates a disturbed habitat.

Painted Lady: Vanessa cardui – A nymphalid that has global distribution. Only one individual was seen sitting on the ground and had a weak flight. It is commonly seen pre-monsoon and monsoon.

Small Salmon Arab: Colotis amata – A pieridae butterfly, associated with the mangroves. Many individuals were seen near mangrove swamps. This individual was seen laying eggs on a mangrove sapling.

Glossy Marsh Snake: Gerarda prevostiana – A small snake, associated with wetlands is also common at Uran. It feeds almost exclusively on crabs. It is slow and lethargic on land, however swims swiftly in water. It is mildly venomous and not aggressive.

Dog-faced Water Snake: Cerberus rynchops – A snake commonly seen in wetland habitats, such as mangroves, is fairly common at Uran. It is a semi-venomous water snake, nocturnal in behavior feeding on fishes. It is a small snake and less aggressive in nature.

Black-winged Stilt: Himantopus himantopus – A long legged wader, common throughout the region was seen feeding in ankle-deep water. Only two individuals were seen, however they are generally seen in flocks.

Spotbill: Anas poecilorhyncha – A beautiful duck, prefers fresh water and marshes. Good numbers of these were seen in flight. They are usually seen in flocks, babbling in the water.

Lesser Flamingo: Phoenicopterus minor – It is a subspecies of flamingo; it is the smallest of all flamingoes and most abundant. It is a Near Threatened specie according to IUCN, and quite evident in India by encroachment, landfills and industrial effluent runoffs in the wetlands. The numbers at Uran were less, but were seen at an approachable distance from the bank.

Lesser Flamingoes with juveniles in flight.

Prosopis sp. – It comes under leguminous spiny trees and shrubs and can thrive in dry and arid regions. Many trees were seen at Uran. It is considered economically significant tree by farmers since it can be used as a fuel wood and as fodder for cattle.

Typha sp. – It is a monocotyledonous plant, growing exclusively in wetland areas. It is commonly called Rambaan (Ram’s arrow) in Marathi and Cat-tail in English. It is a tall reed and provides shelter for various fauna.

Rambaan is an area good for birding. The kuchha roads here are lined by Australian Acacia.

Conclusion

A short walk at Uran was an eye opener. With fast vanishing wetland habitats that are needed to be conserved during this age, naught can be done but develop an eco-friendly strategy to sustain this region along side the growing industries.

The wetlands are the largest conservators of water other than main water sources, and landfills in these regions will only contaminate the groundwater – the effects of which will surface only years later. It is wetlands that are most biologically diverse than other ecosystems – and that makes Uran a special place.

To conserve Uran, the best means would be sustainable development. Uran has a potential of having industries working side by side with flamingoes doing their daily chores. By keeping the industrial effluents under strict control and leaving a breathing space for nature, one can work side by side with nature.

A vast expanse of land lays dried under the cover of monsoon clouds. What will be the future of this area?

Yeoor Hills Day 2

2009-06-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

Yeoor Hills on 21st June 2009

I went Yeoor Hills again after a gap of 6 days. It rained on Saturday 20th, so visiting Yeoor on the 21st seemed like a good idea. The sightings had been different compared to last Sunday (previous Yeoor post). The weather was pleasant, overcast, drizzled a wee bit, and the breeze was cold and damp. All this is not favored by some insects such as butterflies so most remained hidden from the sight.

Nothing much to be spoken about, except sightings and some photographs.

Sightings:

Birds
1. Common Iora (Call)
2. Common Tailor Bird
3. I was seriously looking in the undergrowth.

Insects
1. White Orange Tip (Male) 1
2. Robber fly - 2
3. Longhorn Beetle - 2 sp.
4. Common Emigrant - Plenty
5. Psyche - 2
6. Spot Swordtail - 2
7. Fodina stola (Moth) 1
8. Attatha sp. (Moth) 1
9. Tortoise beetle - Plenty Adults; several larvae
10. Camponotus angusticollis - several on forestfloor
11. Camponotus (compressus?) - 1
12. Anoplolepis gracilipes - Super Colony!
13. Leaf Bug - 3 Nymphs, 4 Adults
14. Horned Tree-hopper
15. Hoverfly - 1
16. Cicada - Plenty
17. Jewel Beetle - 1
18. Cockroach UNID - Abundant
19. Fly (mimics Paper Wasps?) - 7
20. Crematogaster sp. - Abundant

Arachnids
1. Jumping Spider - Plenty
2. Spitting Spider - 3
4. Ground Spider

Reptiles
1. Bronzeback Tree Snake - 1

Photographs:Camponotus angusticollis: A fairly large ant, common at Yeoor, seen foraging on the forest floor among the leaf litter. Camponotus sp. (compressus?): Another large common ant, hard to miss.

Anoplolepis gracilipes: Commonly called Yellow Crazy Ant or Red Crazy Ant, is an opportunistic ant and well known for its devastative nature. Some research says that these ants are capable of wiping out entire small habitats. It is an indicator of a disturbed habitat, and unfortunately, these ants have a "super colony" at Yeoor Hills. I saw a massive colony of these on two trees, they were all over the path in that area, spread roughly 15 m. I located a nest amongst leaf litter in this area. There really wasnt much on the forest floor in that area except these ants. Need to check again!

I managed really bad images of these ants.
Crematogaster ants: They were seen everywhere, as usual, and this time they were busy feeding on sap of a certain creeper, whose picture is given below.

A creeper abundant at Yeoor. Tortoise Beetle grub ants were seen feeding on its sap.

Cockroach: A roach (Blattaria) seen in the leaf-litter. This is probably the least photographed creature at Yeoor! It show's bristles on its legs, which aide it in walking, possesses long antennae - good for sensing its surrounding and the two thick protruding structures at its bottom are ceri (singular Cercus). They are sensory in nature, or may help in copulation, or simply be vestegial. In cockroach, it acts as a sensory organ, warning cockroach of the approaching danger (through vibrations in air/land) so that it runs in the opposite direction.Horned Treehopper - Centrotus sp.(?): A bug from the Membracidae family, known for their "thorns". They live off by feeding on plant sap. They are often seen in association with ants - that get a sugary excretion form the Treehopper and the ants in return protect them.

Cicada: A loud insect, and also one of the most long lived. The larva lives underground - feeding on plant-root sap - for several years depending upon species. The longest living Cicada spends its life as a larva for 17 years, feeding off on pine-root sap. The adults are short lived, often for weeks to months, and their sole purpose is to mate and lay eggs. The male Cicadas are loud and make a chirping sound to attract females. The Cicada Song is the loudest "noise" in the Insect world.
A Hempiteran "true" Bug, the commonly called Leaf Bug, is a common insect at Yeoor. This fellow had just moulted it's exoskeleton (look at top left of the above image) and was sitting on the dried leaf until it's exoskeleton hardened again. When arthropods moult, they are very vulnerable to attack since the new exoskeleton is very soft. So they usually undergo ecdysis (moulting) at night and prefer hiding in some place.

These are the nymphs of a Hemipteran "true" bug, most probably of Leaf Bug. The Hempiteran bugs undergo hemimetabolous metamorphosis, the nymph resembling an adult to a certain extent. The only exception in nymphs are the underdeveloped wings (as seen in this picture, there are no wings developed) and immature sexual organs. The size of these nymphs was hardly a centimeter.

Tortoise Beetle - Placed in the family of Leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae), they are small and the elytra resembles a tortoise shell. Many adults and grubs were seen feeding on the creeper (picture posted earlier). This fellow was feeding on its leaves.

Another glistening tortoise beetle.

A Beetle, memeber of the Buprestidae family of Jewel beetles, this fellow was roughly 1cm in length. The white hanging structures are the eggs of Lacewing (Neuroptera). This beetle was not seen feeding on the eggs, but resting on the small dried bush. There was one more individual present on the bush.

Longhorn Beetle: Longhorn Beetles belong to Cerambycidae. This individual was feeding on the stem (see picture). Longhorn beetles can be pests as grubs as well as adults. But that's just because of us that they are termed pests.

Another Longhorn Beetle, pretending to be dead when it sensed me (first picture). After several minutes he tried to get up (second picture) and finally was standing on its feet (third picture). This behaviour is termed Thanatosis (commonly, pretending to be dead). In the above picture, the Longhorn beetle displays Thanatosis to evade my attention or, in nature, a predator's attention.

"Artificial selection experiments have shown that there is heritable variation for length of death-feigning in beetles, and that those selected for longer death-feigning durations are at a selective advantage to those at shorter durations, when a predator is introduced, which suggests that thanatosis is indeed adaptive." - Wikipedia Wasp-mimicking Fly: Several flies at one place were seen at the base of the tree, feeding on sap. These flies sort of resemble Paper Wasps, if looked closely. This is Batesian Mimicry, where a less-threatning species (such as this fly) mimicks the stinging Paper Wasp.

Mimics are less likely to be found out when in low proportion to their model, a phenomenon known as negative frequency dependent selection which applies in most other forms of mimicry as well. Example: Vespid wasps bear several harmless mimics including moths, beetles and flies.Hoverfly - Simosryphus grandicornis: A beautiful fly belonging to Syrphidae. These flies are well known to mimic wasps and bees. Robberfly (Asilidae): This fly is a superb predator, and is seen everywhere. This fellow was perched high on a dry bush for a long time. Attatha sp.: A moth belonging to Catocalinae, a large subfamily under Noctuidae.Fodina stola: A medium sized moth of Catocalinae, resting on leaf litter. The larvae of this moth feed on Cassia fistula.Spot Swordtail: A beautiful Papilionid with a long sword-like wing projection. It is commonly seen pre-monsoon and during monsoon. A Jumping Spider of Salticidae, they are easily recognized by their two big ocelli (eyes) out of the six. They are generally small in size and come in myriad of colours.

Another curious Jumping Spider. Jumping spiders are very expressive, and give interesting poses - hence are a good subject for macro photography. Another rather tiny Salticid, with amazing set of colour combination!
Same spider showing the colours and the patterns.

While leaving, I came across this beautiful reptile basking in the Sun that happened to glance from the monsoon cover for sometime. It was a Bronzeback - Dendrelaphis tristis, an arboreal snake.

It was basking on the top of a shrub, stretching out its head as seen in this photograph and laying completely still, as if invisible.
After it sensed me watching and photographing, it decided to go back into the forest, its home. And I decided to go my home.

Yeoor Hills

2009-06-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

Yeoor Hills - A Short Trail on 14th June 2009

Yeoor Hills of Thane require no introduction - to see more on Yeoor, just google "Yeoor Hills" or go through my previous posts before September 2008 and wait for more in days to come. I went Yeoor after many months. Thus I "officially" declare the beginning of my favourite season of Monsoon! Officially I said, for it's about time for Monsoon to arrive Mumbai but is late! So the literal Monsoon Trail is delayed. None the less, Yeoor Hills is still full of surprises.

I went on a trail with my friends after a long time. The excitement of visiting Yeoor was high, and expectations were higher. It was a small trail and we had small amount of sightings, but it was a good day to put my camera to extreme level of macros.

Starting with Monsoon Trails 2009, I promised myself to pick up plastics that I find on the trails anywhere I go, and put 'em in my bag - or if a friend wants to share some garbage - his bag.

List of Sightings:

Birds:

1. Shikra - 2

2. Crested Serpent Eagle - 1 Call

3. Black Hooded Oriole - 1

4. Common Tailorbird - 1

5. Coppersmith Barbet - 1 Call

Insects:

1. Crematogaster sp.

2. Camponotus sp. (irritans)

3. Camponotus sp. (angusticollis)

4. Cerulean - laying eggs on Butea superba (Palash)

5. Spot Swordtail

6. Common Pierrot

7. Oecophylla sp. (smaragdina) - Weaver Ants

8. Scale Insects

9. Danaid Eggfly female

10. Golden Angle

11. Robber Fly

12. Harvester Ants Nest

13. Cicada - Plenty

Arachnida

1. Crab Spider - Female and Male

2. Ant-mimicking Spider

3. Scorpion UNID - caught by villagers, did not let us set 'em free.

Reptiles:

1. Forest Calotes - 5 Males

Photographs:

Wild Grapes - Ampelocissus latifolia: Inflorescence of this wild creeper common at Yeoor. There were several Scale Insects on this vine. These flowers were full of a liquid secretion, which was not seen on many other flowers. This secretion also did not tend to attract any insects.

Cicada Nymph - moult: Adult Cicadas were plenty at Yeoor, with an occasional chirping that started with one Cicada followed by many others and fading slowly.Giant Honey Ant - Camponotus (irritans?): A fairly large ant, not very aggressive, staying on the ground, was seen 6 feet above ground sitting behind this Scale Insect/ Mealy Bug, awaiting for it to excrete sugary dropping. I observed several independent individuals scouting the forest floor.Crematogaster Ants: These ants were seen tending to another Mealy bug.

Crematogaster Ant: One of the many individuals seen feeding on the sap of Morinda citrifolia fruits. A difference between the first two Crematogaster Ants images is the position of their gaster (the abdomen). In the first Crematogaster Ant pic, the gaster is not raised as seen in the latter picture. They tend to raise their gaster when they are disturbed.

Crematogaster Ants: This is the fruit of Morinda, and the Crematogaster Ants feeding on its sap. They were present on every fruit. These ants were more commonly seen outside and far from their nest than inside (or around) their Pagoda Nests!

Weaver Ant - Oecophylla sp. (smaragdina?): One of the many individuals of the Weaver Ants in a defensive pose on their nest on Carissa carandas.
Robber Fly: A frontal shot of this Robber fly feeding on a winged ant. Robberflies pierce their prey with strong sword-like mandibles and inject digestive juices into the prey, which gets internally dissolved and the fly then sucks out the bodily juice out of its prey.

Golden Angle - Caprona ransonnetti: A hesperiid, this is a Dry Season Form. Only one individual was seen. I expect to see many during Monsoons.

Danaid Eggfly - Hypolimnas misippus, female: A nymphalid, this female mimics Plain Tiger - an unpalatable butterfly.

Common Cerulean - Jamides celeno: A single female was observed laying eggs on Butea superba. She laid about five eggs on the budding leaves.

Spot Swordtail - Graphium nomius: A beautiful swallowtail butterfly, seen commonly during pre-monsoon and monsoon months. Several individuals were seen.
Ant-mimicking Spider: This spider mimics ants perfectly. I have no idea of the species, but this one belongs to Salticidae. A wonderful example of mimicry! The first pair of legs mimicked the antennae of the ants. The size was a little less than 10mm.

The above image is of the same spider, showing clearly the typical Salticidae Eye Pattern and four pairs of legs.Crab Spider: This spider belongs to Thomisidae, the infamous Crab Spider known for its typical Crab-like-posture. This yellow bigger individual is actually a female, carrying a male on her back - rather abdomen. I wonder if these spiders show any Breeding Pattern, since I had seen a couple back in September 2008 too.

Forest Calotes - Calotes rouxi, Male: This is their breeding season. Many of these were seen, displaying their colours - either to the well-camouflaged females to attract them or to other males to warn them.

Another male Forest Calotes, hides from me in the buds.

That's the end of this short trail, although I got to learn a lot from what these forests show us.

Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve - 16th May 2009 to 23rd May 2009

2009-06-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve from 16th May 2009 to 23rd May 2009, a Report

Introduction

Dandeli-Anshi Tiger reserve is an 874 sq. km area of a variety of habitats, situated in Uttara Kannada, the northernmost district of Karnataka. Karnataka has four tiger reserves including Dandeli-Anshi. This tiger reserve is a merged area of Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary and Anshi National Park, along with adjoining forestlands (10th May 2007). The habitat ranges from moist-deciduous and semi-evergreen to rainforests, with the panorama changing from mountain to mountain. The climate is humid and pleasant with off-season showers quite often besides with hot, sunny days.

The flora is diverse, and harbors a myriad of life forms, from insects to large mammals. Everything in these forests is huge in proportion to everything that is seen in my backyard, like huge spiders, huge skinks, huge snakes (and longer) and huge trees, least I forget, ants and etc. I followed all of these, (pardon me botanists!) from mammals and birds to insects and came home with photographs of all I could capture. This is just documentation on papers and on camera of whatever I could see. Some remain unidentified, but most are named.
An Account
1.
I stayed at the reserve for a week, under Center for Wildlife Studies (CWS) and volunteered to identify, record and map the ungulate population in an attempt to estimate the prey population for tigers. The training was very interesting and exciting, although a little tiring, but the stay in the rainforests carried away all the anxiety, thanks to the rare cold breezes. How-much-ever we enjoyed, the grim truth was clear to us and it was sad indeed. With all of us walking transects daily, we came to know how poor these forests were. There were very few ungulates to be seen, which give a clear-cut picture of the prey population for the tigers. This reality can be known to all of those who have spent their time in the reserve – outside the lodges and camps – into the jungles, looking for mammals day and night. I went Dandeli WLS the third time, with hopes to see a large cat, but failed again. Why cats, even the Chital were seen rarely. But refrain not! The bird and insect (let me tell you, butterflies even – if you don’t like other six legged creeps) life is amazing. You wont go back home sobbing, but satisfied and well aware that we ought to protect this environment, if we don’t wish that the birds go away too.

If you visit http://www.dandeliwildlife.org/ you will be welcomed with a letter from the Deputy Conservator of Forests about the Tiger Reserve saying, “However, I would not suggest you to visit this area with an intention of seeing wild animals. Quite often you will be disappointed. We sincerely request you to enjoy the forests, the rains, rivers and streams, birds and their calls, serenity and peace.” (Wait a minute, did he forget insects?!) This passage is honest and nakedly true. What they be doing to stop saying this to the tourists (tourism brings in a lot of income to this Tiger Reserve.)? Frankly, they are doing something. The Government has kindly asked some tribal population to move out of the core areas, they have a good number of locals in the Department doing the best they can, national and international support is good (to initiate and fund large scale projects such as by CWS and Centre for Environment Education and Leadership Programs for Tiger Conservation) and lastly, more and more nature enthusiasts and wildlife experts are pouring in to save-the-day! If you are interesting to dwell in details, go here http://dandeliwildlife.org/foundation.html

2.
One of the aims of the Department state, “To facilitate ecological, economic, social and cultural development in the tiger reserve and adjoining landscape”, putting in contrasting yet important factors together to conserve tiger is genius but very difficult. I don’t agree with “social development in tiger reserve” if they are referring to the prime tiger habitat also. However, did we know that the Project Tiger is (actually, was) not just about tigers, but it’s also a symbol, standing up for every living thing in the forests? By facilitating social (cultural not included) development, we are hampering the habitat. I came across bamboo cutting in pristine forests, burnt bamboo in some areas, unnatural and senseless exotic tree plantations deep inside forests, and clearing of forestlands for curious reasons (is this the economic development they were talking about?). I will put all these in facilitating anti-ecological, economic and social development. This is also one problems being looked into by the Forest Department now, which is a good thing, but signs of it are still everywhere.

We met the Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) at Anshi Nature Camp. He arrived in a cool gypsy and his perfume flared our nostrils – it smelled toxic in the middle of a forest. We hushed on that grand entry into the camp, what in the world is that? After vanishing, he returned and surprisingly greeted us. He knew who we were and what we were doing. We introduced ourselves to him, and had a little chat, during which he told what all he has done as a responsible ACF. He visits villages all around the reserve, spreading the message of conservation. From other sources it was known that he is a very good man, and has been through the reserve, knows its status as well as is kind and liked by the villagers. He appreciated our effort and wished us luck. The conversation ended there in silence and he returned to his tent.

Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve has roughly six to eight tigers living in her arms (they say 11), the number that is not viable to survive and increase. From now on, it will come down, down to none unless extreme measures are not taken. I’m not sure what the future holds, but I do hope for the best of this place. It is unique and only place in India that has had a good number of Black Panther (a melanistic form of the Leopard) sightings; the leopard number seems to be healthy too. Besides Tigers, this reserve has also seen dwindling wild Asiatic elephant sightings which are again of much concern. Besides these, the Gaur population that had crashed to a minimum due to Foot-and-mouth outbreak in the wild population is now growing. These are a few such examples that signify that it is a healthy habitat and can hold a huge number of tiger and tiger prey population. Besides large cats, the Tiger Reserve holds a decent number of Sloth Bears, Civets, Porcupines, Mouse Deer, lesser cats as well as plenty of Langoors, Macaques and Giant Squirrels and not to forget Chital, Muntjac and Sambar (although sighting them is an achievement). The other rare mammals would be Slender Loris, Indian Pangolin and the Flying Squirrel.

3.
If it can sustain such a variety of mammals, the birds are even ahead of them! There are about 272 bird species (Not confirmed) recorded in the tiger reserve including 19 endemic birds of India. This is again a concerning number if compared to Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which has recorded 251 species of birds on 104 sq. km area of land. However, many rainforests of this reserve are yet untouched and hide a good variety of fauna, which is evident from recent discoveries of some unknown amphibian and reptilian species in Western Ghats. I did a wee bit of birding and saw the birds which were on my wish-list. Dandeli is a place to be if you will to watch birds as well as photograph them. Birds such as Malabar Pied and Gray Hornbills, Malabar Trogon, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Minivets and Black Eagle are bound to be seen. Some rare (or difficult to spot) variety will include Ceylon Frogmouth, Great Pied Hornbill and Owls.

4.
The Tiger Reserve holds a good number of butterfly populations along with other insects. This diversity is astounding compared to the vertebrates. It is these insects one should look out for, if you are interested in them. Along with Southern Birdwing – the largest butterfly of India, one can not miss the Malabar Banded Peacock and Malabar Tree Nymph – both endemic to India. There are other giant varieties of beetles such as Jewel Beetles, although common else where; it’s a treat to watch them. Besides these, the ants, wasps and other predatory insects scour the undergrowth for prey and are a constant reminder that this is wilderness. I learnt a good lesson there, someone had said, “remember, a snake might bite you and a leopard might take you”, but it’s the wasps, bees and ants you ought to look out for too as they are capable of stinging you badly! The biomass of insects is more compared to the vertebrates in this region. There are predators, scavengers as well as decomposers innumerable to be missed, but a lot of work needs to be done to identify as well as study them even today. I made a check list of everything that I could see and capture through lens (and tried to identify), the number is however very less, if we consider the potential of this place.

5.
Let’s go back to that saying, “a snake might bite you…”, and indeed you must watch out for them! They are superbly camouflaged, waiting in the bushes and leaf litter, waiting for you to pass by them, and you step on them, now they’ve had you, you are dead! But really, snakes don’t want to waste their venom on you. They prefer locations where their prey is abundant – such as lizards, geckos, skinks, frogs and birds too. It is our luck to see them in the wild, admire them and let them be. Snakes such as Vine Snake, Malabar Pit Viper and Hump Nosed Pit Viper are fairly seen, other than these, Indian Cobra, Krait, Kukris and also Trinket Snake are seen in this reserve. While I was there, we read a report of King Cobra captured at Joida that measured about 14 feet! It was released into the forests. This was when we passed Joida a day after the news! I was also fascinated by the frog population there. Frogs are seen in all three seasons, and there are records of caecilians during wet season. Malabar Tree Frog, Common Tree Frog, Fungoid Frog, Bronzed Frog, and other frogs etc. are seen or heard during all the seasons; monsoon specifically brings out a treat to the frog enthusiasts. It was interesting to watch so many skinks in the reserve where they would scour the forest floor, keeping one eye on me as they busied about their daily chores. Forest Calotes, Garden Lizard and geckos are very common. One lizard you might be interested in seeing, the Monitor Lizard is also seen here, although you ought to be very keen on spotting one.

Other than these fascinating creatures of the wild, lest I forget, there are many leeches and ticks in these forests, and it is their ideal place to be. Rainforests harbor many parasitic creatures that include Bottle Flies (not of much concern to humans) and Horse Flies (Leech and Ticks too) and they are kind enough to bid you goodbye with souvenirs (bite marks, actually) on you – that don’t last long!

6.
Albeit this biodiversity, man has an upper hand over these forests and the development is taking a rapid pace, one such case study reveals much of it (of ecologic, of developmental and of cruel intentions) with the “making of the Dandeli dam”. There are many dams in Uttara Kannada of which Supa Dam on Kalinadi is famous, another dam the Upper Kaneri Dam is built across Kaneri River, there are several other dams built on the tributaries of Kalinadi (in all six dams). All these have made Uttara Kannada a powerhouse of energy, all from the natural resources, at the cost of natural resources available. One famous and hard hitting case was that of the Dandeli Dam, that was termed as “worst case of fraud in environmental decision making history in India”. A copy of this is available on the internet here http://144.16.65.194/hpg/envis/doc1999ahtml/miscteri201211.html (and same content here: http://www.esgindia.org/campaigns/dandeli/press/DandeliPR3.htm ) which contains details of this dishonest EIA report at the cost of the biodiversity that has sustained this region for a long time.

In short, Ernst and Young, an international consulting firm submitted an EIA report for the Hydal Project that was plagiarized. The firm, as stated in a Press Release dated 5th December 2000, had copied the rapid EIA of the Tattihalla Agumentation Scheme prepared by Institute for Catchment Studies and Environmental Management, Bangalore, by presenting Dandeli as being in Tattihalla. After that followed “tight-lipped” silence, and later another EIA was demanded by the government. Then came into picture the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) one well known and respected NGO that produced an EIA within no time. It took one month to complete the field study – which is impossible, considering the patterns of plants as well as animals (life and death, migration and seasonality, breeding and non-breeding season, etc.) according to the changing season. The EIA report was submitted, and concluded to be spurious (Again, go through the link provided for details, it is depressing indeed). Ecologist Dr. Ranjit Daniel commented on the TERI EIA, and brought out the truth and disgrace to the environmentalists that are “concerned” with environment. He said, “Names of species are erroneous, few outdated and non-existent in reality. Plant names are full of spelling and classification errors…new species of birds as claimed by TERI were well known in the region for a hundred years…there are no heards of elephants in Dandeli…common snakes like Pit Vipers are not included in the report.” In December 2000, a letter to the Director of TERI was written expressing disappointment and violation of EIA. Furthermore, the EIA concluded that the dam will not have a significant impact on the biodiversity of that region without providing any supporting evidence. We all know now how rich this region is. Ultimately, this EIA was also taken back.

Another report dated June 2003 can be read here: http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl2012/stories/20030620000207100.htm
As of 2006, the clearance for Dandeli Dam had been stalled.

This grim reality is everywhere around us, if you consider a pristine forest of Karnataka or the lungs of Mumbai, the SEZ region in Uran (May 2009). Although these two cases are worlds apart, they do hold a biodiversity that is at stake for human desires.

7.
Forest is an ecological niche, defined by the type of vegetation that grows there. Depending on the type of plants and trees, the forests are classified as deciduous, evergreen or rain forests (in this Tiger Reserve). While I walked the forest, I realized that this forest type changes with every mountain you cross, something you can feel as you walk, and breathe – if you even close your eyes. The forest has dense undergrowth as well as a high, thick canopy, on another slope it was ruled by bamboo – young as well as dead, creaking and squeaking as they waved to the air currents. On another mountain side, it was completely covered by cane (Calamus rotang) which prefers growing in dense rainforests – walking amidst them is as good as walking amidst barbwires. While on some patches, there were dried, deciduous patches that were hot and humid and on some hilltops, it was completely open – and you could see the Western Ghats spanning from one corner of the eye to the other. It was vast and stunningly beautiful. I did my best to explore as much as possible from the reserve, and came home exhausted and excited. Yet this beauty was scarred at some places, thanks to the extensive “plantation” projects by the government. We came across wide patches of Teak, Australian Acacia and Cashew nut trees, all in the middle of a natural forest. This logic of afforestation ought to be changed, and it was realized by the Forest Department in time, now they know what Australian Acacia is and what’s natural to belong to these forests.

Albeit pressures from humans, the Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve still stands strong, and attracts a lot of tourists. Eco-tourism is taking good shape in these parts, along with other environmental projects to protect it from further harm. On my stay, I had a few revelations I discussed above, but I was glad there are some of us who really care.

8.
I sighted 52 species of birds on my stay, 64 species of insects including 28 species of Butterflies, 12 species of Dragonflies, 2 species of Damselflies, 6 species of ants and other insects that could not be classified up to species level, such as grasshoppers, flies, hemipterans, beetles and arachnids. I sighted 9 species of reptiles – including snakes, geckos and lizards, few frogs and ultimately 11 species of mammals. All the species were either identified on the field or through photographs. No specimens were captured or collected. The sightings were recorded at Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary, Anshi National Park, Kumbharwada and Baargada, all a part of the Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve. The habitats ranged from forestlands (semi-deciduous, semi-evergreen and rainforests), to rivers and streams that were mostly dry or contained stagnant pools.

List of Sightings

DANDELI-ANSHI TIGER RESERVE – RANDOM SIGHTINGS
INDEX: GREATER THAN 50 = ABUNDANT (A); GREATER THAN 10 = PLENTY (P); NUMBERS ANYWHERE DENOTE EXACT FIGURES; MALE – M; FEMALE – F, JUVENILE – J; SEEN – E; HEARD – C; DEAD - D

BIRDS:
1. Pied Bushchat – 1 M, E
2. Common Kestrel – 1, E
3. Brahminy Starling – 1, E
4. Oriental Magpie Robin – 1 M, 1 F, E
5. Stork billed Kingfisher – 3, E
6. Malabar Pied Hornbill – 10 E, 1 C
7. Racquet tailed Drongo – 5, E
8. Scarlet Minivet – 1 M, E
9. Malabar Gray Hornbill – 2 E, 1 D
10. Tailor Bird – 1, C
11. Night Jar – 3, E
12. Peacock – 1 M C, 2 F E
13. Black Eagle – 1, E
14. Red wattled Lapwing – 2, E
15. Velvet Fronted Nuthatch – 4, E
16. Short toed Snake Eagle – 1, E
17. Red Rumped Swallow – 4, E
18. Eurasian Golden Oriole, 4 M, 1 F, E
19. White cheeked Barbet – 1, E
20. Grey Tit – 1, E
21. Lesser Yellownape – 1 M/F, 1 J, E
22. Chestnut tailed Starling – 11, E
23. Coppersmith Barbet – 1, C
24. White rumped Shama – 1, E
25. Malabar Whistling Thrush – 4 C, 2 E
26. Yellow footed green Pigeon – 1, E
27. Small Minivet – 1 M, 1 F, E
28. White throated Kingfisher – 4, E
29. Flame backed Woodpecker – 2, E
30. Pond Heron – 3, E
31. Little Cormorant – 1, E
32. Cattle Egret – P
33. Greater Coucal – 2, E
34. Jungle Myna – 12, E
35. Rufus Woodpecker – 2, E
36. Great Pied Hornbill – 1, E
37. Cinnamon Bittern – 1, E
38. Asian Fairy Blue Bird – 1, E
39. Brown Fish Owl – 1, E
40. Malabar Trogon – 1 M, E
41. Black Headed Munia – 9, E
42. Purple Rumped Sunbird – 1 M, E
43. Crested Serpent Eagle – 1, E
44. Brahminy Kite – 1, E
45. Red Vented Bulbul – P
46. Jungle Crow – 7, E
47. House Sparrow – 4, E
48. House Crow – 3, E
49. Common Myna – 4, E
50. Black Drongo – 2, E
51. White browed Wagtail – 2, E
52. Grey Jungle Fowl – 1 F, E

INSECTS
1. Brown Dusk Hawk – 1 (DRAGONFLY)
2. Common Clubtail – 2 (DRAGONFLY)
3. Green Marsh Hawk – A (DRAGONFLY)
4. Ground Skimmer – A (DRAGONFLY)
5. Spider Wasp – P
6. Hawkmoth Ambulyx sp.– 1 (MOTH)
7. Grasshopper – A
8. Rustic – 4 (BUTTERFLY)
9. Common Jay – 1 (BUTTERFLY)
10. Plain Tiger – 2 (BUTTERFLY)
11. Handmaiden Moth – 1 (MOTH)
12. Cicada – 3, 1 Moult
13. Painted Lady – 1 (BUTTERFLY)
14. Common Emigrant – P (BUTTERFLY)
15. Lime Butterfly – 3 (BUTTERFLY)
16. Blue Mormon – 6 (BUTTERFLY)
17. Crimson Rose – 8 (BUTTERFLY)
18. Common Four-ring – 3 (BUTTERFLY)
19. Crimson tailed Marsh Hawk – 2 (DRAGONFLY)
20. Parakeet Darner – 2 (DRAGONFLY)
21. Evening Brown – P (BUTTERFLY)
22. Black tipped Forest Glory – P (DAMSELFLY)
23. Line Blue – 1 (BUTTERFLY)
24. Fulvous Forest Skimmer – 1 M, 2 F (DRAGONFLY)
25. Chocolate Pansy – 1 (BUTTERFLY)
26. Common Mormon – 1 F Stichius form, 1 F Romulus form (BUTTERFLY)
27. Malabar Banded Swallowtail – 2 (BUTTERFLY)
28. Plum Judy – 1 (BUTTERFLY)
29. Asiatic Bloodtail – 2 (DRAGONFLY)
30. Southern Birdwing – 2 (BUTTERFLY)
31. Blue Oak Leaf – 4 (BUTTERFLY)
32. Lanternfly – 1 E, 1 D
33. Flatid – 1
34. Angled Pierrot – 1 (BUTTERFLY)
35. Malabar Tree Nymph – 2 (BUTTERFLY)
36. Darner UNID – 1 (DRAGONFLY)
37. Red Helen – 1 (BUTTERFLY)
38. Common Indian Crow – A (BUTTERFLY)
39. Striped Tiger – 1 (BUTTERFLY)
40. Great Eggfly – 1 F (BUTTERFLY)
41. Oecophylla smaragdina – A (ANT)
42. Camponotus sericeus– A (ANT)
43. Brown Darner – 1 (DRAGONFLY)
44. Yellow Spotted Skipper – 1 (BUTTERFLY)
45. Erebus heiroglyphica – 2 (MOTH)
46. Malabar Banded Peacock – 1 (BUTTERFLY)
47. Coral tailed cloud wing – 3 (DRAGONFLY)
48. Ditch Jewel – 2 (DRAGONFLY)
49. Lemon Pansy – 4 (BUTTERFLY)
50. Dung Beetle – 6
51. Jewel Beetle – 1
52. Long Horn Beetle – 2
53. Unid Big Fly – 5
54. Horse Fly – 7
55. Black winged Bambootail – 1 (DAMSELFLY)
56. Long necked Sugar Ants – A (ANT)
57. Leptogenys processionalis – A (ANT)
58. Chromatogaster Ants – A (ANT)
59. Myrmicaria brunnea – A (ANT)
60. Nigger – 1 (BUTTERFLY)
61. Monkey Puzzle – 1 (BUTTERFLY)
62. Owlfly – 1
63. Mosquitoes – P
64. Macrobrochis gigas – 2 (MOTH)

ARACHNIDS:
1. Pseudoscorpion – 1
2. Ticks – P
3. Wolf Spider – Arctosa sp. – 3
4. Jumping Spider – 7
5. Tarantula – 2 burrows
6. Golden Silk Orb Weaver – Nephila sp.– P
7. Tetragnathidae - Leucage sp. - P

REPTILES
1. Vine Snake – 2
2. Rat Snake – 2, 1 Moult
3. Indian Cobra – 1
4. Forest Calotes – 4 M, 3 F
5. Garden Lizard – 1
6. Draco – 3
7. Monitor Lizard – 1
8. Hemidactylus prashadi – 2
9. Skink - A

AMPHIBIANS
1. Skittering Frog - A
2. Fungoid Frog – P
3. Frog Eggs - P

MAMMALS
1. Gray Langur – 46 E
2. Black Naped Hare – 2 E
3. Malabar Giant Squirrel – 5 E, 2 C
4. Wild Boar – 1 E
5. Porcupine – 1 Quills
6. Gaur – 1 E
7. Muntjac – 1 C
8. Sloth Bear – 1 E
9. Jackal – 2 E
10. Spotted Deer – 1 E
11. Bonnet Macaque – 7 E

Photographs
Procession Ants - Leptogenys processionalis: These ants are so called because of their habit of walking in a procession. These were common throughout the reserve, in all sorts of habitats. They were active during day as well as night hours. This photograph was taken at Kulgi Nature Camp in Dandeli WLS.
Common Golden Ant – Camponotus sericeus : These ants are so called because of the golden hair on the gaster. These were also common throughout the reserve. These ants show a variety of morphs, where the golden color is either absent or present at a greater extent. The ant, if disturbed, has a tendency to freeze for a moment, and then run rapidly for cover.
Weaver ants – Oecophylla smaragdina: A common ant of the reserve, known to weave leaves together to form housing for the colony. These ants were seen in all sorts of habitats including dry riverbeds, much away from any plant.

Black-winged Bamboo Tail – Disparoneura quadrimaculata: A medium sized damselfly, seen at Kaneri Nursery. It was the only damselfly amidst a swarm of dragonflies at the pond. The damselfly perches on emergent boulders and prefers flying low on the ground.

Black-tipped Forest Glory – Vestalis apicalis: A large flutterer of the rainforests. Prefers thickly covered patches, always seen near a stream. This damselfly was seen in abundance at some pockets of the forest.
Fulvous Forest Skimmer – Neurothemis fulvia: A conspicuous dragonfly preferring wet forest habitat. It was seen near a stream at Anshi National Park.

Cicada – Moult: Cicadas are very common throughout the reserve. The calls are shrill and can be heard at a great distance. They are amongst long living insects in the world, the nymphs (as seen in the picture) living for several years underground, feed on plant root sap. The adults emerge in mass numbers, and their only purpose is to mate.
Macrobrochis gigas: A moth seen at Anshi National Park belongs to a large and diverse family of moths called Arctiidae. A distinct feature of this family is the presence of a tymbal organ on metathorax (that bears the third pair of legs and hindwings) which when vibrated, produces an ultrasonic sound. These sounds are used in defending against predators as well as finding a mate. *Earlier Identified as Arctosa sp. Lycosidae, IT actually belongs to Ctenidae (Click on it to view more about Ctenidae), probably a Ctenus sp. These spiders are called Wandering Spiders, and are much like the Wolf spiders in habit and share the same habitat. The Wandering Spiders are considered aggressive and can deliver a clinically significant bite, however this individual was dormant. They are nocturnal spiders and supposedly prey on Wolf Spiders
Orb Weaver – Leucauge sp.: A brightly colored Orb-weaver seen commonly through the reserve.Fungoid Frog – Hydrophylax malabaricus: An endemic frog common throughout the reserve. The sightings were at moist streambeds as well as stagnant pools. A large number of small adults resided in the leaf litter, under stones and fallen boughs in wet patches.
Skittering Frog: I am unsure of its identification.
Countless frog eggs were seen at pools in Kaneri River at Kaneri Nursery. In this photograph, many mosquito larvae are also seen besides the eggs.
Forest Calotes – Calotes rouxi: A common lizard of the reserve. Males show bright red color on proximal sides, generally to attract female or to warn other males of its presence. Post-monsoon days are the breeding season of Forest Calotes, where males as well as females usually seen in close proximity.
The Southern Flying Lizard – Draco dussumieri: A lizard that is capable of gliding through the high canopy, Draco is very common in the reserve. It is an endemic lizard, males often seen flashing its brightly colored yellow gular sac. The “wings” to assist in gliding are actually modified ribs that can be stretched out. They are covered by skin and scales.

Bombay Leaf-toed Gecko – Hemidactylus prashadi: It is found in Western Ghats only. This one was seen in Baargada (Anshi Range) at the Anti-poaching Camp.
Long-nosed Vine Snake – Ahaetulla nasuta: A beautiful arboreal snake, preying on lizards, geckos and sometimes even birds, is commonly seen at the reserve. It is one of the commonest snakes to die under the vehicles on the roads.
White cheeked Barbet – Megalaima viridis: An endemic of the Western Ghats, also commonly called Small Green Barbet. The calls of this bird can be heard throughout the forests, more common during monsoon season.
Chestnut-tailed Starling – Sturnia malabarica blythii: Also called Grey Headed Myna, they are seen in flocks, and are omnivorous. This individual is from a flock of 9 others seen at Kulgi Nature Camp.
Malabar Whistling Thrush – Myophonus horsfieldii: It has a lovely human-like whistling tune, commonly heard in the reserve at dawn. They prefer dense forests and can be sighted at riverbanks.

Racquet Tailed Drongo – Dicrurus remifer: A beautiful bird common at the reserve, capable of mimicking calls of other birds. It is larger than a Black Drongo, prefers staying high up in the canopy.

Lesser Yellownape – Picus chloropsus: A common woodpecker of India, the peninsular subspecies of which shows a grey, duller head. A pair of these was seen at Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary pecking bamboo.
Eurasian Golden Oriole – Oriolus oriolus: Kundoo race or a juvenile male?
Gray Langur – Semnopithecus sp.: There are seven species of Langurs in India. These are the most common mammals at the reserve. They are seen near human settlement as well as in isolated pockets of forests – in all kinds of habitats.
Elephant Pods – Entada sp.: These are the largest pods seen in India. It is actually a woody climber (Liana) that grows in massive proportions. The seeds are commonly called Sea beans or Sea hearts since they are found “riding the ocean currents of the world” and their heart-shape. The seeds are tied to the neck of the cattle since they make a sound when they hit each other – a substitute to cattle bells! This woody climber is fairly common at the reserve and can be easily seen due to the obvious pods. The pods are seen lying on forest floor during summer months. Conclusion

I spent a week at Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve and learnt a lot about field studies, identification keys and different habitats. What amazes me most is how different all these habitats are, yet so delicately woven that if one habitat is disturbed, the whole artwork of nature is shaken. It took countless years of evolution, a natural way of the development that is put to so much of stress due to human development.

The customs and culture of the people that belong to these regions (the tribal) have learnt to adapt to the life there. It is the external forces that are not-so-adapted to these landscapes who want to change it for the betterment of them. This Tiger Reserve is one of the many in need of support from everyone – from stockbrokers to wildlife enthusiasts, from a layman to an expert.
It is a place so unique to our country that if we manipulate it, we play with our own lives instead. A little effort, like carrying absolutely no plastic to the reserves can make a big impact and even if you do, make sure you take it home with you – that is the best place to dispose plastics because we don’t know where it goes from there! Jokes apart, it at least stays in the garbage dumps rather than littering the forest floor.

Last but not the least, it is not the “jeep safaris” but the natural trails on which one walks – that brings out all the excitement (and raw fear) of seeing a bear, or a leopard – or even a tiger – (AND birds and butterflies!) loitering in their home. I am not against jeep safaris, but I hate traffic in the reserve waiting to see a tiger yawn in the middle of a road.

For more pictures, go here - http://picasaweb.google.com/aniruddha.dhamorikar/DandeliAnshiTigerReserve16thTo23rdMay2009#

Gram Blue and Forget-me-not

2009-03-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

These two Lycaenids cause much confusion in amateur butterfly watchers. Here's one note on how to distinguish them.

Gram Blue on a Shrub

Gram Blue, Euchrysops cnejus – is a common Lycaenid of India. Distributed throughout the southern and western regions, it is not found in the higher altitudes.

Gram Blue male - upper side

Male Gram Blues are smaller compared to the female counterparts. The males have a shade of blue and black on the upper wings compared to the females, which have more of a brown shade with blue near the body.

Gram Blue Female - upper side

Although found in all the seasons, they are abundant during post-monsoon. They prefer flying on low ground, feeding on various flowers of weeds as well as important plants. The larval food plant is Vigna trilobata, generally called as Wild Bean, which is in abundance during monsoon and flowers post-monsoon. The larvae, like most of the Lycaenid larvae, are attended by ants.

Gram Blue on Vigna trilobata flower

The adults might live in a group of around 10 – 20 in a square meter area which is a high number where males fight for a partner. A several males will try to mate with a female; however only one succeeds in mating.

Gram Blue - Female towards the left and two males on the right trying to mate

A mating pair of Gram Blues

Gram Blues are often seen with several other blues, such as Pea Blue, Common Cerulean and Zebra Blues. Another blue – Catachrysops strabo (commonly called Forget-me-not) is confused with Gram Blue, however both are rather distinctive in morphology as well as behavior.
Forget-me-not, as it is commonly called is a comparatively larger butterfly than Gram Blue.

Forget-me-not (Left) and Gram Blue (Right)

The upper wings of male are silvery blue which are distinctively different than Gram Blue whereas the females have a predominant thick blackish brown border with white elsewhere and light blue near the thorax. Forget-me-not Male upper side

The hind wings are quite different from Gram Blue, with less dominant two black spots on the hind-wing and a small spot at the margin of (closer to the apex and far from the head) fore-wing.

Forget-me-not under side

It is distributed throughout India.

Forget-me-not Male - this one was engaged in a territorial dispute

The flight of Forget-me-not is random and fast and is a territorial butterfly (males) often seen fighting rival males. They settle abruptly and are commonly seen basking in the late morning sun.

The Charaxinae

2009-03-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

The Charaxinae

The Killer Moth or Charaxes of Batman may be a villain that everyone hates. But that does not stop the butterflies I’m in love with – commonly called Leafwings be named the Charaxes (Subfamily Charaxinae).

Introducing the Nawab (Polyura athamas) and the Rajahs (Charaxes solon and Charaxes bernardus) from my backyard, who happen to be rather uncommon – if not rare – in the habitat that surrounds us.

There are around 400 species of Leafwings most of which found in tropics. India has about 16 sp. belonging to subfamily Charaxinae, family Nymphalidae. These butterflies are well known for their robust bodies, fast flight and cryptic designs. The habit of fast flight is developed to evade predators such as birds.

Charaxes solon seen here puddling on animal scat

Charaxes solon feeding on Pongamia pinnata sap

All Charaxinae exhibit other similar characteristics apart from morphological adaptations. The common food source for most larvae is dicotyledonous plants. The adults frequent wet rocks, dung, animal scat and rotting fruits rather than flowers unlike other butterflies to drink the liquid food.

Head capsule of Polyura athamas caterpillar

The larvae of Charaxes show a typical “head capsule” that are four divergent curved fleshy processes which gives them a “crown” like appearance. The larvae are also known to make “larval beds” to rest on it during night hours.

Common Nawab

Polyura athamas seen here puddling on a rock

This robust butterfly prefers high canopy, but often visits the ground for food which happens to be the best way to observe it. Eggs are laid on Fabaceae plants, Acasia caesia, Adenanthera pavonina, Caecalpenia sp., Pithecellobian dulces etc. It is commonly seen at SGNP, specifically Nagla Block part of SGNP.

Tawny Rajah

Charaxes berbardus seen here puddling on a rock

A tawny colored butterfly, considered to be one of the fastest of them all. It is yet another canopy butterfly, often visiting the ground for food. The larval food plant is Aglaia lawii. The best place to see it is again at SGNP, Nagla Block.

Black Rajah

Charaxes solon

A cryptic butterfly, Black Rajah is one of the favorites of Butterfly watchers. It is generally a low-altitude butterfly, commonly seen feeding on the secretions of rotting fruits and animal scat. The larvae feed on Tamarindus indica and other Fabaceae plants. Best place to observe them is at Mahim Nature Park Society.

All of the Charaxinae butterflies are considered uncommon, and most rare. This status is given to them for they are scarcely seen around. A better way to protect these is by keeping-your-garbage-with-you that is, by not littering the parks (National Parks included!). Planting the larval food plants – which are all ecologically important as well as wild – in your backyard may invite these in your backyards for there are records of the larvae seen feeding in suburbs too.

The Praying Mantis - An Insight

2009-03-01T01:31:00.000-08:00

The Praying Mantis – An Insight

Insects have not only adopted the status of pests –and – friends –of – everyone. There are many others that are, in true sense – predatory. And here I am talking of Mantids, commonly so-called Praying Mantis(es).

An Adult Mantis rests in dried inflorescence with a "praying" posture

Praying Mantises belong to the order Mantodea. They are referred to as “Praying” Mantis for the design of their forelimbs –or the appendages – rather called raptorial legs, held in a shape as if “praying with folded hands”. These praying limbs aren’t really praying, but preying they are! These raptorial legs are so designed to act like pincers, scissors, crushers and fingers! Mantids (as they are generally called) also have highly developed compound eyes with a wide binocular vision. The head is triangular which can rotate to about 300 degrees in some species and they also have elongated thorax that aids in free movement of the raptorial limbs.

A Mantis that mimics a stick

Besides this built-to-kill morphology, they are also excellently camouflaged. They can mimic a stick to a leaf, a flower to stones, ants (especially newly hatched nymphs) and even a fire ravaged landscape! The mimicry is of prime importance in the Mantid world, for they are ambush hunters. They prefer keeping dead still – and being well camouflaged – they go unnoticed by an unsuspecting prey – which, when close – is captured with blinding speed. Some Mantids such as Bark Mantis and Ground Mantis however, often prefer stalking prey.

A Bark Mantis - although visible on a leaf, is difficult to spot when resting on a bark

The Mantids have not only mastered the art of hiding, they are the Jack of all trades! Mantids not only camouflage and remain still; they also mimic the movements of leaves or branches swinging in air. They rock and roll as per the leaves – to match that exact shape and action. This has given them a heightened chance of finding prey.

A Mantis hides beneath Lantana camara inflorescence

Mantids are large insects, often growing to about 100mm when adult, and some grow really large and are capable of eating small lizards, frogs, birds and even snakes! Although on the other hand, if they (all the vertebrates that are capable of eating a Mantid and capable of being eaten by one!) can consume Mantids with a smile on their face! This is a fact, Mantids, although excellently camouflaged and mimics – are not protected chemically (toxin, venom is absent) which makes them vulnerable to be eaten by other predators. Thus it is clear that Mantids are such masters of disguise not only to hunt but to hide from being hunt too!

Mantises defend themselves with courage!

Mantids also have “defensive” postures (common of all is spreading of the raptorial legs and opening the wings to show a “threat display”) and striking colors and shapes like large eyes (to disorient the predator) in their hind-wings. This may deter the prey and a Mantid may live for another day!

Different types of Mantis Nymphs

Mantids are a group of insects which thrived and diversified recently (as recently as 65 – 1.8 million years ago!) much after their cousins Cockroaches and the Termites. Cockroaches indeed for Mantids and cockroaches both shared a common ancestor way back in Cretaceous Period (145.5 – 65.5 million years ago), the closest relative (now) being a cockroach with fore-limbs similar to the raptorial legs of Mantids - Raphidiomimula burmitica (no picture available).

A Mating pair of Mantises

Mantids also show an interesting behavior while mating which has been of interest for many entomologists to study. Mantids show, what is technically called “Sexual Cannibalism” where the female Mantis eats the male mantis after mating. The female usually eats off the head first, often even before mating! This mating behavior is much debated, where some say that as soon as after mating, the female consumes the male to gain nutrition easily, while some consider this to be an indication that male submissiveness does not inherently increase male reproductive success, rather that more fit males are likely to approach a female with caution and escape! These two contrasting theories still boggle the minds of the experts.

Research by Liske and Davis (1987) and others found (e.g. using video recorders in vacant rooms) that Chinese mantises that had been fed ad libitum* (so were not starving) actually displayed elaborate courtship behavior when left undisturbed. The male engages the female in courtship dance, to change her interest from feeding to mating. Courtship display has also been observed in other species, but it does not hold for all mantises.

* Ad libitum is used in biology to refer to the "free-feeding" weight of an animal, as opposed, for example, to the weight after a restricted diet. In nutritional studies, this phrase denotes providing an animal free access to feed or water thereby allowing the animal to self-regulate intake according to its biological needs.

A Mantid Ootheca and a Jumping Spider investigating it

Mantids lay a hundred eggs in a sac called “Ootheca”. The ootheca is generally laid during monsoon, post-monsoon and pre-summer. A lot many mantises are seen during post-monsoon – probably due to abundance in prey during that period.

A Mantis Nymph rests on Calotropis gigantia flower

The nymphs are imago of the adults, but lack wings and reproductive glands, some nymphs also mimic ants. They feed on a variety of insects such as butterflies (even the unpalatable ones!), beetles, bugs and ones that are considered pests too!

A Nymph consuming Euploea core - an unpalatable butterfly

Mantises are and remain hidden from the eyes of prey and science. They are the true masters of disguise. Although the common name “Praying Mantis” sound cool, to go to the species level identification of a particular Mantid is impossible – and only an entomologist may ascertain that with a certain skill.

A Stick Mimicking - ~20cm long Mantis

The Mantids of India require a revision, which is of course, taken under by many eminent scientists. This will not only make us understand our neighbors, with whom we share our backyard but also make us careful enough not to kill them!

The Ultimate Spinner - Spiders

2009-02-21T05:51:00.000-08:00

The Ultimate Spinner - Spiders

Living in one of the biodiversity hotspots – the Western Ghats – has led its residents relish and preserve the rich ecosystems of their homes. It is here that I dwell, one among the many nature enthusiasts who wonder in awe at the rich biodiversity of this complicated and conflicted land. Out of all the varieties of mammals, birds, butterflies, beetles, ants and bees, etcetera; we have a good diversity of spiders too. Unfortunately, very few dwell in to see spiders up-close and those who do, are undeniably in love with them. Let us dive in the world of these eight legged freaks, the stars of Arachnophobia and the horrid eight eyed venomous creeps which ought to be known well to be named as these.
Spiders are small and big, much tough, hairy and just like insects so why aren’t they insects? Well, spiders have eight legs and either six or eight eyes (every eye called an ocelli). Apart from these usual traits that make up a spider – they also have venom glands & fangs and spinnerets that spin webs. All these characters are typical of spider family and no insect possess these characters wholly although Spiders are considered distant relatives of insects.
Spiders are therefore, unique and fall in the Class of Arachnida – which is shared by ten other odd creatures that roam the earth. To name a few – scorpions, harvestmen, Solifugids and Whip scorpions etc, out of which the Order of Araneae where spiders are placed is the most diverse with as many as 108 families! India has about 59 families, that’s about 54.6% of all. This diversity is undoubtedly rich and thriving. With large tarantulas such as Indian Ornamental Tarantula (Theraphosidae) to the small Tiny House Dwellers (Oceobiidae), we are lucky to share our backyards with these creatures.
Lucky?! Someone may think, but yes, fortunate – for they are very much important to us as they are to the ecosystem. They keep your surrounding clean – eating the mosquitoes and other pests – and keep their population under check. Surprisingly, they also feed on other spiders (most of the females feed on male spiders too!) thus keeping their own population under control! Albeit their commonness, they are yet less understood.
Spiders have roamed this planet for millions of years, and have evolved into one of the supreme predators that exist. They hunt solitarily, and also in groups; they also use weapons and stealth for hunting. And besides being a good hunter, some even feed on plant matter such as nectar! These characters of the spiders are so overwhelming that scientists presume to discover more secrets about spiders. Apart from their morphology, they also hold great value and power in mythology.
Spiders have been focus of fears, malice and painful death (for the possession of venom). They are said to have the ability to create their own world (actually, built by a web). An interesting myth about spiders would be the story of Arachne. The origin of the spider is the story of the weaving competition between the Greek goddess Athena and the princess Arachne. This fable was added much later to the Greek mythos when Ovid wrote the poem Metamorphoses between AD 2-8. Arachne was the daughter of a famous Tyrian purple dyer in Hypaipa of Lydia. Due to her father's skill with cloth dying, Arachne was adept in the art of weaving. Eventually, she began to consider herself a greater weaver than the goddess Athena herself and challenged the goddess to a weaving contest to prove her skill. Athena wove the scene of her victory over Poseidon that had inspired her patronage of Athens, while Arachne wove a tapestry featuring twenty-one episodes of infidelity amongst the Gods of Olympus, which angered Athena. The goddess conceded that Arachne's weaving was flawless but she was infuriated by the mortal's pride. In a final moment of anger, Athena destroyed Arachne's tapestry and loom with her shuttle. Out of sadness, Arachne hung herself soon after. Taking pity on her, Athena transformed her into a spider before the princess could kill herself. Athena made sure that the spider retained Arachne's weaving abilities. The Greek Arachne means "spider". In the Vedic philosophy of India, the spider is depicted as hiding the ultimate reality with the veils of illusion.
They have been here before our ancestors roamed this planet. They have captured the hearts of legendary empires and are at the heart of some legends. Let us treat them with some respect. A little space for them will only mean good luck to you, for every spider you kill; you invite bad luck towards you. In other words, a good population of spiders means a pest-free home! On a broader sense, a good population of spiders means a healthy ecosystem!

Pictures from Right:

1. Green Lynx Spider (Oxyopidae) male - Peucetia viridians

2. Crab Spider (Thomisidae) feeding on Shield Bug

3. Tent Spider (Araneidae) in its Tent shaped web

Pictures from Left:

1. Tunnel-web Spider (Lycosidae)

2. Long-jawed Orb Weaver (Tetragnathidae)

3. Garden Orb Weaver (Araneidae) - Neoscona crucifera preying on C. servilia (female)

Some common spiders in and around us:

1. Huntsman Spider carrying eggsac. Spiders show serious parental care. 2. White Lynx Spider - O. shweta protecting its eggsac.
3. An unidentified spider protecting its eggsac.
4. The Spiderlings of the previous spider. Notice how they clutter together. They wouldnt leave the web for few days. When threatened, they hang low from the "nest" and come back to the same position after a while.

5. Cyclosa sp. belonging to Araneidae, it is an Orb-weaver. Peculiar character would be collecting debri such as small particles, stamens, seeds, etc. and hiding between them for camouflage.

The web of the Cyclosa sp.

6. Crab Spider resting under Tridax inflorescence. Crab Spiders have excellent camouflage colours.

7. Signature Spider - Argiope sp. seen here feeding on Yellow Orange Tip butterfly. Spiders are master hunters and Orb Weavers have mastered the art of trapping prey in their orb-shaped webs.

8. Crab Spider - seen here feeding on Common Emigrant. Crab Spiders are ambush predators. They await a prey (usually an insect) 'neath flowers and make a surprise attack.

9. Jumping Spider (Salticidae) have excellent eyesight. This spider (picture below) caught this fly as soon as it took off. The fly struggled enough to free itself but the spider was able to hang onto it - thanks to the strong fibre of the silk.

10. Green Lynx Spider - Peucetia viridians preying on Neoscona crucifera. Spiders do hunt other spiders, and may display cannibalism.

Of course these are not the only ones seen around us. There are many more in fact a hell lot of them but this place is just too small to put 'em in.

Came across this funny rhyme online -

"If you wish to live and thrive, Let a spider run alive. " - Old English nursery rhyme.

Flutter By

2009-02-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

Flutter by

A butterfly is seen as a personification of a person’s soul – whether they are living, or dead, according to a Japanese legend, and indeed it is for only those who marvel at their charm as they flutter by know well. A delicately crafted butterfly from a chrysalis is one of the finest creations of nature. Let us dive into a rational world of these marvels, far from the scientific mind-boggling terms that hold utmost importance but not the delicacy of these intricately-designed-beauties as we ought to perceive.

How do they get their rainbow colors, you ask? One mythology expresses it in the best way to suit human nature! According to this myth, the Creator felt sorry for the children when he realized that their destiny was to grow old and become wrinkled, fat, blind and weak. Hence, he gathered beautiful colors from various sources such as the sunlight, leaves, flowers, and the sky. These colors were put into a magical bag and presented to the children. When the bag was opened by the children, colored butterflies flew out, enchanting the children who had never seen anything so beautiful. Interestingly, the butterflies also sang which further delighted the children. However, songbirds complained to the Creator because they were jealous that butterflies were both so beautiful and could sing like birds. Hence, the Creator withdrew the ability to sing from butterflies. And, hence butterflies are so beautifully colored, but are now silent.

Whether you live in a huddled city or countryside, you will have a glimpse of a butterfly flutter by and if you are lucky, it might just land in your balcony – on your rose plant, or the tube light! With an uninvited guest at your house – even if you do not know what it’s called – you sure would enjoy its company – and perhaps offer it a drop of sugary water! According to Japanese mythology, if a butterfly visits your guestroom, a person whom you most love is coming to see you – so you might welcome this uninvited guest with some honey!

Superstitions apart, but who wouldn’t want a cute little visitor that demands nothing but a place in your house or rather some sympathy in your heart? Some understanding that demands less than what you consume – that it was their haven before, now we are here. Now they adjust to our habitat. There was once a time, not a hundred years ago – when butterflies now seen only in forest pockets fluttered freely in our cities. All that has changed, but it can still be reversed – as your balcony has the potential as much as a butterfly garden, what needs to be done is plantation of indigenous-butterfly-attracting-plants!

Only then will you witness the greatest ever accomplishment of nature – metamorphosis. Born out of the chrysalis, and from a spiny many-legged caterpillar – butterflies are a symbol of rebirth, regeneration and happiness according to one legend and to think in a rational way – it indeed is true! With so many legends, stories and poems written over years for these little flutter by’s, you and I can do much more than be mesmerized by their beauty.
What we need is a little space for them in our backyards or balcony to attract them with the fragrance of our garden. Again, you need not be an expert but a nature-lover, for only those who appreciate the true nature of nature, understands the reason behind the existence of every living creature!

List of Garden Plants to attract butterflies:

1. Lantana camara
2. Tridax procumbens
3. Bryophyllum
4. Lemon
5. Curry leaf
6. Achyranthus aspera
7. Alternenthera sessilis
8. Hibiscus cannabinus
9. Ageratum conyzoides
10. Canna indica
11. Duranta plumeri
12. Mussanda frondosa
13. Sida acuta
14. Ixora coccinia
15. Ipomea nil

Dandeli WLS and Karwar

2008-12-11T06:46:00.000-08:00

Been two months since I updated this space. I solely blame it on the pre-occupation to some prior commitments.

Excursion to Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary and Gokarn from 1st November to 6th November 2008.

Dandeli panorama from Kawala Caves with Kali River in view

Introduction

The visit to Dandeli WLS was proved fruitful in all ways – thanks to our tour operator. The time of the year was excellent and so was my luck with the fauna around. Although I am a layman when it comes to flora, it was in a bloom everywhere.
To expect the unexpected, a sloth bear and a wild elephant was on my wish-list, but no dreams came true. None the less, I saw some large and very small varieties of other life forms that one ought to glance upon down under!

Dandeli WLS, especially the area around Kulgi Nature Camp is a haven for any birder, or rather any nature enthusiast. Its not just birds you look out for at Dandeli if you’re in for larger predators – you ought to look out for leeches and mites too! Along with butterflies, the insect fauna is marvelous. “Some” of my luck paid off as I got to photograph – to my camera standards – pictures of those I really wish to see again!

The Real Thing

We spent three days at Dandeli WLS, and stayed at the dormitory of the Kulgi Nature Camp. I visited this place a second time, and I’m completely impressed with it. The Kulgi Nature Education Camp, run by the Karnataka Forest Department is spread over 10 acres near Kulgi village. It has well furnished tents, dormitories, a herbarium, well stocked library, video film screening etc.

Source: http://www.dandeliadventure.com/accommodation.

We visited Kawala Caves, Syntheri Rocks and the backwaters.

Syntheri Rock

Backwaters of Dandeli

Kawala Caves is a holy shrine, although I spent my time outside the cave to hunt down birds through my camera! Syntheri Rocks is a single, massive monolithic granite stone with Kaneri River boring its way through the stone. The backwater was a splendid place to spend the evening and night at. Although no luck with the fauna, it is still imprinted on my mind and ever shall be.

Om Beach, Gokarna - Karwar

Later, we visited Gokarn at Karwar. An amazing place I must say. A small village with lots of temples and lovely beaches – a true tourist spot. However, I did some of my hunting as always and came across – although common – yet amusing fauna I’d like to see again and again!
We stayed for two days and got back to Mumbai on the 6th of November.

A short excursion I must say, but with lots of fulfilled satisfaction and unfulfilled dreams!

For more general info on Dandeli WLS: http://www.karnatakawildernesstourism.org/Trekking_opp_in/Dandeli.htm

For more general info on Gokarn: http://www.karnataka.com/tourism/gokarna/

The Even Better Thing

The sightings weren’t bad for a bad birder like me. Here’s the checklist. Pictures will follow in later :)

Birds:
1. Fairy Blue Bird
2. Malabar Pied Hornbill
3. Malabar Gray Hornbill – pair
4. Purple Rumped Sunbird – pair
5. Crimson Sunbird – male
6. Black Headed Munia
7. Asian Paradise Flycatcher – pair
8. Black Drongo
9. Crested Serpent Eagle
10. Brahmini Kite
11. Gray Jungle Fowl – female
12. Small Green Bee Eater
13. Red Wattled Lapwing – pair
14. Peacock
15. White Throated Kingfisher
16. Spotted Dove
17. Egret
18. Stint (?)
19. White Browed Wagtail – pair
20. White Rumped Shama
21. Oriental Magpie Robin
22. Rose Ringed Parakeet
23. Pond heron
24. Small Minivet – pair
25. Black Naped Monarch

Mammals:
1. Spotted Deer
2. Jackal
3. Malabar Giant Squirrel
4. Indian Gaur
5. Indian Gray Mongoose (?)
6. Rhesus Macaque
7. Hanuman Langoor

Amphibians (Frogs only):
1. Philautus – 3 species, or was it 2?!
2. Fejarvariya sp. – 3 sp.
3. Indian Bull Frog

Reptiles:
1. Forest Calotes
2. Draco
3. Marsh Crocodile

4. Gecko unID

Insects (includes Butterflies):
1. Gladeye Bushbrown
2. Common Four ring
3. Restricted Demon
4. Common Bush Hopper
5. Dingy Scrub Hopper
6. Indian Dartlet
7. Southern Birdwing
8. Red Helen
9. Blue Mormon
10. Crimson Rose
11. Common Rose
12. Common Mormon – male and Romulus female
13. Swift – unID
14. Treebrown
15. Tailed Jay
16. Oakblue
17. Pea Blue
18. Plains Cupid
19. Gram Blue
20. Bushbrowns
21. Golden Dartlet – pair
22. Crimson tailed marsh hawk
23. Dusk Hawk
24. Blue Darner
25. Black Stream Glider
26. Ground Skimmer – pair
27. Millipede
28. Emerald Spreadwing

The sightings at Gokarn were very scanty. Here they are:

Birds:
1. White Bellied Sea Eagle
2. Brahmini Kite
3. Stint (?)
4. Black Kite
5. Malabar Pied Hornbill – pair
6. Indian Roller

Insects:
1. Wandering Glider

2. Red Marsh Trotter

3. Southern Birdwing

4. Crimson Rose

Gallery:

1. Great Pied Wagtail - a pair

2. Asian Fairy Bluebird

3. Gray Jungle Fowl - female

4. Pond Heron

5. Small Minivet - female

6. Small Green Bee-eater

7. Brahmini Kite
7. Stint

Mammals:

8. Indian Gray Mongoose
9. Rhesus Macaque

10. Spotted Deer - stag

11. Malabar Giant Squirrel

Amphibia:

Reptiles:
12. Gecko unided

13. Marsh Crocodile

14. Forest Calotes

15. Draco

Insecta:

16. Bush Hopper; 17. Gladeye Bushbrown

18. Bushbrown DSF; 19. Restricted Demon

20. Plains Cupid

21. Lime Butterfly

22. Crimson Rose

23. Southern Birdwing Caterpillar

24. Caterpillar of a Butterfly

25. Emerald Spreadwing

Others:
26. Giant Wood Spider

27. Ghost Crab

28. Sea Anemone

These are but a few pictures I took on the Excursion. The experience was amazing and I got a lot to learn on the field.

Bon voyage!

Monsoon Trails Check-list

2008-10-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

Monsoon Trails as of 5th October 2008

Hesperiidae
1. Grass Demon
2. Rice Swift
3. Indian Palm Bob
4. Chestnut Bob
5. Brown Awl
6. Common Banded Awl
7. Vindhyan Bob
8. Malabar Spotted Flat
9. Tri color pied flat
10. Golden Angle
11. Common Small Flat
12. Common Spotted Flat
13. Tamil Grass Dart
14. Indian Skipper
15. Dark Palm Dart
16. Unidentified Swift –Small Branded Swift (?)
17. Spotted Small Flat
18. Common Redeye

Odonata
1. Black Marsh Trotter
2. Black Stream Glider
3. Blue Tailed Green Darner
4. Wandering Glider
5. Crimson Marsh Glider
6. Crimson Tailed Marsh Hawk
7. Common Club tail
8. Ditch Jewel – male and female
9. Green Marsh Hawk/ Slender Skimmer – single and mating pair
10. Granite Ghost
11. Ground Skimmer – male and female
12. Yellow Tailed Ashy Skimmer
13. Unidentified Dragonfly - Yeoor
14. Rusty Darner
15. Ruddy Marsh Skimmer – male and female
16. 2 Unidentified Dragonflies - Yeoor 31st August
17. Asiatic Bloodtail - female
18. Blue Tailed Yellow Skimmer – male and female
19. Rufus Marsh Hawk
20. Coral Tailed Cloud Wing – male and female
21. Trumpet tail – male and female
22. Long Legged Marsh Glider
23. Blue Marsh Hawk - male

24. Emerald Spread-wing
25. Coromandel Marsh Dart – male
26. Damselfly Unknown ID – 7th Sept
27. Senegal Golden Dartlet
28. Yellow Bush Dart – male and female
29. Agriocnemis pygmea – female and a male(?)
30. Aciagrion species
31. Blue grass dart-Psuedagrion microcephalum – female, newly emerged (?)
32. Unknown Damselfly
33. Golden Dartlet – red morph, female/ Pigmy Dartlet – ID unsure
34. Blue Grass Dart - male
35. Blue Bush Dart - male

Papilionidae
1. Tailed Jay
2. Common Mormon – male and stichius & romulus female; Lifecycle
3. Blue Mormon

4. Common Mime - dissimilis

Nymphalidae
1. Great Eggfly – female and male
2. Baronet UN and UP
3. Plain Tiger – single and mating pair
4. Glassy Tiger
5. Blue Tiger
6. Common Indian Crow – single and mating pair
7. Blue Oak Leaf – UP and UN
8. Striped Tiger
9. Common Bushbrown – UP and UN
10. Long Branded Bushbrown – UN and UP
11. Grey Pansy
12. Chocolate Pansy
13. Common Sailor – UP and UN
14. Common Leopard – UN and UP
15. Common Four-ring
16. Evening Brown
17. Common Gull
18. Danaid Eggfly – male and female

Lycaenidae
1. Hedge Blue
2. Angled Pierrot
3. Common Cerulean – single and female laying eggs
4. Common Pierrot
5. Red Pierrot
6. Gram Blue – UN and UP
7. Lime Blue
8. Tiny Grass Blue
9. Dark Grass Blue
10. Rounded Pierrot
11. Angled Sunbeam - female
12. Line Blue

Pieridae
1. Yellow Orange Tip – male – UN and UP, female – UN
2. Common Wanderer – male - UN
3. Common Jezebel
4. Emigrant
5. Common Grass Yellow – single and mating pair
6. Small Salmon Arab
7. Psyche
8. Great Orange Tip - UN
9. Spotless Grass yellow
10. Small Orange Tip male – UN, female UP

Riodinidae
1. Plum Judy – UN and UP

Araneidae
1. Spitting Spider
2. Lynx Spider – 5 Species
3. Nursery Web Spider
4. Giant Wood Spider
5. Signature Spider
6. Garden Orb Weaver – 4 species
7. Tunnel-web Spider
8. Long-jawed orb weaver
9. Giant Crab Spider (?)
10. Crab Spider - 3 species
11. Castianeira species - Corinnidae
12. Unidentified Spider – 7th Sept 08
13. Two tailed Spider
14. Unidentified spider – 18th Sept 08
15. Hackled Orb Weaver
16. Venusta Orchard Spider

Opilionidae
17. Harvestman

And a hell lot of Hemipterans, Mantids, Beetles and Weevils, Dipterans, Neuropterans, moths and a few other interesting subjects that are yet to be correctly identified.

Post-Monsoon Part I

2008-09-08T07:26:00.000-07:00

With the beginning of September, the Monsoon is set to leave with heavy thundering and dangerous lightning. With animals dying of post-monsoon storms, its not just death, but a whole new life that it brings with it. The seeds sown in the pre-monsoon month germinate, mature, and reproduce, we see a lot of mature fauna around along with flowers that find it apt to bloom, for it may be first and the last bloom in their life-time, until the next monsoon that is. And as the flora blooms, the fauna booms. It's about time when the scaly-winged flutterers make it to the sky and come home seeking light! Anyhow, that's pretty distant as of now.

Common Fringed-flower Vine - Trichosanthes cucumerina

This report, is a series written in parts of the Post-Monsoon month. Some pictures, some information I could gather - included here - will be here, and will be updated on and off.

Oriental Sesame - Sesamum orientale

Wild Ladies' finger - Abelmoschus manihot

With all the wild flowers in bloom, all the flower-visitors are in for a treat! With such an abundance of food source, it's not surprizing to see a few eggs of the butterflies around.

Great Orange-tip Egg

Coffee Bee Hawk Moth Egg

Both of 'em laid their eggs in front of me, and spurred past the bushes in a jiffy.

The butterflies were everywhere. Here too.

Common Pierrot

Red Pierrot

Blue Oakleaf

Tri colour pied flat

Owlet Moth

Asiatic Bloodtail

Coromandel Marsh Dart

Unidentified Damselfly

Moss

The Weekend Trails

2008-08-31T06:30:00.000-07:00

Matheran

I spent the weekend at two different places, one in my backyard and the other atop a hill. It was not only pleasant - for me and the butterflies - but damn scenic too. Although we bagged few sightings, but those we sighted were pretty much uncommon!

New species of flowers are blooming, and as the monsoon's reign comes to an end, the life seems to bloom at its pinnacle.

Devil's Claw - Martynia annua

Without wasting anytime, I'll go through the macro world of wonder that I came across.

The Butterflies, especially the big ones always amuzed me. But considering they do not pose for me well, I always envy them. One such is the Blue Mormon. We saw it very commonly flying high in the canopy... coming down on us only to fly back up again! It is one hell of a butterfly that never wants to sit!

On the other hand though, we saw many, many danaines puddling on specific plants for the alkaloids. All those who do that are males, who come here in search of alkaloids that help 'em in sperm production* needs recitation.

Danaines

As soon as I backed off, they all flew off in the air... and it was like bliss amidst 'em!

My luck with the Swallowtails or the Blues is not going good. But the Brushfooted are being nice with me, and it seems the Skippers are impressed. On a serious note, I've been hunting specifically for Skippers only and have been pretty much lucky.

On saturday I found one "Common Small Flat" - a Pyrginae. It is common yet not abundant - as stated by Wikipedia - and found exclusively in post-monsoon months. No wonder I saw it now. It occurs on open patches, prefers sitting under the leaf but sits over the leaf while basking.

Common Small Flat

The real story goes, I was at the garden stalking a Blue Mormon, and when I thought that it sat - or vanished - in the bushes, I dashed downhill, and instead of that, I saw this tiny cuteness!

On the next day, we saw a Rice Swift - again.

Rice Swift

While walking on a grassland, we came across a tiny thing that flew at our approach. We later got the privilege to come close to it and photograph it. We were not sure of it's identification but thought it might be a Bush Hopper or a Tamil Grass Dart. It's found to be a Tamil Grass Dart indeed.

Tamil Grass Dart

I was lucky enough to have captured a Common Spotted Flat. Although 'common' is it's first name, it is not as common as it's cousin Malabar Spotted Flat.

Common Spotted Flat

While walking alone the fence that separated the farm from the grassland, we stumbled onto a tiny skipper - the Indian Skipper. Cutest of all! Unfortunately, he was charged up and did not pose for us at all. He got away into bushes while we stalked him. I managed a horrible record shot though.

Indian Skipper

That's all for the weekend bash the Skippers arranged for us, and I'm thankful of them cuties! Skippers - the Hesperiides are interesting butterflies. With the theory that says they're the direct descendents from the moth to a butterfly, they are but very well evolved too. And that's not it on a personal front. They're also mysterious, quiet difficult to identify and entertaining to find.

When on the field, I try and capture everything that's possible for my camera. So other than these scaly winged beauties, I photographed this tiny grasshopper drenched in morning dew.

Grasshopper

Too bad, for there exists no common name to him. And a scientific name that exists, is only known to a mere group of people.

We also came across mating Dipterans (picture below). These flies looked like Robber-flies, although I'm not sure.

Them Spiders awaited near their web, on their web awaiting a prey. And we enthusiasts came to document them. One such is is Tunnel-web Spider/ Grass spider (Agelenidae) - similar to a Wolf Spider. They were omnipresent on thin grass, their webs full of dew.

Tunnel-web Spider

The Orb-weavers (Araneidae) - other than Giant Wood Spider, were omnipresent too. Their numbers increase as monsoon comes to its end. And as winter gains strength, they again dwindle in their numbers, so this is the best time to find 'em in their peak numbers and adult sizes.

Orb Weaver

We also came across a lone spider which is yet to be identified, however I think it is a Ground Spider. But it was sitting high on a plant.

Ground Spider (?)

That was all, four new species of Spiders ain't bad at all.

My recent love for dragonflies was also fullfilled on this weekend session. With a lot of unidentified dragonflies, I also saw the commons.

Two dragonflies yet to be IDed perched high up on wires (Darners?). And below is a Darner that is yet to be IDed too - it is, according to me, a Rusty Darner.

We also saw a pair of Ground Skimmers mating, but couldn't capture it thro' lens. However I captured the female Ground Skimmer. The female - as seen below - is yellowish in colour while the male is bluish.

Ground Skimmer, female

...and a Ruddy Marsh Skimmer, male. Identified by its dark orange colour, and a black stirpe that runs dorsally through its abdomen. The female, whereas, is on a yellowish side, with the typical dorsal black stripe that runs through the abdomen.

Ruddy Marsh Skimmer

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to click the Black Stream Glider again. I had clicked it previously too, with really bad results. It's a dragonfly exclusively found along streams, with its dark deep blue colour, it always amuzes me.

Black Stream Glider

Lastly, I re-captured a Granite Ghost - up close. It's one suberbly camouflaged dragonfly that loves sitting on stones or anything that stands verticle. This one was sitting on a Palm.

Granite Ghost

Here ends the trail. We had fun, super-dooper fun, and also cherished what all nature has created - that always go unnoticed.

PS. This report stands incomplete as I'm yet unable to find the correct identities of many. So keep watching. :)

Darner says goodbye!

Yeoor Hills, 24th August 2008

2008-08-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

Yeoor Hills

BNHS had organized a trail to Yeoor Hills, lead by Isaac Kehimkar, Yuvraj Gurjar and Dr. Amol Patwardhan. We had an ‘official’ letter to be inside the protected area of the Yeoor Hills, and that’s something great! About 50 on and off BNHS members trailed through the green laden hills, scanning the undergrowth and the canopy. The trail was unusual in itself for we found exclusive monsoon species here and there.

For more on BNHS, visit here – http://www.bnhs.org/

The trail started at the entrance gate into the actual SGNP area, and as soon as it started, we were greeted by the cold humid air with promises none like anything ever witnessed!

To start off with, the flowers are blooming as usual, and so is the Karvi!
Although these common flowers adorned the forest floor, so did the Karvi, that blooms once in every seven years!
And the sugary treat that is so rare is enjoyed by many, like this fly in the following photograph...
The butterflies were commonly seen everywhere. With less and less of the Lycaenids, I again looked out for the Hesperiids, and was lucky enough to see a few of them. Although no Pyrginae, we saw a Brown Awl, Grass Demon, Rice Swift and Chestnut Bob.

Chestnut Bob

Vindhyan Bob

The above two pictures of different Bobs - the above one being the genuine Chestnut Bob, while the latter one shows remarkable difference. Is it a Vindhyan Bob?

An Update: I had an e-mail conversation with Krushnamegh Kunte, and he has confirmed this one to be a Vindhyan Bob. It is a native bob to India. It is known to have various seasonal forms, as well as intermediate forms which makes this one quite difficult to identify, however, it can be done so by observing it's upperwings. I'm posting another image of the same below.

Vindhyan Bob

The Rice Swift, seen below, was seen nectaring on Karvi. Something you get to see once in seven years!

Rice Swift

And ultimately, presenting a Grass Demon in its most unusual pose!!

Grass Demon

On the other side, I could photograph a male Yellow Orange Tip from a distance. The Blue Oak Leafs were everywhere!

Below is a photograph of the male Yellow Orange Tip. See the report Yeoor Hills of 17th August 2008, for the female photograph. Although they look usual in the underside, they're beautiful in the upper-side!

Yellow Orange Tip, male

Lastly on the butterfly front is a Bushbrown, most probably a Long Branded Bushbrown - underwings. See the Yeoor Hills 19th August 2008 report for the upperwing photograph.

Bushbrown

We also saw various moth caterpillars, some in clusters for protection, while some really big and hairy...
...and a Grub that of a certain beetle too!

Beetle Grub

There were other many, many variety of insects. Like these grasshoppers seen below. Most of them were Nymphs and thats what monsoon is about - the young ones!

Tooth-pick Grasshopper nymph

Grasshopper Nymph, ID unknown

Adult Grasshopper

There were these, subtle kinds of peace loving insects, and others, of another kind... the predators - insects and arachnids alike.

Below is a Praying Mantis sitting on the flowers of Lea. Although not well camouflaged, it was sure to get its food some or the other time!

Praying Mantis

The other Praying Mantis that mimics a stick, stood tall in fame on a grassblade...

Stick mimicking Praying Mantis

Again, both of these were nymphs!

The other predators of the macro world, the Arachnids, specifically Spiders were omnipresent on all plants and the forest floor.

Seen below is a Lynx Spider that got lucky to suck on the Honey Bee juice!

...and another sitting on the inflorescence, awaiting a winged prey...Lynx Spider

PS. This species is different than the ones seen in previous Yeoor Reports.

We were also lucky to see one Nursery Web Spider (Pissuaridae) sitting on forest floor awaiting a prey. They are ambush predators, often startling their prey. Although look-alikes of Wolf Spider, they are different, more related to the Water Spiders.

Nursery Web Spider

When it became pretty dark, we were fortunate enough to have seen this prefectly camouflaged Giant Crab Spider. Although not a relative of the colourful Crab Spiders, these one's pose like a crab, hence called Crab Spiders too, and due to their giant size the name.

Giant Crab Spider

Last but not the least. The top most predator on the list today, we saw a Bronze Back Tree Snake! It was a treat to see this juvenile snake. Thanks to Yuvraj for the excellent find!
Some photogallery of the Bronze Back...

This little juvenile posed nicely for us, although he was intimidated with the people all around him, all he did was get the hell out of there!

None the less, he did find his way back upto the tree for some gecko hunting.

The trail was beautiful as always, and this proves how rich the floral and faunal life at Yeoor Hills is. Hats off!

Mushroom ID Unknown

Thats all for today :)

Yeoor Hills - August 19th, 2008

2008-08-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

Yeoor Hills needs no introduction now. It is a Butterfly Haven, a Paradise. But that’s not it. It is a Haven for all that is beautiful (Read Previous Reports on Yeoor Hills).
I went Yeoor again, and came back with sightings all together different! Every new day brings out the life in it. We were there for not more than two hours, but that was sufficient for what was captured through the lens.

Keeping it short, the sightings had been fairly constant with a few additions of a Tortoise Beetle (Hispinae), a Jewel Bug (Scutellegeridae), Preying Mantis (Mantodea) and a Granite Ghost (Anisoptera).

The flowers were in full bloom, and butterflies, bees and flies visited them often.
With nectar loving on the flowers, there were others of a notorious kind in search of us. The blood suckers. There were Horse Flies all around us. They are about the size of a Honey Bee, with a long sword-like proboscis – that’s the deadliest weapon – about twice their body length which is used to puncture the skin of the host and drink blood. Nasty Stuff! And there was another kind – the little blood suckers, but when in hundreds one can do nothing but go mad scratching at the bite site – the Mosquitoes.

The activity in the undergrowth was pretty interesting – the prey-predator conflicts were seen everywhere.

The butterflies seen were common, with an addition of an Angled Pierrot, Sunbeam, Blue Oak Leaf on the list. However, very few posed for photographs!

Butterflies, like all other invertebrates need sun's energy to charge themselves. They do this with the help of their highly evolved wings. The wings not only help in flight, but to regulate body heat also. In early rays of a morning, the butterflies often sit on leaf surfaces or the ground with open wings. Thats the best time to photograph those who dont usually pose with their wings open. However, proceeding a basking butterfly is critical. If a shadow falls o'er it, it will most probably fly away.

Common Bushbrown UP

Once the butterfly is recharded - its body warmed enough for daily chores - they set off wandering - some rarely settle down - and this be the toughest time to capture them unless you are lucky to find one settled for a second.

Common Wanderer, male

When it comes to Pansys - they're known to be the Sun loving Butterflies. So it's pretty uncommon to see the Pansys during monsoons, however there are Pansys that are seen through out the season. One of 'em is the Grey Pansy. A beautiful Pansy.

Grey Pansy

When it comes to the winged critters, the evolution of the wings would be the best to have ever happened. They were the first fliers to take over the sky. The earliest such fliers were gigantic dragonfly-like critters with two pairs of wings. Their today's descendents are none the less quite big. One of these I could photograph, the commonest of all - however I always wanted to capture it! The Granite Ghost.

Granite Ghost

The insects spread wide and far and evolved into various forms unimaginable. One of these is the Scorpion Fly. The male of this Mecopteran has a Scorpion sting-like looking tail, hence the name.

Scorpion Fly, male

As these artropods evolved, so did their aerodynamic tactics, and that gave rise to the one pair winged critters. The best example would be the Dipterans. The second pair however did not vanish completely, and formed a Halterer that controls the motion of flight.

Diptera, ID Unknown

Another Dipteran, a Horse Fly, an ectoparasite feeding on blood of mammals is a typical example of extremity. This fly has adopted a method to insert it's needle sharp proboscis into the host's skin! However, these are not so lucky at times, and they often fall prey to the predators of the macro world, the Arachnids.

Horse Fly

Other than these, some went a step further -with replacements, or rather forming Elytras - the hardened forewings of the Beetles. The most varied and wide spread family in the world.

Tortoise Beetle

While most of 'em decided to be solitary, some came together and built up a great social colony. Not even a human colony can match that of theirs. One of such social group is that of Paper Wasps. These wasps, although not any stronger in number are aggressive. Their typical nest shows all the stages of developments, with the eggs always on the outer cells, larvae inside these, and the adults rest over these, often fluttering their wings to ventilate the cells. In the below pic, the eggs are also visible in the other cells.

Paper Wasps

These colonial insects turned out to be great predators, strongest of all. But there lurked solitary predators too. With Arachnids on one side, the superb predators of the Insecta includes a Praying Mantis. This one was however a nymph but had a decent size. The adults grow very large and are predators with an attitude! The tigers of the macro world...

Preying Mantis

Now, to go on the other hand, that is to the Spider world of Arachnida, Araenae. We saw the ones that were omnipresent. One of these is again, a Lynx spider (Oxyopidae) but a different one than the one seen in the previous report.

Lynx Spider

The other being the Giant Wood Spider, Spitting Spider, Garden Orb Weaver and a Signature Spider. The Signature Spider captured had captured a prey and was spinning its web around it.

Signature Spider

That was all I captured, and learnt about their ways and behaviour.

Mushroom

Thank you!

Yeoor Hills - 17th August 08

2008-08-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

Yeoor Hills, 17th August 2008

Yeoor Hills, a part of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park is a semi-evergreen, deciduous forest that harbors a myriad of life forms. With life teeming in its every corner, Yeoor, being a land of constant stress from humans, still has places left that would righteously be called the untouched lands. The farmhouses are ever increasing, and so are cattle, but that has not stopped its original inhabitants from not showing up. Yeoor is accessible by road until the top, to a village called Patona Pada. Joggers track here, up and down in early morning, and friends and families flock here to relish the fresh air and greenery. However, the real, wild Yeoor begins from where the tar road ends.

We walked into the wilderness with high, deserving hopes, and I had specifically come to see some Skippers, but there was more to the show! The rain had been very irregular, scant rain treaded us as we trailed early in the morning, and then it opened. The clouds tore apart and gleam of sunlight fell on the leaves. As the air grew warm, so did the other creatures and we had helluva sightings!

The flowers bloomed, and so did the mushrooms...

Mushrooms ID unknown

It sometimes poured heavily and all our hopes were drowned in the rain, but that did not stay for long! So all in all, it was a great day and a great watch at the macro world. How do you see such teeny weenie creatures, ask people. Well, I say look around, turn a leaf! And that’s what we literally did. We turned leaves, and they were there – waiting for us with exceptional poses and handsome looks! Although we were there for a pretty short time, I saw what I could have never imagined. Few I could photograph, many I couldn’t, but their glance was more than enough to rejoice, and what’s more pleasurable was running behind them, just to get a proper glance and if greedy, get a shot!

The insect sightings were superb, but again, blame it on to me – or us – for we hardly looked up for birds. Anyhow, we saw pretty nice birds, with a Racquet Tailed Drongos on a tree, mimicking calls of various others, even the Crested Serpent Eagle! We also saw Jungle Babblers, and we heard the Shama singing away to glory, saw Cattle Egrets hunting for insects on the plains.
The butterfly sightings was fairly good too, with most of the commons everywhere, we could see a decent number of Skippers too!

List of Butterflies

Riodinidae: Plum Judy, male.

Papilionidae: Tailed Jay, Common Mormon – male and female

Pieridae: Grass Yellow, Yellow Orange Tip – male and female, Common Emigrant, Common Gull – male, Psyche

Nymphalidae: Striped Tiger, Common Indian Crow, Brown King Crow, Danaid Eggfly – male, Glassy Tiger, Chocolate Pansy, Grey Pansy, Common Baron – female, Common Bushbrown, Wanderer – male, Grey Pansy

Hesperiidae: Golden Angle, Tri color pied flat, Grass Demon, Indian Palm Bob, Brown Awl, and Snow Flat

Lycaenidae: Common Cerulean

The amount of photographic records was fairly good too. To watch butterflies, Yeoor is an apt place. With five Skippers on the list, I’m sure had we explored a little more, we could have seen even more. But we had time constrains. Anyhow, the most common, yet beautiful butterflies fluttered all around us.

Striped Tiger - female

With sun showing up only for a while, no other Pansy but the Chocolate and Grey Pansies showed up on the leaves, basking as much as they could.

Chocolate Pansy

Whats more, when the rain came down, the butterflies hid 'neath the leaves, and one such was a Yellow Orange Tip, both male and females, hunting for cover from the rain!

Yellow Orange Tip, female

Another treat to the eyes, the little Plum Judy with its ruby like colours. A brilliant shade of hazel brown, the butterfly has it's typical riodinidae posture of resting. It has a habit of 'dancing' around, just after it sits, and this is supposed to confuse the predators.

Plum Judy

Now, the 'lesser' butterflies of the New World, or the Skippers were a cream on the pie.
Presenting, the Golden Angle!

Golden Angle

The Golden Angle was always with us, nectaring and fluttering along. When we proceeded ahead, we came across a superb Tri colour Pied Flat, but for my hard luck, the position of the Skipper was difficult to capture. However, another Tri coloured Pied Flat showed up where this Golden Angle was - although a bad specimen - but it was none the less a treat!

Tri coloured Pied Flat

Out of nowhere, we noticed a hyper butterfly - a skipper for sure - that had no intentions on his mind but to startle us. On a closer inspection it was figured out to be a kind of a Snow Flat, a unique Heisperiid! But unfortunately, we lost it in the forest. Then we saw another Skipper, which we were doubtful of it's ID, but it was an Indian Palm Bob.

Indian Palm Bob

Lastly, from the Lepidopteran world, we saw lots and lots of Grass Demons in every nook and corner of the forest bed, but they were very active and would not pose for photographs at all, and while I was shooting a spider, a pair of Grass Demons was right below, mating!

Grass Demons, mating pair

We also spotted a Slug Caterpillar. A Caterpillar that doesnt look like one! This is is a cute and cuddly greenish - jelly like - caterpillar that of a Limacodidae moth. There are a variety of Slug Caterpillars, and this one is one of 'em. There were many of these, and other Uraniid Moths.

Go here for more info: http://bugguide.net/node/view/131

Slug Caterpillar

What a great day! It doesnt end there, there's more... other than these scaly winged beauties, there were other little wonders of the macro world, and below is a Leaf Hopper of family Cicadellidae.

Leaf Hopper

And again, not just that, there's more to than this. We saw the representative of the Cicadellidae family, a Cicada - and a colourful one at that!

Cicada

We spotted a variety of Dragonflies (Odonata, Anisoptera) too. A Wandering Glider was commonly seen wandering, a Black Marsh Trotter was perched high on a branch, a Ground Skimmer, a Slender Skimmer and an Asiatic Blood Tail female were also seen, along with a Damselfly (Odonata, Zygoptera) an Emerald Spreadwing.

1. 2. 3.
1. Ground Skimmer; 2. Asiatic Bloodtail - Female; 3. Emerald Spreadwing respectively.

While hunting for Butterflies, a friend came across a cute li'l creature - a juvenile Grasshopper (Orthoptera). There are very few common names to grasshoppers, and less work has been done on a general basis to name them.

A Grasshopper Nymph

Finally, other than these Arthropods, we saw another kind of an Arthropod, a distant relative of the Insecta - the Arachnids. We saw a fair variety of them, with a Signature Spider (Araenae), Lynx Spider (Oxyopidae), a Long Jawed Spider (Tetragnathidae), Giant Wood Spider (Nephila sp.) and a Harvestman (Opiliones). The Lynx Spider was the most colourful of all, and posed nicely!

Lynx Spider - Male (?)Lynx Spider - Female (?)

Here are the dorsal views, which look like these are male and female. Both were on different plants.

The other Spider, a Tetragnathid, known for it's large jaws, slender abdomen and very long legs, cast it's web across a folded leaf. Commonly known as Long Jawed Orb Weavers and Stretch Spiders - since they stretch their legs in a defensive posture.

Long Jawed Orbweaver

Lastly from the Arachnids, a Harvestman (Opiliones) - the indicator of a healty habitat - was seen hiding from the rain. Although not a spider, it is a cousin of the Araenae. It is identified by its extremely long legs, and a dorsal spine - seen in the picture below. The picture is a tight crop, however the spine is clearly visible. Some have two of these, while many have a single one.

Harvestman

We also saw an interesting activity under our feet. A group of Fire Ants attending to a huge dead Land Crab. A scout was attending to the Crab's main body where as a few workers were busy carrying a heavy spider leg!

Ants carrying Spider leg

Last but not the least, we saw many swarming Millipedes and Molluscs (Snails).

Land Snail, ID Unknown

There ends a trail, one of the finest ones at that. Let's end it with a wet, monoon feel...

Thanks for visiting!