nature

The Last White Hunter, Reminiscences of a Colonial Shikari By Donald Anderson, as told to Joshua Mathew 265 pp. Rs.650 Indus Source Books PO Box 6194 Malabar Hill PO Mumbai 400 006 INDIA Email: info@indussource.com www.indussource.com Readers who are interested in the wildlife history of India, and in particular, of the Melagiri and Bannerghatta forests near Bangalore, will be familiar with the name of Kenneth Anderson, a "shikari" (hunter) of the old school. The series of books that he wrote, on his various wildlife encounters, were very popular reading at one time. His son, Donald Anderson, was brought up in…

I felt quite thrilled as I found these leaves of Four-leaf Clover, and clicked them on February 5, 2018. Why the thrill? Here is the entry about Four-leaf Clover. Amongst other things, it says: The four-leaf clover is a rare variation of the common three-leaf clover. According to tradition, such clovers bring good luck,though it is not clear when or how that tradition got started. The first reference to luck might be from an 11-year-old girl, who wrote in an 1877 letter to St. Nicholas Magazine, “Did the fairies ever whisper in your ear, that a four-leaf clover brought good luck…

An initiative where everyone who is a birdwatcher, can contribute to the database of a worldwide organization that logs the birds seen during this time. The annual Great Backyard Bird Count is back and birdwatchers and enthusiasts can help in the enumeration by uploading their sightings on the eBird India website between February 16 and 19. The largest citizen-science project to enumerate bird species, organised by Bird Count India and eBird India, uses the information on birds for a better understanding of seasonal patterns of movement of birds and for monitoring changes in distribution and abundance of birds over long…

Winter is always a good season for an amateur naturalist like me; the cool weather suits me and I can certainly spend far longer outdoors without getting tired out by the relentless Indian sun. I like to go out as much with friends as possible, and come across interesting things...literally, from far and near. One of the "far" birds that we went to see are the bar-headed geese, which fly in from Mongolia and other parts in the far north, to our relatively warmer climes. Bar-headed Geese At Magadi lake at Gadag district, they arrive in large numbers; however, if…

I often come across the Balloon Vine (also called "Love in a puff") on my walks through the fields and forests around my city. It's a very common vine, indeed....and in fact, in New Zealand, it is identified as a prohibited pest plant! However, in Kerala, the flower of this vine  is one of the ten "sacred flowers" Seed pod and flowers: I found that the scientific name for the genus of this vine is "Cardiospermum". The name intrigued me, until a friend and avid amateur botanist, Ajit Ampalakkad, showed me the seeds inside the "balloons". Each seed was attached to the…

As I was on the Outer Ring Road, I saw the welcome sight of a tree being translocated. http:// It was good to see the tree being moved so carefully, with even its chopped branches bound up. http:// I do hope this tree, and several others like it, survive in their new "homes" and help keep our city green. A salute to those who are doing such work. I would like to know, however, what the averages are for the survival of such translocated trees.

The third week of August ended with a wildlife event and a wildlife/conservation festival, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. The first was the screening of "Cobra King", a documentary on the King Cobra made by Sandesh Kadur of Felis Creations It was Gowrishankar of Kalinga Centre for Rainforest Ecology narrating the life cycle of this iconic reptile of the Western Ghats. I cannot yet find the documentary on the net ( has it not yet been released to the wild, like rescued snakes are...?), but here is another video on the same snake from the same film maker: Here's…

Many of us have small gardens or even potted plants at home, to add a touch of greenery and, as we hope, to purify the city air.  Houseplants play several beneficial roles in our home environment. They provide visual interest to the home, purify the air, and may be edible or medicinal. What many of us may not know, however, is that some of these plants can be poisonous! Toxic plants can be a hazard to children and pets, as well as to elderly persons with dementia. Though  it would be better  to keep all plants out of the reach…

For some time now,    eBird     has emerged as an application that is easy and convenient for birdwatchers (commonly referred to as birders) to record their bird-lists and allied observations."We are working (through a partnership called Bird Count India) to promote birding and bird documentation in India," says Dr Suhel Quader. "We suggest that birdwatchers use eBird as a convenient tool; and we also advise local/regional groups who wish to implement more systematic projects."The idea is to develop a country-wide database of bird sightings and observations, on an open platform, which can be used for analysis or research. Each birder's use of the tool is…

When we talk of conservation, we often think of trees, water, mammals and birds. However, Rohit Girotra, who, in the past few years, has popularized  butterfly walks, and indeed, has discovered several species of butterflies in and around Bangalore, writes: Bangalore is surrounded by beautiful spots for watching butterflies. Camp Gee Dee in Shivanahalli, is one of these havens. Camp Gee Dee is home to a host of birds, reptiles, mammals and butterflies. At last count we had recorded around 100 butterfly species in the Camp Gee Dee grounds. What makes Camp Gee Dee special is its proximity to Bannerghatta…