Wildlife

 Please click here    to get the details of the WWF India Wildlife quiz online, from Oct 1 to 7, for children of Class 6, 7 and 8. For the offline quiz, which will be held in Bangalore as well as other cities,  click here for details.  ⊕

Whether a human being or a tree, how little we value the aged never realizing the good in them. Just outside our Puttenahalli Lake is a tall tree which had leaves growing on branches too high up to identify what species it belonged to. The branch formation gave no clue either. Perhaps it was deciduous because sometimes only the twigs remained criss-crossing in interesting formations against the sky. Ever since PNLIT assumed charge of maintaining the lake, we noticed the fellow looming outside the lake because, come evening flocks of birds like Rosy Pastors would fly from the lake and sit on its branches.…

Gender roles in our society is a much debated topic. How do other living beings handle this? Let’s take birds as an example.It seems to be the general rule (with a few exceptions, of course) that the female of the species is always duller, and less brightly coloured than the male. Here’s a beautiful bird that can often be seen in Lalbagh.... the male Asian Paradise Flycatcher. Male Asian Paradise Flycatcher. Pic: Deepa Mohan As you can see, this is a spectacular bird, and it definitely catches the attention of the observer as it flies around, flaunting that ribbon of…

The morning started early for some students of  BGS NPS, Hulimavu on Saturday, 14th July 2012. Twenty seven children of Std VIII, accompanied by three teachers, attended a nature walk at Puttenahalli Lake. Bird watcher Jaishree Govind joined Usha, Nupur, Prasanna and Sapana to take the children on a guided tour of the lake that lasted for almost two hours (7:15 - 9:00 a.m.).  Photo: Harish Mahendrakar The water level has reduced due to evaporation and the delayed monsoon but many more birds have shifted residence to our lake. A Grey Heron has joined the resident bird community and the Purple Herons have increased…

Sadly, it's only when some people leave the scene that one is moved to write about the immense worth of their lives and work. Though I had met Dr Joseph George (1st October 1921 - 9th July 2012), it was only when he passed away, that I realised that I could have documented this doyen of ornithology in Bangalore, much earlier.Dr Joseph George got the first rank in his bachelor's degree, studying at St Joseph's College, Trichy, and went on to continue his studies at Agra University, with a scholarship. He later completed his doctoral degree. Dr Joseph George. Pic:…

PNLIT has been adjudged the Green Star 1st Runner-Up of the People's Green Award at the TCS World 10K Bangalore 2012! The winners were announced at a crowded press conference at ITC Windsor Manor last evening. Prasanna, Usha and Nupur received the award from Kannada actor Mr. Puneet Rajkumar and Mr. Atul Ballal of ITC Windsor Manor.  Prasanna K. Vynatheya, Usha Rajagopalan and Nupur Jain of PNLIT The TCS World 10K which was held on 27th May had launched the People's Green Awards as "a platform to admire and acknowledge people who share this dream to make earth greener and better place to live in."…

We all know the delight of having good food to eat when we are hungry; it must be the same for the other creatures who share our living spaces.Nature provides such a variety in the food for her various children. The food chain generally ensures that each type of creature makes another its food, and in its turn, becomes food, too. Bees on a flower. Pic: Deepa Mohan You can see, in this photo, the bees buzzing around the stamens of the flower. At the base of the stamen is the nectar that is their food, and while they get…

 If you have rescued an animal or bird and do not know what to do with it: There is a wild life rehabilitation centre close to Bannerghata Nationalpark.Bannerghatta Rehabilitation CentreSurvey No. 129, Jigni Hobli, Anekal Taluk, BannerghattaBangalore, Karnataka 560083ph: 91 80 22947307alt: 91 80 22947300You can get in touch with them and hopefully they should be able to guide you appropriately. Sorry, I still don't seem to have any mobile nos. for them.  ⊕

I got introduced to Rohan Chakravarty some time ago, when he moved from Nagpur to Bangalore. He was also with us in this year's Bangalore Bird Race (an involved debate about some waterfowl made their tally about 50 species less than ours, though we were mostly going around together!)I don't know him very well yet. We've met for a couple of cartoon exhibitions, and I asked him to contribute a cartoon for the write-up I did for the Bird Race website In person, he comes across as rather quiet, and I suspect this is because I do not know him…

We have a lot of birds around us in the city. Some eat seeds, some fruits and some eat live prey. We’ve all seen sparrows pecking at the grain in the market areas, or seen parakeets pecking at ripe fruit...but some birds are predators.Even in the city, we have several predators; the most common, of course, is the crow, which will often raid the nests of other birds to eat up their eggs. But there are two common birds that actually help human beings in our city....and at least one does not deserve the bad reputation it has. Barn Owl.…