Good bye Peace group !!

Another year is over for me at Mirambika. For two years we had Baren bhaiya as our class teacher, now we will have some one else.

Peace group so far has been my best year in Mirambika, thanx to Brainy (Baren bhaiya) & to all my other teachers & my dear friends

During our Annual day we sang Incomplete, by Back Street Boys

Empty spaces fill me up with holes
Distant faces with no place left to go
Without you within me I can't find no rest
Where I’m going is anybody’s guess
I tried to go on like I never knew you
I’m awake but my world is half asleep
I pray for this heart to be unbroken
But without you all I’m going to be is incomplete
Voices tell me I should carry on
But I am swimming in an ocean all aloneBaby, my baby
It’s written on your face
You still wonder if we made a big mistake
I tried to go on like I never knew you
I’m awake but my world is half asleep
I pray for this heart to be unbroken
But without you all I’m going to be is incomplete
I don’t mean to drag it on, but I can’t seem to let you go
I don’t wanna make you face this world aloneI wanna let you go (alone)
I tried to go on like I never knew you
I’m awake but my world is half asleep
I pray for this heart to be unbroken
But without you all I’m going to be is incomplete

Thanx Brainy & a song for you !!

Birds in Mirambika Campus

In school we are in the process of making a book about trees in our campus. We also decided to make a list of birds in our campus.

I spend a few days trying to take snaps of all the birds which live in & around Mirambika. The list is an impressive 50 plus varieties !!
1. House sparrow

2. Indian Mynah

3. Blue Rock Pigeon

4. Large Grey Babbler

5. Red Vented Bulbul

6. Rose Ringed Parakeet

7. Collared/Ring Dove

8. Brown Dove

9. Indian Robin

10. Hoopoe

11. Red Wattled Lapwing

12. Purple Sun bird

13. Magpie Robin

14. Pied Mynah

15. Brahminy Mynah

16. Koel

17. Tailor Bird

18. Ashy Wren Warbler

19. Indian Wren Warbler

20. Roufous Wren Warbler

21. Franklin Wren Warbler

22. Copper smith

23. Green Barbet

24. Brown Rock Chat

25. Tree Pie

26. House Swift

27. Black Kite

28. Green Bee Eater

29. Wagtail

30. White Breasted King Fisher

31. Shikra

32. Peacock/fowl

33. Black Drongo

43. Red Whiskered Bulbul

44. Spotted Owlet

45. White Eye

46. Grey Horn bill

47. Green Pigeon

48. Golden Backed Woodpecker

49. Yellow Fronted Woodpecker

50. Grey Partridge

51. Common Hawk Cuckoo

52. Golden oriole

53. Cattle Egret

54. Red Breasted Fly Catcher

55. Black Red Start

56. Lesser White Throat

57. Small Minivet

58. White Throated Munia

Fernando Torres top 10 goals

Here is a video of some of Fernando Torres's best goals

My favourite footballer

Fernando Torres

My favourite footballer is Fernando Torres. Its just his excellence with the ball, his awesome speed and his fearlessness in football & the way he played recently against Manchester united was just too good. He's an awesome player...........

AND I WISH TO PLAY LIKE HIM

Liverpool 4. Man U 1 !! Yippie

It was the big match day.
Liverpool vs Manchester United.
I am an absolute Liverpool fan,
add that to the fact which is: i just hate Manchester United.
Football can be awesome when Gerrard & Torres play together
& when they weave their magic.
But Man U scores first.
I get tense, i start fearing the worst.
I am almost watching the match from under the chair !
But i hope for the best !
Then what unfolded was unbelievable
First Torres does his famous turn & pile drives one in at the 28th minute
Awesome goal, as usual with his awesome speed
That goal puts me back on my chair
Then Gerrard slams one in,
that was 44th minute
a Hi5 with nana,
now i am on my feet
Then Aurelio stuns every one in the 77 minute with a stunning left foot free kick.
Poor Vaan de Saar (the only player i like in Man U) could only watch.

In the 91st minute Dossena, scores one more & rubs in salt to the wound !!
Awesome !
Hi5 with nana again !!
Liverpool: 4
Manchester United: 1
Then to top a perfect evening of soccer, i got to see Arshavin doing his magic, by scoring two goals, as my other favourite team, (even though they are struggling this year) Arsenal won 4-0.

Protect Okhla Bird Park

This is what Anand(uncle) Arya of Delhi Bird Group has written :

"........... As you are aware that Okhla Bird Park & Wild Life Sanctuary (OBP-WLS) is a Protected Area and home to almost 400 species. More than 100 species found here are known to breed in the area. The number of birds can exceed 25,000 at the peak of migration in winters. Such a rich diversity is generally not found at most places and that too in a very small area. Nairobi is the other known place to show a very high concentration of bird species. OBL-WLS is under serious threat of being destroyed in double quick time because of a massive construction project that has been undertaken by the Government of Uttar Pradesh just adjacent to the eastern boundary.

I, along with another resident of my sector, have filed a petition with the CENTRAL EMPOWERED COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT CONSTITUTED BY THE HON'BLE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA. (CEC)

I NEED SUPPORT.

A Petition has been uploaded here.

It would add to significant level of support and be heard more loudly at the CEC if there are more than 500 person showing their support..............."

So dear readers; please do sign the petition !

Now i am waiting for the Peregrine Falcon, but there are many other visitors......

On our balcony we have a small bird feeder, a small bird shelter (gifted by my maasi) & lots of water for the birds to drink & bathe.

The birds which frequent to peck at the food are Babblers, which comes & does knock, knock, knock at our window panes, Sparrows, Pigeons, Mynahs, Brahminy Mynahs, Magpie Robin’s, Bulbuls & Crows. Sometimes even White Eyes, Hoopoes, Green Bee Eaters & Tailor Birds come. Infact yesterday there was a pair of Flame Back Woodpeckers, which came to peck away.

Now that we have some nice flowers growing sometimes the Purple Sun bird also makes an appearance trying to put its long beak into the flowers to get some nectar.

Sometimes a Tree pie makes an appearance, it has a habit of making a big announcements about its arrival, sits on a wire opposite my house, makes different loud calls, then comes to check out the feeder & drink water.

Crows have a crazy habit. If they happen to pick up something big then they like to soften it up, so they throw it in the water & leave it there for an hour or so & then come back to eat it. Once they dropped a dead frog also !!

Now that we have some yummy tomatoes growing on the balcony some monkeys decided to come & taste it, which is OK by me, as long as they leave something for us & do not bite me, but they must have tried to drink water or something & in their frantic jumping they broke the clay pot where we keep water !! (sigh!!)

Pigeons always have a bath in pairs, which looks cute. Sometimes a Barbet makes quiet appearance, to have a bath & drink water.

A Shikra has also started to come to have its bath, then sits on a tree near by to preen itself. Keeping an eye for some lizards on the balcony for a after bath tasty snack !!

Though there are a lot of resident Black Kites, they have not yet decided to come & sit on my balcony. So with the Owlets, this one is sleeping on a neem tree outside my kitchen window.

Luckily for me the person who works in my house also has a keen eye on birds, so usually she is the one who calls me out jaldi idhar aao !! Horn bills also pass by the house many a time.

A couple of years back this Crested Serpent Eagle had come for a "night stay" in the park

opposite my house, but it was hounded out by the resident kites & crows. Also when this Honey Buzzard who comes & sits on a tree opposite. there is usually a huge raucous by all the local dadas !!

'Though Its been a long time since i've seen a Kingfisher outside my house.

I was hearing about a lucky soul living in Jasola who has a Peregrine Falcon coming & sitting outside the window & entertaining all the residents there with its predatory skills.......woh !! That would be some sight.

i hope it comes outside my window also !!

History of Bird Illustrations in India

I attended an illustrated lecture on The 'Bird Book' in India by Bikram Grewal.
The presentation was unique and interesting on 'Birds in Literature and Art'. Starting from the early historical paintings to present day photography.

It covered the Mughal period, the Babar nama, Jehangir nama, the Tuti nama, the (East India)Company School, the early works of Jerdon, Loten, John Gould, Edward Buckley, Murray and A.O. Hume (the father of Indian ornithology), through British, Dutch and French bird-paintings till the publishing of contemporary modern guides.

The talk was illustrated with a slide show of some rare lithographs and paintings, especially the one in Jehangir nama with a Saurus Crane also Ustad Mansur's illustration of the Dodo & also of Abu al Hassan!!

There's something about Osprey's..............

The Osprey Story in the Lake District

These photographs are taken in march 2008 when i went to KG Wetlands, this year i have not been able to go there to see the Osprey. But i happened to go for an illustrated talk by a person named Bill, who made a lovely presentation on the Ospreys in Lake District.

Osprey is definitely one of my favourite birds, I could not believe my ears, when i heard in 1912 the Osprey's were almost extinct in Scotland, i was shocked numb when i heard it was the so called "egg collectors", who kept stealing the eggs from the Osprey's nests & they were the one's who were solely responsible for the near extinction of Osprey's.

I listened with rapt attention when Bill presented how they tried to dissuade the egg collectors, the initiatives taken by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and of the work of the Lake District Osprey Project

From a single pair of Ospreys, it was amazing to hear how they tried to enable the nesting, breeding etc. Also how their idea of involving the public really worked in dissuading the "egg collectors" & finally how the Ospreys started to breed etc.

It is indeed one of nature's greatest spectacle to see the Osprey hover...........then taking the dive & finally the lift off, the presentation had some fabulous snaps of all this..........Though i still haven't got over the "egg collectors" part of the story......... What the hell do they get out of displaying the eggs in their living rooms ??

Visit to Daryaganj Book Bazaar

While having dinner my parents said tomorrow is Sunday, What shall we do....... ?? any suggestions ?? Well, Let's go to Daryaganj.

My eyes lit up because i knew from one of my friends that there is a huge book bazaar which takes place there only on Sundays & if one searches properly then one can find very good books at a reasonable price.

We walked, we browsed....... we walked.......... we browsed, the crowd was too much, sometimes it was difficult to even walk. I saw Garfield, my eyes lit up, i picked up a few copies for Rs 30/- each, then my eyes spotted a a book The Aerial Hunters, then another on Mammal Hunters, then another one with animal drawings............... that was a cool buy only for a few hundred rupees.

I was getting tired, parents suggested................

let's go to have a kulfi......

yum !!

Strawberry Kulfi at Pandara Road !!

I could have had three at a time (Sigh!)

Meeting Ghabhar Singh........... a Labrador

My maasi called us for a picnic in Lodhi gardens. I just love picnics. Usually every one is relaxed, i get a chance to play loads of badminton with nana, plus i know for sure there will be some awesome food, especially since my maasi & my nana are cooks par excellence !!

But this picnic was special, i got to meet Ghabar Singh, a Labrador of Amit Uncle & Champaka aunty. It goes without saying he was one of the sweetest dogs i have ever met. Amit uncle or Chanpaka aunty could literally talk to him. If some ball comes his way........... hey Gabhar ye hamara nahi, he leaves the ball, Gabhar.....chal.........he gets up, ghabar paani.......... he drinks the water, hey ghabar baaito......... he sits. Plus he was so kind we could roll over him, he was hardly bothered.

Just the way Ghabar is looked after is what makes him so relaxed. We used to have a lovely dog named Magic, he was also like that, my nana's whistle is enough he would zoom in from nowhere, he was a free dog, never on a leash. I want to have dogs, but nana says it is not nice to keep them in a flat. He promises when we finally get a farm land we will have many. But he does not like foreign breed dogs, he prefers the local breeds like Rajapalayam's or the Caravan Hounds. He showed me some snaps, they look so cool.

So as of now, i will wait & be happy playing with other's dogs !!

Birding in Bharatpur

During the Republic Day weekend we went to Bharatpur, after a relaxed drive & a quick lunch, we met Maan Singh & YES..............it was time to go to the park.

As we entered the park we could see the Grey Night Jar, then our attention as usual shifted towards the resident King & Queen.......... The Dusky Eagle Owl. She was sitting in a nest (which was build by the Painted Storks !!) kept putting her head out sometimes............... though this time i could not hear their deadly calls !!

A Black Bittern suddenly made a fleeting appearance & kept us engaged.......

As we cycled on, we could see thousands of ducks, but Comb ducks seemed to have taken over the place & there were a lot of Glossy Ibis......

We could hear the ducks just taking off in thousands, that immense flutter of the wings as you can see was been caused by a Marsh Harrier. We could see the Harrier chasing the ducks. In the end it missed all the ducks, it actually ended catching a fish & was trying to find a place to quietly relish on the fish, when a painted stork came by & took the fish away from the Harrier. After all the effort, the Harrier was left high & dry !!

The next day i did manage to get a 2 minute video of another Harrier attack on the ducks!!

We could see the Black Shouldered Kite hovering for a long time, but was not lucky to see him swoop on a prey. Had great views of an Imperial Eagle, so with a Lesser Spotted Eagle & Greater Spotted Eagle

The second day the park was really getting crowded, there were just too many people inside. We decided to do birding outside the park. Maan Singh said we can try for the Painted Snipes, Yellow Wattled Lapwing & the Indian Courser.

We could see the Painted Snipes quite clearly, pretending to hide themselves, looking at us curiously & ready to fly away...........

Though we missed the Indian Courser, we managed to see The Desert Wheatear, i did have to crawl on my knees to get near it. We saw the Yellow Wattled Lapwing also.

We hoped to do an early start to the birding the next day, but as we opened our windows in our rooms we could see nothing, but fog !! Neverthless we cycled in the park for sometime but birding & identification was nearly impossible, as the sun started to peek out we could see this majestic Steppe Eagle....... but that was it, it was time to say goodbye to Bharatpur once again !

I was hoping to see a Osprey.......... but that was not to be & i did miss the Common Crane & also the Curlews.

Well there is always something to look forward to next time around !!

The birds we were able to identify :

1. Grey Francolin (Partridge)
2. Lesser Whistling Duck
3. Greylag Goose
4. Barheaded Goose
5. Ruddy Shelduck
6. Comb Duck
7. Gadwall
8. Spotbilled Duck
9. Northern Shoveller
10. Pintail

11. Common Teal
12. White Breasted Waterhen
13. Purple Moorhen
14. Common Moorhen
15. Common Coot
16. Pheasant Tailed Jacana
17. Bronze Winged Jacana
18. Little Grebe (Dab chick)
19. Darter
20. Little Cormorant

21. Indian Cormorant
22. Great Cormorant
23. Little Egret
24. Grey Heron
25. Purple Heron
26. Great Heron
27. Intermediate Egret
28. Pond Heron
29. Black Bittern
30. Glossy Ibis

31. White Ibis
32. White Spoonbill
33. Painted Stork
34. Open Bill
35. Black Necked Stork
36. White Necked Stork
37. Black Winged Stilts
38. Ruff
39. Red Shank
40. Green Shank

41. Painted Snipe
42. Sandpiper
43. Green Sandpiper
44. Little Ringtailed Plover
45. Brown Crake
46. Sarus Crane
47. Red Wattled Lapwing
48. Yellow Wattled Lapwing
49. Flameback
50. Indian Roller

51. Eurasian Golden Oriole
52. ed Breasted Fly Catcher
53. Grey Headed Canary Flycatcher
54. Brown Shrike
55. Long Tailed Shrike
56. Common Wood Shrike
57. Large Grey Shrike
58. Large Grey Babbler
59. Roufous Treepie
60. Black Drongo

61. Ashy Prinia
62. Plain Prinea
63. Common Chif Chaff
64. Blue Throat
65. Black Headed Munia
66. Peacock/fowl
67. Desert Wheatear
68. Grey Hornbill
69. Red Collared Dove
70. White Throated Kingfisher

71. Pied Kingfisher
72. Small Blue Kingfisher
73. Lesser Coucal
74. Rose Ringed Parakeet
75. Collared Scops Owl
76. Dusky Eagle Owl
77. Spotted Owlet
78. Grey Night Jar
79. Shikra
80. Black Shouldered Kite

81. Eurasian Marsh Harrier
82. Lesser Spotted Eagle
83. Greater Spotted Eagle
84. Imperial Eagle
85. Booted Eagle
86. Crested Serpent Eagle
87. Steppe Eagle
88. Egyptian Vulture

"......... and the shadow of the day
will embrace the world
in gray
& the sun will set for you........ "

bharatpur

Thattekkad diaries. The final bird count.

One of the things which i learned in Thattekkad was the importance of recognising the bird calls. Thattekkad forest is dense & it is very difficult to spot the birds like how i do in Bharatpur or Sultanpur etc, were all the birds are in the open & the vegetation is not thick.

Observing & birding with Girish, really showed me the importance of identifying bird calls. 9 out of 10 times Girish identifies birds by their calls. First he identifies the call & then zeroes in on the possible location.

Another highlight of this trip is; This is the first time that my bird count went over 100.......... as i got my list together, the final bird count goes like this :

1. Rufous Treepie
2. White Bellied Treepie
3. Racquet Tailed Drongo
4. Ashy Drongo
5. Bronzed Drongo
6. Black Drongo

7. Malabar Grey Hornbill

8. Black Naped Oriole
9. Black Hooded Oriole
10. Eurasian Golden Oriole

11. White Breasted Kingfisher
12. Common Blue Kingfisher
13. Pied Kingfisher
14. Jungle Babbler
15. Yellow Billed Babbler
16. Puff Throated Babbler
17. Dark Fronted Babbler
18. Indian Scimitar Babbler
19. Asian Brown Flycatcher
20. Asian Paradise Flycatcher

21. Blue Throated Flycatcher
22. Brown Breasted Flycatcher
23. Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher
24. Rusty Tailed Flycatcher
25. White Bellied Blue Flycatcher
26. Orange Headed Thrush
27. Malabar Whistling Thrush

28. Blue Bearded Bee Eater

29. Green Bee Eater
30. Heart Spotted Woodpecker

31. White Bellied Woodpecker
32. Lesser Yellow Naped Woodpecker
33. Black Rumped Flameback
34. Streak Throated Woodpecker
35. Brown Capped Pygmy Woodpecker
36. Greater Flameback

37. Plain Flowerpecker
38. Pale Billed Flowerpecker
39. Green Imperial Pigeon
40. Mountain Imperial Pigeon
41. Pompodour Green Pigeon

42. Spotted Dove
43. Hill Mynah
44. Common Mynah
45. Grey Jungle Fowl

46. Red Spur Fowl

47. Chestnut Tailed Starling
48. White Cheeked Barbet
49. Crimson Fronted Barbet
50. Yellow Browed Bulbul
51. Ruby Throated Bulbul

52. Red Whiskered Bulbul
53. Grey Headed Bulbul
54. Red Vented Bulbul
55. Red Wattled Lapwing
56. Scarlet Minivet

57. Small Minivet
58. Greenish Warbler
59. Forest Wagtail
60. Crimson Backed Sunbird
61. Purple Rumped Sunbird

62. Loten’s Sunbird
63. Little Spiderhunter
64. Malabar Parakeet
65. Plum Headed Parakeet

66. Rose Ringed Parakeet
67. Vernal Hanging Parrot
68. Black Headed Munia
69. Brown Cheeked Fulveta
70. Golden Fronted Leaf Bird
71. Asian Fairy Blue Bird

72. Eurasian Black Bird
73. Koel
74. Black Naped Monarch
75. Dollar Bird
76. Malabar Trogan
77. Jerdon’s Night Jar
78. Indian Pitta
79. Srilankan Frog Mouth
80. Intermediate Egret
81. Whiskered Tern

82. River Tern
83. Little Cormorant
84. Pond Heron
85. Darter
86. Bronze Winged Jacana
87. White Breasted Waterhen
88. Ashy Wood Swallow
89. Red Rumped Swallow
90. Indian Swiftlets
91. Brown Shrike

92. Large Wood Shrike
93. Large Cuckoo Shrike
94. Drongo Cuckoo
95. Crested Goshawk
96. Black Baza
97. Black Eagle
98. Crested Serpent Eagle
99. Booted Eagle
100. Brown Fish Owl
101. Mottled Wood Owl

102. Brown Hawk Owl
103. Jungle Owlets
104. Oriental Honey Buzzard
105. Shikra
106. Brahminy Kite

It was truly amazing to be in the midst of all this.................

Thattekkad diaries. Part 6.

Today is going to be last morning in Thattekkad. After a quick round of birding we plan to head towards Nedumassery airport for our journey back.

Girish's grand mother was not feeling well, so understandably he was not in his elements, plus he wanted to keep the walk short, more over news had come in from the watch tower that an elephant was really close at the entrance. We saw an Indian Pitta, then had amazing views of a Blue Bearded Bee Eater.

I also saw something which i had never seen before........... a large spider rolling back its web. Just like a fisherman rolling back his net after fishing. The spider must have made its web the evening before, must have fed on all the insects caught in the web in the morning, then right before our eyes, it was rolling its web back into its mouth.......... truly an amazing sight.

A Black Baza was far away, as we were walking we could hear the elephant really close. Then we decided it was time to walk back.

Came back to our rooms & we packed up & soon it was time to leave. We thanked Girish for his boundless energy & amazing birding skills, his mother (Sudha) & wife (Sandhya) for all the care & warmth, and to Girish's little daughter. As we were leaving, i asked Girish "What about the Brown Hawk Owl" ?? Immediately he ran to its likely place, & told us to wait. We saw him jumping in joy, then i knew the Brown Hawk Owl was there. So finally just as we were leaving we got to see the Brown Hawk Owl.

Surely in every sense this trip to Thattekkad was one of my best birding trips. I hope to be back there next year to see the many birds we did not get to see like the Nilgri Fly Catcher, Malabar Shama, Wynad Laughing Thrush, Rufous Bellied Eagle, Spot Bellied Eagle Owl........et al

Goodbye Thattekkad !!

Thattekkad diaries. Part 5

Today morning we went again to the Orulanthany forest, but this time to the dense area.


On our way Girish told us to be careful about Leeches. We saw the Rusty Tailed Fly Catcher for the first time. The forest was really thick & beautiful. I could see Leeches climbing up my shoes every minute. I became very frisky & I found it difficult to concentrate on the birds. So we decided to move to the less dense forest, where there will be no Leeches. As we came out Girish said wait.......... it is a Little Spider Hunter.

It was again a very beautiful bird. (which birds are not beautiful ???) It was enjoying itself on a banana flower, using its long beaks to take in the nectar.

We were able to watch the Southern Birdwing, a butterfly with a wingspan of 140-190mm, it is the largest butterfly found in Southern India.

Then we spend the rest of the morning watching different Bulbuls out of which the Yellow Browed Bulbul & the Grey Headed Bulbul were quite stunning. Minivets kept us engaged, so also was a Brown Capped Pygmy Woodpecker. By afternoon, exhausted we returned to our rooms.

In the evening we went to see the Mottled Wood Owl again.

This time we managed to take some snaps, before it flew away again !! On a distance i was able to see a Black Eagle. The rest of the evening we spent looking at all the water birds, watching all the fish in the Periyarenjoying the beauty of this largest river in Kerala, we watched the River Terns fishing. Our bird count was touching hundred, but i have not yet seen the Brown Hawk Owl. Well, everyone who reports on Thattekkad, says it is the first bird they saw. Unfortunately it has not been in its usual perch. I am hoping to see it before i leave tomorrow