The Indian Spotted Chevrotain (Moschiola meminna) is often referred to as the Mouse Deer. However in recent times, Indian Spotted Chevrotain seems to be the preferred usage.
This diminutive animal is nocturnal in habit, making it very difficult to see one in daylight. Occasionally a chevrotain may be seen late in the evening or early in the morning if it ventures out into the open like the one in this image, photographed one foggy morning near the Kabini … Read More
Although jackals occur widely across India, we know very little about them. These images were photographed on the morning of 11th November, 2012 near the Kabini backwaters in Rajiv Gandhi National Park (Nagarahole Tiger Reserve). We believe that jackals have never been sighted here for past over 15 years, so it’s interesting to know if these jackals have lost their way and have entered the protected forest. Or are there any other reasons for them to been wandering in Nagarahole?… Read More
While birding in Harike Wildlife Sanctuary in Punjab on October 31st and November 1st, 2012, we (three birders — Gunjan Arora, Shashank Dalvi and Saurabh Sawant) came across the Sind Jerdon’s Babbler (Chrysomma altirostre scindicum). This is the first record of this subspecies from India. This record is 370 kms away from the nearest known locality of this bird. It was earlier known only along the main Indus River from very few localities in Pakistan. We found the … Read More
On Oct 13, 2012, in the evening, we saw this jackal feeding on termites by the road side in Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. The jackal did not seem to be bothered by our presence, though vehicles passing by would scare him. He would hide and come back out to feed when it was safe.
We visit Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary regularly for our volunteer work. Over time, we have observed some positive changes due to the good work by the DFO, Mr.Vasanth … Read More
In September 2012, on an evening safari in Bandipur National Park, I witnessed a truly amazing natural history moment, perhaps the finest in all of my wild travels across India. We had planned to check the Kavare Katte, a large water body, before exiting the park. From a distance, we could see that a few sambar standing in the water. As we approached closer, we realized the enormously tense situation that had been playing out. The sambar had entered the … Read More
On November 4th, 2010, a friend and I were on our way through Mysore to a resort near Nagarahole. We were not expecting to see any interesting wildlife on the way, but we were amazed when we suddenly spotted this Rusty Spotted Cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus) near Karapura. We took a record image. These cats are thought to be rare, although new information suggests that they may actually be more common than assumed.
See this other post about a … Read More
On April 13 , 2009, I was expecting to photograph the seasonal elephant congregations on the Kabini backwaters, Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, during the customary boat safari and was rewarded with this absolutely fascinating sight. The tigress approached the gaur kill and started to feed on it. The tourists in our boat kept absolute silence and the tigress continued its feed.… Read More
On August 15, 2010, we were in the Nilgiris, in search of a leopard that had killed a porcupine the previous day. It was raining heavily in the morning, but stopped around 3 PM. As the rain stopped, we noticed something black on top of a hill and we cautiously approached it. We climbed about 500 feet of the hill, but the animal had vanished by the time we reached the top. We waited for sometime and a common leopard … Read More
It was a peak summer morning in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in May 2009 and the resident tigress and two of her female cubs were cooling off in the water at the Rajbehra Dam. Suddenly, one of the tigresses noticed something on a rock at the corner and both the sisters went off to investigate. They reappeared shortly, following a juvenile long-billed vulture, which seemed to have lost its way from its nest and incapacitated in some way. Threatened by the … Read More
Would you walk away from a tiger lying 10 feet in front of you? Well, I did and only for the lure of that elusive, enigmatic predator – the leopard. We were at Ranthambore, face to face with a handsome male tiger (T6 aka Romeo) when our guide Hemraj suggested that we head off to a nearby waterhole to wait at a leopard’s spotted deer kill. The reluctance was momentary, the chance of a leopard on a kill was too … Read More
The Yellow-throated Bulbul (Pycnonotus xantholaemus) is a species of bulbul endemic to southern peninsular India. The species is included in the Vulnerable (Vu) category of the Red Data Book (BirdLife International 2006). They are found on scrub habitats on steep, rocky hills many of which are threatened by granite quarrying, forest fires and grazing. It is confusable only with the White-browed Bulbul with which its range overlaps but is distinctively yellow on the head and throat apart from … Read More
The male Satyr Tragopan (Tragopan satyra) is easily one of the most beautiful birds in India and also one of the rarest. The Satyr Tragopan is found in the Eastern Himalayas, besides Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan. It is best seen in Neora Valley National Park in North Bengal. Male Satyr’s are 68cm and are a bright crimson red with white spots. Females are smaller and less conspicuous.
Tragopans are often called “horned pheasants” because they display horn-like projections … Read More
The Blue Pitta (Pitta cyanea) is a very rare bird in India. There have been no recent reports (and certainly no photographs) from India. Pam Rasmussen (Birds of South Asia) lists it for the South Assam Hills (North Cachar, Tripura and an old specimen from Garo Hills).
This image of a dead Blue Pitta featured in the brilliant award-winning documentary called “The Wild Meat Trail” directed by Rita Banerji and Shilpi Sharma (Dusty Foot Productions) on sale in … Read More
The Spot-breasted Laughing Thrush Garrulax merulinus is found in several South-east Asian countries. It is well known amongst birders for its beautiful vocalisations and extremely skulky nature. The bird is seldom seen and is known from India by very few, scanty records. The last time this bird was collected from the Indian sub-continent was in 1952. In 2007 Tanmoy Ghosh recorded this species from Changlang district in Arunachal Pradesh where he photographed a dead bird killed by locals. Following this, … Read More
We saw this pack of dhole at the Sunkadakatte gate during a forest department paid safari. This is a part of the Mysore-Manathavady Highway is restricted to vehicular traffic.… Read More
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