The Andaman Banded Dandy (Laringa horsfieldii andamanesis) is a butterfly that is rarely encountered in the Andamans. Butterflies of the genus Laringa are found in S. Myanmar, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Palawan. This andamanensis subspecies occurs only in South Andaman.
I photographed this butterfly at Chidiya Tapu, South Andaman on Dec 01, 2012. The individual in the photograph is a female. The male is overall dark blue with a pale blue band.
This is probably the … Read More
Of all the Indian mynas, the Gold-crested Myna (Ampeliceps coronatus) is probably the most mysterious. Very rarely has this bird been sighted within Indian limits. Very little is known to the general public of its whereabouts, though it is regularly found in other countries like Thailand and Myanmar.
The definitive encyclopedia on Indian birds, Ali and Ripley’s Handbook, records two sightings from South Assam Hills (Cachar) and Manipur, and describes the bird to be “uncommon” and “little … Read More
Leaf Deer, Leaf Muntjac or Putao muntjac (Muntiacus putaoensis) is not very well known in India. In a biodiversity survey in Thanamir (base of Mt. Saramati, 3840 m), Eastern Nagaland (May 2011), post-graduate students of M.Sc wildlife biology and conservation, WCS-India & NCBS, Bangalore discovered the presence of skulls of this deer. Subsequent genetic testing on skin samples corroborated the finding. This finding is very significant as it will enhance the deer’s geographical range by 1.5 times.
The … Read More
Extract from the article in Indian BIRDS 9 (5&6): 155–157
During a visit to Namdapha National Park, Arunachal Pradesh, India, on 17 November 2013, a bird was seen and photographed while walking along a trail at c. 500 m in tropical evergreen forest between Haldibari and Hornbill camp. The photographs show that the bird was a thrush Turdus/Zoothera, with a greyish-brown crown, back and tail. The face is fairly pale with two dark vertical stripes, the first extending down from … Read More
I had been visiting Kaigal, a village on the edge of Kaundinya Wildlife Sanctuary in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, since I was 15 years old. However, I only recently learnt that the geckos running around on the walls of the guest house there were none other than the Indian Golden Gecko (Calodactylodes aureus). The etymology (origin of the word) of its genus name Calodactylus comes from Latin: a word for beautiful fingers. This is because of the … Read More
The Southern Kiang (Equus kiang polyodon, Hodgson 1847) occurs in the Trans-Himalayan open steppe of North Sikkim within the Indian limits. It has been recorded in Chho Lhamu, Chulung Valley, Gyamchhona, Kerang and Yumchho. The Souhern Kiangs move between India and China through the passes like Bamcho La, Chhulung La and Sesse La (Avasthe & Jha 1999). It differs from the Western Kiang (E.k.kiang) that occurs in Ladakh from being smaller and sporting a lighter coat. During summer … Read More
A new species of the gekkonid genus Cnemaspis has been described from the lateritic plateau of the northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra, western India. The discovery of Cnemaspis girii from the Kaas plateau in Satara district, Maharashtra, highlights the diversity of herpetofauna of this region and adds to the growing knowledge of the diversity of the Western Ghats. The lateritic plateaus of the northern Western Ghats support endemic herpetofauna and are in need of protection owing to their narrow distribution … Read More
Researchers from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore and Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Bangalore have described a new species of gecko belonging to the genus Cnemaspis from Kaas plateau in Satara district of Maharashtra. The new species is named after Dr. Varad Giri of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) who has extensively worked to document the herpetofauna of India. The research paper was published on 17th of June in the journal Zootaxa (read summary) … Read More
Birders recently spotted two Lesser White-fronted and four Greater White-fronted Geese in the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK), Gujarat. Both are rarities and seldom seen in the Indian subcontinent. They are long distance migrants.
The Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) breeds across the tundra from Nunavut to Siberia, across Russia, and in Greenland. The Greater White-fronted Goose has one of the largest ranges of any geese species in the world.
The Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus… Read More
I am a birdlover and amateur photographer from Mumbai. On September 7, 2013, between 11:00 to 12:00 hours in the vicinity of Alibaug, Maharshtra, I was traveling on my bike looking to photograph some butterflies when I encountered this unfamiliar bird. The bird was very accommodating and allowed me to slowly approach fairly close. I posted the record shots on India Nature Watch (INW) where birdwatchers readily identified it as a Woodchat Shrike.
The Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator) … Read More
The Hodgson’s Bat (Myotis formosus) is a strikingly colored bat that roosts in foliage. It is a widespread species ranging from Central to South-east Asia. In India it is reported from 14 localities in North and East India and one locality in Central India. This species superficially resembles the more popular Painted Wolly Bat (Kerivoula picta).
On 12th January 2013 at 11:13 h, we (D.V. Girish, Shashank Dalvi, Vishnupriya Sankararaman and Rohit Chakravarty) visited Mullayangiri peak … Read More
On the evening of 12th February 2013, I was birding in a rocky area near the Chhari-Dhand bird conservation area in the famed Banni grasslands of Kutch. After seeing an eyeshine near a small bush, I spotted a small cat was sitting on a rock. I took some images of the wild cat. The cat was quite small (compared to the jungle cats common in the area) with a long tail and a white belly.
Experts later identified the cat … Read More
Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) is a small sized coastal breeding gull commonly found around north Pacific and north Atlantic oceans in North America and Europe. We were fortunate to observe and photograph two individuals of this species from Chavakkad beach, Kerala, India on January 24th, 2013 during our routine beach birding trip. We (Suhas Kechery and Sandeep Das) located this bird among a flock of Heuglin’s, Brown-headed and Black-head Gulls.
The birds observed were found to be … Read More
The Snowy Angle (Darpa pteria) is a rare butterfly. The nominate race is known to occur in Philippines while the race dealbata has a wide distribution extending from Assam, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Malay Peninsula, Tioman, and all the way to Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Palawan. This butterfly was known in India only from one very old record, also from Assam (Evans 1949; Swinhoe 1912-1913).
Recently, Vidya Venkatesh and Karthikeyan S. saw this butterfly on April 26, 2011 in … Read More
The Chalazodes Bubble Nest frog (Roaorchestes chalazodes) is one of India’s critically endangered frog. The species, originally described by Günther in 1876 based on a single specimen that is now located in the British Museum of Natural History, was lost to science for about 136 years. It was thought to be extinct until recently, when it was rediscovered in the remote forests of Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu by Dr. Ganesan R, Seshadri.K.S and Dr. Biju S.D. … Read More
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