Sahyadrica

by Robin Churchill When I first held Sugar in hand, I was surprised by how heavy she felt – heavy for a bird of that size (think of Shikra found in the Indian subcontinent). She was a Gyr – Saker falcon hybrid, being trained by Robin. That was six years ago. Since then, I’ve been infatuated with falconry, an ancient form of art where man and bird become one. I don’t call it domestication – the bird that sits on the hand of his or her trainer is not domesticated – it is a rare form of art where a wild bird bonds with a human but remains wild in its heart. As a modern-day falconer, Robin helps chase bird populations which are a menace and a hazard in industrial environs, and falcons are the ultimate weapons – far more efficient than using guns – to keep them away. I’ve had very limited experience with falcons – wild as well as trained – and reading Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk , and J. A. Baker’s The Peregrine has made me realize a big gap in my own experiences of the wild...

Last year I was fortunate to observe a few Eastern Garter Snakes late in March. I had set out to track when and how life returned to Medway Creek , without expecting to find any snakes so early in the season. After stumbling upon many Garter Snakes and being amongst a few individuals that I photographed for the first time, I started following one unique fellow with a rather dark abdomen compared to the others around. His name is Toby and this is his story. Toby is just another male Garter Snake in this vast country who spent the cold months huddled in a hibernacula with his fellow mates. Now he is out and about, exploring the dense woodland surrounding a fragment of Medway Creek – a tributary of Thames River in London, Ontario, with one important mission – to find a mate and pass on his genes. (The script of narration is provided at the bottom) If you watched the documentary, you may have had the same question in mind – was it really a female or just a trickster male? I was quit...

Moist Deciduous forests of Western Ghats When I first ventured into the pristine forests of the Western Ghats, I was astounded by the sheer variety of plants, from the simplest bryophytes to the complex angiosperms, forming one big single community. A nigh ten kilometres from the nearest human settlement, it is one of the few remaining megadiverse habitats around the world. There are large strangling lianas swinging in the wind, old eerily squealing bamboo echoing in the tropical hardwood forest, and melodious calls of birds that is only scattered into a sudden silence when a predator goes in search of prey. It is here that tigers and human hunters once lived in harmony – an unwritten treaty of peace between the two, now broken by modern man’s greed and grievance. Today, the population of tigers in this Tiger Reserve is deemed too low to be viable, and as encroachment and poaching presses from all sides, their future seems bleak. Primary forest as a percentage of total forest are...

There are fascinating activities going on in nature everywhere around us. Even right now, there is a small colony of Carpenter ants somewhere in your backyard working hard to find food during winter, but summer undoubtedly peaks in such activities, as the temperature rises and plants bloom and there is an abundance of everything for a short period of time. The struggle for survival, the game that constantly haunts every living organism on this planet, is even more competitive and ferocious, as prey try hard to protect their offspring, and predators try as much harder to provide food for their offspring. An Osprey hovers over the north shore of Lake Huron on an overcast morning During the summer of 2010, as I walked through tick and mosquito ridden forests of southern Ontario, I closely observed the life of some animals engaged in their daily activities. This is just a humble attempt at sharing a fascinating world I was fortunate to study. These animals are very common around us that...

Cicindela sexguttata , photographed in early spring at Medway Creek, 2010 Patience is virtue, but if there is an insect that knows how to test your patience, it has to be a Tiger Beetle. Belonging to the order Coleoptera, family Carabidae , subfamily Cicindelinae (all Tiger Beetles belong to Carabidae, but not all Carabidae beetles are commonly called Tiger Beetles; they were previously considered to be under a distinct family Cicindelidae), these beetles are commonly referred to as Tiger Beetles for a very good reason. We all know that tigers are carnivores, earning the rightful throne of being on top of the food pyramid in their prime habitats. Their hunting tactics involve ambushing, stalking, chasing and surprising the prey, making them efficient – if not supreme – predators of the Indian subcontinent. Likewise, Tiger Beetles are known to use all these tactics while hunting for food. Only difference between the mammalian tiger and an insect tiger is their apparent size, but if w...

The air now carries the remains of summer’s warmth and the early coolness of fall. It is pleasant, but the place I live in is devoid of natural woods and shrubs. Whatever grows are horticulture plants or weeds on wastelands providing ecological services to the scarce but valuable biodiversity predominated by bumble bees, bottle flies and cabbage whites. Soon the landscape will transform into myriad of colors, from violet to red, but this time it’s the leaves. Thence the diversity will drop, hitting the lowest in January as winter grips onto southwestern Ontario. By March, green shoots will sprout from bare branches. Sign of life. As days roll by, the very first butterfly will make its appearance in the open, basking in the early spring sun. It will be a tattered Mourning Cloak – one of the butterflies that overwinter for months only to greet the season of spring – and will continue its lifecycle by laying eggs for summer. A Pearl Crescent decides to sip minerals off my finger It h...