Sahyadrica

7 AM SHARP , said the text on my phone. I calculated I’d have to wake up only thirty minutes early.  The alarm clock went off at thirty past six.  I saw myself wake up and, as I finished the routine in a blink, stood near the gas station. I sat in the car that approached from the highway connecting the messed up old city to the new unplanned one. The scene flew by swiftly, and switched to me sitting under tall shrubs with low thickets; a late morning sun filtering green sunlight through scarce but broad leaves. Everything was glowing softly, but it was very hot. I was looking at a boulder. Out of curiosity, I upturned the rock, to find a dead Bronzeback Tree snake lying there. What on earth was an arboreal snake doing under a boulder? I turned to look up to a passing lady, and my eyes met hers. She was slender and tall, and hung delicately from the lean shrubs. She was Mrs Bronzeback, wearing a necklace of turquoise jewels beneath her scales. She investigated me thou...

Yeoor Hills - 24th July 2009 This was a fourth trail at Yeoor Hills. If you tread across all the four trails, you will find a considerable difference in the sightings. It was an interesting trail and as usual, we learnt more as we discovered. Photographs: Orthosiphon rubicundus : A tall herb with beautiful inflorescence, it is used in medicines in India. It attracts a lot of butterflies. Above is the photograph of the entire inflorescence, and below is an image of a single flower. Impatiens minor - Also called Lesser Balsam, it is one of the monsoon flowering shrubs growing hardly 10 - 15 cm. The flower is very small but dots open forest surfaces in white and Purple shades. Justicia procumbens - Another tiny beauty that dots the forest floor at Yeoor, it is also commonly called as Water Willow. Polyrhachis sp.? - This image was taken on 21st June (Yeoor - Day 2 Report). I identified it as a Polyrhachis sp. According to a website dedicated to Insects, "Polyrhachis is...

Yeoor Hills on 21st June 2009 I went Yeoor Hills again after a gap of 6 days. It rained on Saturday 20th, so visiting Yeoor on the 21st seemed like a good idea. The sightings had been different compared to last Sunday (previous Yeoor post). The weather was pleasant, overcast, drizzled a wee bit, and the breeze was cold and damp. All this is not favored by some insects such as butterflies so most remained hidden from the sight. Nothing much to be spoken about, except sightings and some photographs. Sightings: Birds 1. Common Iora (Call) 2. Common Tailor Bird 3. I was seriously looking in the undergrowth. Insects 1. White Orange Tip (Male) 1 2. Robber fly - 2 3. Longhorn Beetle - 2 sp. 4. Common Emigrant - Plenty 5. Psyche - 2 6. Spot Swordtail - 2 7. Fodina stola (Moth) 1 8. Attatha sp. (Moth) 1 9. Tortoise beetle - Plenty Adults; several larvae 10. Camponotus angusticollis - several on forestfloor 11. Camponotus ( compressus ?) - 1 12. Anoplolepis gracilipes...