Since childhood, birds fascinated Dr. P. Sathiyaselvam. Growing up in a small village in Tamil Nadu, he had the opportunity to experience the bounties of nature all around him. Often, he would play with his friends near rivers, lakes, and ponds, getting close to many feathered visitors in and around these water bodies. Although he did […]
As a child, he was mesmerised by their mischievous ways of frolicking along the banks of the Arasalar River that flowed near his home. For hours, he would observe them efficiently swimming in the river, catching fish, and grooming each other. At that time, he had no inkling that one day, these otters would be […]
I woke up to the rising sun and the melodious calls of the common hawk cuckoo and the Indian pitta – a summer visitor to the region. I was staying at a forest rest house in the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. Still groggy, I grabbed my camera and quickly left the rest house, determined […]
In 2023, a blue whale calf weighing around 5 tons was discovered stranded on a beach near Ganpatipule in Ratnagiri. However, despite great attempts made to rescue it and send it back into deep waters, the calf could not survive. According to experts, the blue whale calf had remained out of water for too long […]
The Great Indian Bustard (GIB), which used to thrive across the Indian subcontinent, now faces severe challenges due to habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation stemming from the relentless increase in anthropogenic disturbance across its range. The population of this critically endangered species (Ardeotis nigriceps) is now primarily confined to the Thar Desert in Rajasthan, India. […]
The Sun had just begun peeking at its own reflection in the waters of Ana Sagar Lake, from behind the ancient ranges of Aravali in Ajmer, Rajasthan. We stepped onto the cemented pathway embroidered around the glittering water body as the first rays of dawn gently bathed our faces. It was lovely cold weather on […]
As the monsoon rains drench one of the last remaining grasslands in Rajasthan, the male of one of India’s fastest-disappearing bird species makes its move to woo the female. It folds its legs and shoots vertically upwards to about 2 to 3 metres above the grass, with its partly open wings fluttering and producing a […]
It was a bright, sunny summer morning. I was waiting, all excited, at the Moharli Safari Gate of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). I was there to meet the reserve’s new residents—ten gorgeous white-rumped vultures and the BNHS vulture conservation research team stationed there. The vultures had been transported from the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Center […]
They symbolise eternal, unconditional love and inspire timeless tales of devotion, passion, poetry, art, and architecture. They are believed to be harbingers of good fortune whose presence indicates the sound health of wetland ecosystems. They are the sarus cranes, the world’s tallest flying birds. However, these birds we associate with all things positive are no […]
Today, on the second day of fieldwork in the high-altitude mountains, I awoke before my alarm, feeling acclimatized to the altitude. Gone was the sleep inertia; all I needed to kick-start the day was a steaming cup of black coffee. The scent of kerosene wafting from the bhukari (a traditional Himalayan room heater) in the […]
