Trails of Nature - 2

Dear friends,

Today you are welcome for birding in my own courtyard. There is a window in my study overlooking a combined bush of Hibiscus and Ixora. I never found both these plants interesting, but in the afternoon they are frequented by some visitors for nectar.

On separate days I could click Mr and Mrs Loten's Sunbird. These birds are 10-12 cm long and seen extensively in Southern Peninsular India and Srilanka. They feed on tiny insects and are often seen hovering around flowers for nectar. Their long bill distinguishes them from Purple Sunbird.

The male birds are glossy purple colored with grey brown belly. He was closely followed by his girl at that time. They must be having a nest nearby which I couldn't find (they flew off hastily sensing my intrusion).

The females lack the purple color altogether. They are yellowish brown with yellowish underparts.

It seems the female enjoyed the photoshoot with me! Look how she is posing for me.

The breeding season is Nov to March in India (Wiki information), the nest is often seen as a suspended bag of cobwebs, twigs and grass.

Look out for them in your garden and I am sure you will find them.

Trails of Nature - 1

Dear friends,

Do you know me?

I am a Malayan Tapir, right now living in Singapore Zoo.

Mine is an endangered species mostly owing to the loss of habitat, rainforests . We are extremely sensitive to changes in our environment especially due to human habitation.

We are herbivores mammals. One reason for our extinction is due to the fact that the females reproduce only once in 2 years and the gestational period is quite long - 12-13 months. Most of the times it is a single baby.

The babies look plump and cute with stripes and spots over the body that they are called walking watermelons. The spots help them for camouflage.

We have a trunk that is formed by fused nose and upperlip. It gives us a powerful sense of smell.

We are good swimmers as well as runners inspite of some 200-300 kg body weight. We manage to escape from most of the predators except one, that is human beings!

Many organisations have been formed to protect us from extinction like Tapir specialist group. This picture has been saved from tapirs.org to show you the other tapirs.

One last word from me, SAVE RAIN FORESTS..... and save the many homeless unfortunates including me and my family.
Thanks for stopping by.

Trails of Nature

I love nature, don't you?

I am starting of series where I introduce to you a little bit of nature. It might be a flower, a bird, an animal or anything that is intricately related to nature. My photographs are taken by my companion cam Mr. Nike - the Nikon P 100 , and forgive us if they do not come upto your standards. If you are up for a bit of fun you are welcome aboard, I shall take you to new nature trails.

PS: Not necessarily jungle safaris, but also shots from my own courtyard, zoo,parks and wherever green comes to life. I shall meet you with nature trails on all Wednesdays.

My Rain Drenched Singapore Trip

We are back after our first Singapore visit. Yes, it is the first one and hopefully there will be more. Though the purpose of the visit was to write an exam it was much awaited and much planned for months. We were literally thrilled right from boarding the flight till our return.

We expected so many things to be seen in Singapore. Much to our dismay the last thing we expected and what we found was simply RAIN. Well, Mr. Sun decided to take a short break and we were welcomed at the airport by a downpour. After the exams we had exactly 2 days and one night at leisure for sight seeing. Nevertheless we made the best of the trip and as soon as we returned to the sunny hometown my husband has started his search for 'vacancies in Singapore'. So you can imagine how we feel.

To summarize the tours, on Day 1 we went to Singapore zoo and Night Safari. On day 2 we visited the fun packed Sentosa island. I will be back with details soon. Hope you will find time to visit me.

What is the best birthday gift you ever received?

Today is my birthday and I sit in my room reminiscing the Kodai trip of last year. Kodai is a hill station located in the Palani hills, Dindigal district, Tamil Nadu. To my pleasant surprise the trip coincided with my birthday.

Though I am a late riser I was woken up well before sunrise by the chirping of tiny birds heard over the balcony. I opened the windows to see this amazing sunrise through the Palani hills and rushed for the camera to take pictures. What could be a better gift than this marvelous scene ravishing my eyes on my birthday?

Today morning I peep out of the window to see that sun is already up. The rays of sun infiltrate through green leaves of the innumerable trees in my neighbor's courtyard. The gleaming young leaves of this gooseberry tree caught my eyes and here it is.

I thank God for the simple gifts that he shower upon us everyday; they make our life worth living.