Golden Ant ( Polyrhachis illaudata) is an arboreal ant that live in the canopies of sub-tropical rain forests in Western Ghats, India. They construct nests by binding leaves with the silk produced from their own larvae. However this species does not belong to genuine weaver ants like Oecophyll. Fulgoromorpha Nymph on left & Golden Ant on right
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Red velvet mite is an arachnid that belongs to the family Trombidiidae. They are found in most parts of the world from tropical regions like South India and sub-Saharan region to cold regions like Canada and Scotland. Red Velvet Mite Recently I had a chance to volunteer Uniform distribution to forest guards by WWF at
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Reddish Burrowing Frog (Fejervarya rufescens) Typical habitat near water bodies, on landlaterite rocks, stones, forest clearing. Elevation upto 1500m This frog is endemic to India, widespread across the Western Ghats and the Western Coast. A tiny frog, it merges into the pebbles around it with utmost ease. Found usually during monsoon along laterite rock
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Mutual preening between two birds, the main purpose of which is to reduce the instinctive aggression when birds are in close contact. In the breeding season allopreening helps to strengthen the pair bond between the male and female. Jungle Babblers This behaviour is especially common in parrots, babblers, crows and some finches, or when
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Ooty is the district capital of Nilgiri, Tamilnadu. I know everyone knows about it , So will jump to why I visited & wrote about it. Distance: Approx 265Kms from Bangalore. Route I took: Bangalore > Mysore > Nanjangud > Bandipur > Masingudi > Ooty. Why I went : Bird Photography
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Thippagondanahalli Reservoir, also known as T G Halli Dam or Chamarajsagar, is located at the confluence of the Arkavathi and Kumudavathi River, 35 km west of Bangalore, India. The name Thippagondanahalli was named after the village head Thippagonda. A supervised construction from the very great Bharatha Ratna Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The dam was built & inaugurated in
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Tree hoppers disguise as thorns on plant stem to prevent predators from spotting them, to get extra protection they hire ants by providing them sweet liquid in return. The insect body look like leaf buds under the thorns. Hoppers (order Homoptera) are herbivorous insects that suck the carbohydrate-rich juice from phloem vessels in plant sap through
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Recently I had been to Valley school for birdwatching. Surprisingly there wasn’t much bird activity & eventually I was in look out for insects & butterflies. Saw this amazing ant like spider moving very fast on ground, sometimes hiding behind small grass & popping out once a while. It waves its forelegs mimicking the antenna
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Republic day was awesome as a group of birding friends decided Gulakmale as the destination for the day. Gulakmale is a small village near Kaggalipura of South Bangalore off kanakapura road. This place is accessible both from Kanakapura Road & Bannerghatta road. My route was through Kanakapura road ( Chamarajpet > K.R Road > Banashankari temple > Thalaghattapura
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Recently we had a college reunion at a coffee estate in Sakaleshpur, while sharing thoughts with the owner, I found that Kopi luwak an Indonesian pronounce for Civet Coffee is the costliest of all coffee grades. He explained that these civet cat chooses to eat only the best ripe coffee berries & the undigested seeds are excreted in their poo. The processed
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