Little grebes tend to hide among vegetation; they are small, and despite the brilliant maroon of the male's neck, easily missed in a lake blanketed with lily pads; they nest among reeds, carefully covering eggs with grass to shelter them from predators' eyes when they leave. In the water, they dart quickly, nervously, under the… Continue reading Grebe Among the Flowers
Tag: birds
Vernal
Vernal hanging parrots streak across the forests in emerald shards.
Portrait of a Cockatoo
Tanimbar corellas come in screeching numbers.
In Otter Disbelief
They come in a shout, a brief cry of astonishment.
maybe my heart is full of sky
so maybe the only thing separating loving and living is an oh of amazement – the breathless sound the sky makes when falling the final gradient from dusk to twilight and back again, the way your eyes keep searching for stars only an evenmist away, how your fingertips keep feeling for worlds closeted within atoms,… Continue reading maybe my heart is full of sky
The World of Wagtails
In Bangalore a pair of wagtails lives on the patch of grass by the basketball hoop. They are a sheer pleasure to watch: they hop, daintily, about the grass, occasionally inclining their head to inspect a blade before jabbing it down, sword-like, to extract some hapless creature. Then they will turn, look up and contemplate… Continue reading The World of Wagtails
Hawk-Eagle of the Hills
A Legge's Hawk-Eagle looks over the hills of the Western Ghats. Formerly a subspecies of the Mountain Hawk-Eagle, its split allowed birders worldwide to add one more species to their lists.
The Prinia Poses
A juvenile Jungle Prinia poses for the camera in Valparai, Tamil Nadu.
Oh, Shrikes! (pt. 2)
The long-tailed shrike is known alternatively as the rufous-backed shrike - for reasons that highlight the confused world of bird taxonomy better than anything. The problem is that there's this thing called subspecies - which means that, for example, to take collared kingfishers, you can get two birds that are technically the same species but… Continue reading Oh, Shrikes! (pt. 2)
Bush Chat at the Bush’s Edge
A juvenile Pied Bush-chat gives me a piercing glare from the fringes of the tea bushes in Valparai, Tamil Nadu.
somewhere up a tree 