Hard working dads of the natural world
A few weeks back was Father's day. When my daughters wished me with a lovely card they had made, it got me thinking. There are so many hard at work dads in the natural world [...]
Mysteries of a rainforest night
Nights in a rainforest are far from being a silent affair. The whole forest seems to come alive as the darkness sets in. While the day time performers of a musical symphony are the cicadas, [...]
Best of 2017 in pictures
Year 2017 saw a good variety of destinations for me. Starting off with birding in Goa and Bharatpur to Corbett, Kabini and Sundarbans followed by monsoon macro at Agumbe, Nilgiris, Valparai and Munnar. Finishing off [...]
Minimalism in nature photography
Minimalism is one of the interesting and powerful concepts or styles in photography, irrespective of the genre. 'Less is more' is a popular phrase which says: "that which is less complicated is better understood and [...]
Spiders – art of making the kill
Spiders (Order: Araneae, Class: Arachnida) are probably one of the more evolved group of arthropods. They have developed a highly diverse set of skills and strategies for hunting. Some stalk and run down their prey, while some [...]
Designers of the micro world
Patterns and designs are very much an integral part of things in nature. Even the most ornate of designs or patterns have a sense of reason for their existence. Be it a perfectly aligned 'V' pattern of the [...]
Ant mimic spider – A fight for the right to mate
Jumping spiders are very notorious, stealthy hunters and they have evolved some very effective mechanisms to protect themselves from predation. One such, is to mimic ants. Ant mimicry, or myrmecomorphy, is a phenomenon in which arthropods develop [...]
Vigors’s Sunbird
Made a visit to Amboli, in the last week of July, when what looked like the monsoon was at its peak. It was literally pouring cats and dogs. I had heard about the heavy rains [...]
Praying Mantis
My previous post was on one of the most powerful predators in the world of arthropods, the Jumping Spiders. This one is about another family of arthropods, that are as much, if not more, notorious [...]