The Look Of The Season

 

As I was passing through one particular area in our city, I saw a cattle egret in its breeding colours. 

And Mr. Lizard, resplendent in orange, nearly knocked himself out on the window pane. No doubt he must have been startled to see a look-alike but he moved on. Then he scurried up this bush, looking less orange, less striking, but still good-looking!

There are a lot of mating pairs I see as I walk around my yard. Here's a pair of Handmaiden moths/Amata cyssea. I looked up online and found out that these are day flying members of the Arctiidae or Tiger moth family. They mimic wasps in their body and coloration. Even for a predator who does not get deterred by wasps, the occasional bright body colours usually advertise a bad taste, so Handmaidens flourish.

Handmaiden moths

And the pair of red-vented bulbuls are a joy to watch. All these pictures were taken from my balcony. The pair was on my neighbour's coconut tree.

Red-vented bulbuls

A pair of Spotted Doves

The Spotted doves usually come to the terrace where they like to forage amid my potted plants. Must be rich in insects, my potted area. I'm happy to say that they are letting me go closer, and they don't fly off at the slightest movement from me.

Preen away....

I came across this long-legged insect on a jasmine leaf. Those legs were something! As luck would have it a few days later this is what I discovered....a mating pair on the hydrangea leaf.

A lot is happening around me in the world of nature. The last picture shows a tiny moth resting on a zinnia petal.

I hope all my blog friends have a wonderful weekend! 
                                         Happy Easter!

Pollinators On My Berry Tree

Now that my Indian Blackberry/Syzygium cumini tree is blooming, I'm keeping track of all the pollinators that come to the blossoms. Here's a skipper. There's a bee in the photo below.

The Common Crow butterfly came to feed yesterday, rather late in the afternoon.

A Peacock Pansy butterfly and a hoverfly (maybe) in the background.

I couldn't get a better picture of a Grass Yellow butterfly busy feeding.

Among all the pollinators, the bees are the largest in number. Some are larger  than the one in this picture.


I'm linking up to Nature Notes.

A Wagtail & Other Birds

The photo of this white wagtail was taken a few months ago when the weather was cooler. We had stopped at a wayside eatery with a pond and some construction work going on. It was the first time I saw a wagtail.

The other day as I was photographing the insects on my berry tree, this face came into view. The Brown Shrike sat on the wires next to the tree oblivious of me or my camera. I'm glad I got a good view of its curved beak (below).

Another bird that I see on a daily basis foraging on my yard is the white-breasted water hen. These birds usually forage in pairs and are very vocal particularly at dawn and at sundown. It's mainly black and white but the rump is chestnut brown.

To see more birds, head over to http://pineriverreview.blogspot.in/

Nature Notes/More Bird & Insect Activity

There was a lot of twittering in my neighbourhood this morning. It was a pair of red-vented bulbuls flying to and fro from the coconut tree to the star fruit tree. I got a good view from my upstairs balcony and quickly got these pictures.

Don't you love that crest? Although my reference book on birds say that both sexes look alike, there's no mention that the female is slightly smaller. But I guessed this must be the female. The female of the pair that had nested in one of my small trees about four years ago looked like this one.

Although the male had bits and pieces of nesting material on its beak, I don't think a nest will be built on any of the trees that I had mentioned.

When I went to check some time later it was all quiet and there was no sign of the pair.

The few zinnias that I planted are attracting plenty of insects. I didn't notice the tiny spider till I had loaded the photos in the computer.

After several months, it's a welcome sight to see one of the ringed butterflies resting on a (gerbera daisy) leaf.

Hoverflies on a calendula and below is a Plain Tiger butterfly feeding on coreopsis.

It's a good feeling to know (when I'm inside the house) that there's always some beautiful insect or bird waiting to be seen, admired, and photographed. 


To see other participants' posts, click here.

The Tailor Bird for WBW

A tiny bird that's sure to make its presence known is the tailorbird. It's hard to photograph them since they are constantly on the move and love to hop between the tangled branches of trees. But this morning I was happy to see one on the Areca palm, happy that there were no branches obstructing the view. See the lovely olive green on its back. The bird has a pale chest and black patches on the neck. The tail is long and the legs are pinkish in colour.

The tailor bird gets its name from the nests they make. The edges of large leaves are 'sewn' together with plant fibre or spider silk to make a cradle in which the actual nest is built. Their diet consists of insects, berries, and nectar.

Between the thorny branches of the Indian jujube tree

To see more of our feathered friends, head over to 

http://pineriverreview.blogspot.in/ . I hope everyone's week is going great!

Nature Notes/Around My Yard

Now with the warmer weather and the hint of rain, there's plenty happening by way of garden wildlife. Every time I step out of the house, there are  birds, spiders, lizards, bees and butterflies drawing my attention. I usually see the garden lizards outside but sometimes they land on the wash-basin in the guest bathroom and find it difficult to get out.

This one nearly barked at me to hurry up. So I got a pair of tongs, lifted it, went to my terrace garden and placed it on the Cardboard Palm/Zamia furfuracea (first picture). I got a most disapproving look for my efforts and it quickly jumped to the thorny branch of the bougainvillea.

After a little game of "Now you see me, now you don't", I left it to return to my chores.

An itsy-bitsy spider

...and its prey

With the rains we get to see several colourful damselflies but I was happy to photograph the first damselfly of the year. It's the most common one in our area, black with yellow stripes near the head.

The few poppies that I am growing next to some phlox are attracting several bees. The yellow allamanda as well as the nasturtiums are attracting a few butterflies as well.

Caterpillar Update

The swallowtail caterpillar that I had posted last week now looks like this! Egged on (pun intended) by the sight of these butterflies-in-the-making, I stopped by a nursery today for a few more lemon plants. Imagine my delight when I saw that one of the plants I bought had five of these caterpillars. It remains to be seen how many of them make it to the butterfly stage. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

To see what's happening in the world of nature, head over to Rambling Woods where many bloggers share pictures and posts on Nature Notes.

 

Sparrows

Scatter a handful of grain and the sparrows are the first to arrive. Sparrows and crows are the only birds that we see (in our backyards) in flocks unlike the others who are seen in pairs or alone. Today's papers carried articles about the decline in the population of the sparrow. I did look up online about World Sparrow Day. It's disturbing to read about the decline of the sparrow population in several parts of the world.

The tender branches of a young mango tree is a favourite perch.

I'm glad to say that nearly all the trees and shrubs in our area has a few or several sparrows sitting on them at some point of the day. These are the images that I see every time I look out or step out of the house. And I hope it remains so for a long, long time.


To see more of our feathered friends visit Springman at http://pineriverreview.blogspot.in/