A New Video & My Drummer Boy

This post is very different from my usual ones. My younger son is a drummer and plays for quite a few bands. This video with the band M-Sonic released yesterday. The video shoot was done last month just after Nishant, my son, recovered from corn surgery on both feet.

The singer/guitarist is Mainak, a very talented person is the main force behind the band, M-Sonic. He's very well-known in our region. The bass is played by Simanta. My son is away in Delhi studying at a college there. He turned 18 on the 29th of July. I hope you enjoy watching this video. It's a joy to share this with my blog friends from across the globe!

Nature Notes/ Common Picture Wing Dragonfly

 After weeks of high heat we've been blessed by rain. Not torrents of it but enough to wet the parched garden soil and leave those precious pretty droplets on the edge of leaves. And here's what I found this morning. A Common Picture Wing dragonfly/ Rhyothemis variegata resting on a leaf of the Orange Jasmine.

I had seen this dragonfly before but it was always at a great height so a close shot was impossible. Today it was at eye level and I went down on bended knees to take this shot.:)

Here's the last shot before it flew away. This dragonfly is also known as the Variable Glider and from a distance it looks like a butterfly. More of black on the wings indicate that it is a female. The male has fewer black markings on its wings. I found a site with a picture of a male here.

To see what's happening in the world of nature, visit Michelle at Nature Notes.

Nature Notes/ A Trip To Shillong

Golden-flowered Dendrobium/Dendrobium Chrysanthum

Although I was away from blogdom, the camera never left my side. And I'm glad I can share these pictures today. Usually I post about my immediate surroundings, the flowers that I grow, and the winged visitors that I get in abundance. But today it's all about visiting a cooler place, Shillong, where the summer temperatures vary between 24 and 27 degrees Celsius and the flowers that wouldn't thrive in our humidity flourish there. The above photo was taken outside the Don Bosco museum.

 This variety of lily grows in the wild. And all along the road I saw several clumps.

 The restaurant that we went to had new plantings of this variety of impatiens. It could be Impatiens pulcherrima/Handsome flowered Balsam.

Lush hanging plants adorned several baskets all along the entrance path.

Stone seats were placed next to a waterfall which also had an angler placed on a vantage point.

For men may come and men may go, but I fish on for ever.....

 Dry ingredients were attractively displayed. Those leaves are Indian bayleaves known in India as Tejpatta. Unlike the Mediterranean bay leaf, this one has more of a cinnamon flavour. More dried display can be seen in the photo below.

 Post lunch we headed to the Elephant Falls, another must-see spot in Shillong. The light was fading so the moss on the tree that I captured (below) doesn't show up that well.

Part of the city of Shillong as seen from Shillong Peak

Our last stop for the day was Shillong Peak, the highest point in Shillong. Although we've been there several times, travelling with children ( my sister's) makes every trip a wonderfully new experience. Once the photos were taken, we huddled back to the warmth of the car. It'd rained in the afternoon and the peak was windy. And we are certainly not used to sudden cold!! But that was also the fun part...to experience weather so different from ours, to tighten the shawl/cardigan around our chests and experience a sudden gust of winter in the middle of summer. An experience most likely to be repeated next year!!

To see other participants' posts, visit Michelle at Rambling Woods.

Winged Beauties for Nature Notes

The first insect that greeted me this morning was this stunning red dragonfly. This Fulvous Forest Skimmer is a common sight particularly in this season.

It had raining for the past week and I'm hoping to see more dragonflies in our area. Below is another dragonfly I hadn't photographed before.

A Grass Yellow on a gaillardia. The few blooms that I have are still attracting a fair number of butterflies. Below is a Lime butterfly. The Lime butterfly is said to be one of the most common and widely distributed swallowtails around the world. My current header picture is of the same kind of butterfly.

Lime butterfly/Papilio demoleus

The other day I saw a small winged insect on the wall. Thinking that it was a skipper, I took a series of shots with my phone camera. It was late afternoon and the light wasn't good. Imagine my surprise when I saw these colours jump at me on the computer screen later! I come across a lot of moths every year but this one is by far the most colourful that I have photographed in the vicinity of my house. The top right picture in the collage shows the moth with wings closed. Well, who'd have thought....?


For more posts in the fascinating world of nature, visit Michelle at Rambling Woods.

Nature Notes/Dragonflies

 Although I photograph a whole lot of dragonflies every summer, I have never seen or photographed dragonfly exuvia. Below is the photo that I clicked yesterday. At first glance I thought it was an insect I hadn't seen before. It was only after I compared Google images that I knew it was dragonfly exuvia. It was on the underside of an anthurium leaf.

And here's what I found a few days ago on one of my plants. The blue/green combination of colours was most striking.

And a similar one that I found this morning on my cucumber trellis. i couldn't capture that iridescence in today's cloudy rainy weather.


For more posts in the world of nature, visit the home of Nature Notes.

Backyard Birds For WBW

 

Continuing with my series of regular backyard birds, the first is the picture of a kingfisher perched on the top of my terrace. 

The Spotted Doves spend a lot of time amid my plants. Here's one foraging amid my small patch of ginger while the other looks on. They are usually seen in pairs.

The Common Indian Myna was busy pecking at some of the ripening berries on this tree while a pair of White-breasted water hens were taking a leisurely walk.

And this purple sunbird  was feeding amid the lilies growing wild near the roadside.

To see more of our feathered friends, visit World Bird Wednesday.

Nature Notes/More Winged Visitors

I'd never given the blooms of this yellow vein eranthemum much thought. The foliage being showy, gets all the attention. This flowering shrub does well in a sunny location. It's the third year that it's blooming and it's only recently I noticed the steady stream, or should I say wings:) of visitors? A blue-eyed bee paid a quick visit this afternoon. So did the other two butterflies pictured below. All along it's been the pentas that's attracting the most number of winged visitors. But I'm glad these small speckled blooms are doing their fair share.

Can you spot the tiny skipper?

Feeding time for the Grass Yellow

I usually see a lizard or two lying in wait for their prey amid the leaves and the blooms. In my small garden this plant attracts the most varied wildlife (including the sunbirds) and it's always such a joy to photograph them all. 

 

The next two pictures show the bees that come regularly.

In last week's post, I had posted a picture of the Peacock Pansy butterfly. This afternoon I found a Lemon Pansy resting on one of the bamboo stakes in the blue salvia patch. 

Another zinnia blooms and a tiny green spider finds its home!!


To see more posts by other participants, visit the home of Nature Notes at Rambling Woods.