RV Matters - 8 July 2018

I had a new “student” in my class last Thursday, just three feet tall (long)! I was in Class 8B a few minutes before the afternoon class to make a few drawings on the board before the classes began. I was almost done when I saw the first students coming down the corridor - “Sir, Sir... There’s a snake!” I heard this and turned around to see something slithering in through the door and coming towards me. I just stepped behind, trying to see if the snake was a venomous species. It was, fortunately, a rat snake, three feet long, a juvenile and very active. It took over 25 minutes for Seetha akka to catch the snake and release it. By then the whole junior school was out, trying to come into the class to catch a glimpse of the snake. My colleagues had a tough time controlling the crowd while I was in the classroom, making sure the snake did not disappear into one of the lockers.

This morning I had a lovely individual of the Blue Mormon in my garden, as it fluttered about the lemon tree. I was hoping it would rest on a twig and allow a good look at it but it did not oblige. There are several individuals of this large (wingspan 120-150 mm) butterfly this year. It appears to be a seasonal visitor to our campus, seen mostly during the monsoon months. Do look out for it.

We had a unusually large turnout for bird-watching this morning – over 15 students and 7-8 adults! The view of the campus, as we went towards the sunrise point, was breath-takingly lush. We hoped to see the YTB (Yellow Throated Bulbul) – two lucky souls saw one bird while the others were happily chattering away! But there were other highlights – a large bird of prey (possibly the Black Eagle), male Baya weavers in their resplendent breeding plumage and dusky crag martin (Craig Martin or was it Martin Craig? according to some kids!) gave us good views. The balmy weather conditions with overcast skies, a light drizzle and cool breeze made this outing an enjoyable one.

Dr Santharam

RV Matters - 2 July 2018

Over the last week, I came across three dead snakes during my morning walks to the mouth of the Valley. Of these two were young Russell’s Vipers and one a Russell’s Viper look-alike – the Common or Rough-scaled Sand Boa. While the former is a venomous snake, the latter is a harmless snake.

There is a widespread fear and belief amongst many people that all snakes are harmful and should be killed without any hesitation. I have been regularly seeing many snakes killed and thrown on this road over the years by people.

We are trying to educate the local people about the importance of snakes in the ecosystem and also dispel their belief that all snakes are inherently harmful. A small illustrated booklet in Telugu/English is getting ready for release towards the month-end. It has been put together painstakingly by Suresh Jones and due to several reasons, it took us three years to bring it out. We hope with this publication, we could make a beginning in getting people to understand the snakes and hopefully will result in their survival. We may even follow-up this with a workshop and get an expert to talk to the villagers and demonstrate how to remove snakes without harming them from their houses.

Yesterday’s birding to the Biodiveristy Park was interesting and we could record several species of cuckoos – the Asian Koel, the Common Hawk-Cuckoo, the Pied Cuckoo (a migrant from southern Africa that rides the monsoon winds to migrate to India to breed), the Grey-bellied Cuckoo, the Greater Coucal and the Sirkeer Malkoha were all there. Earlier this summer, I had recorded the Indian Cuckoo whose distinct call-notes sound like “Crossword puzzle” or “boko-tako” for the first time in the campus. The calls were heard for just 2-3 days.

The flocks of butterflies have moved on. We saw our first velvet bugs for the season as well as the seven-spotted cockroach yesterday. With the monsoon active, we could expect to see several other monsoon creatures over the next few weeks.

Dr Santharam

RV Matters - 25 June 2018

For those of you on campus who care about wildlife, this is a great opportunity to observe the large gatherings of butterflies – mainly 2-3 species Blue Tigers and Crows. Early morning is a good time and one of the places to observe is at the entrance of the Asthachal where 5-600 butterflies can be seen flying under the canopy or perched on the branches. This perhaps is a part of the migrating flock, a phenomenon that occurs at the onset of the southwest monsoon every year. This congregation may not last long and so if you really want to see them, do so over the next few days.

There is, surprisingly, some water in the Percolation Tank and apart from the Pond Herons, we came across a pair of Dabchicks and a Little Cormorant this morning during our birdwatching session. Baya weavers are nesting on the Acacia trees and there is a red-wattled lapwing on the shores. Redrumped Swallows were gathering mud pellets to line their nests.

But one distressing thing that I noticed was the profusion of Parthenium along the path on the bund. Also I was distressed to see remnants of a picnic – plastic-coated plates, glasses and other nonbiodegradable stuff left lying along the bund as one enters from the Veg. garden side. We had, some years ago, erected a barricade to prevent cyclists and those on motorbikes from using the path but that is now fallen apart and we need to put up a fresh barriacde.

Dr Santharam