Archive for the 'Birds' Category
Flamingoes in Mumbai – December 2009
Author: Binoy Gupta
After the monsoons, Flamingoes – the lesser and the greater ones – and a lot of other migratory birds come to the coastal mudflats of India from the North.They feed on the mudflats during the next five or six months and return to their homelands in April or so.
They also come to Sewree in Central Mumbai in large numbers. Read the rest of this entry »
read comments (0)Travel India Saving the Mangroves of Mumbai
Author: Binoy Gupta
Once upon a time, Bombay (Mumbai) had vast areas of mangrove forests.
Over the years, most of these were cut down.
And the Maharashtra Government and its impotent officials remained mute spectators.
Bombay High Court to the rescue
Travel India Flamingoes of Mumbai
Author: Binoy Gupta
When I was about 9 or 10 years old (well, 
that was a good five and a half decades ago),
I first read about the Flamingo in Lewis Carroll’s
wonderful book – Alice in Wonderland.
So strange was the depiction that I thought the Flamingo was an imaginary bird.
Flamingoes are truly strange looking birds.
And they feed in a peculiar fashion.
They immerse their entire heads in the mud in the bottom of the water – upside down.
Description
There are six species of flamingoes in the world.
Of these, only two species – the Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) and the Lesser Flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor) are found in India.
Travel India Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary
Author: Binoy Gupta
the largest mass nesting site of 
Olive Ridley turtle
in the world
Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is the only marine sanctuary in Orissa (Eastern India).
This Sanctuary is extremely important because it is the largest mass nesting site of the Olive Ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) in the world.
There are only four mass nesting sites of the Olive Ridley turtles in the world.
Of these four, the ‘Playa Ostional’ is in Ostional village in Costa Rica.
The other three are in Orissa.
Mass Nesting Sites in Orissa
The three mass nesting sites of the Olive Ridley turtles in Orissa are: Read the rest of this entry »
Travel India Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary
Author: Binoy Gupta
Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary
The Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Thane district.
It is 90 kms, or one and a half hours drive, from Mumbai.
It covers an area of 355 sq. kms. – more than three times the size of the 103 sq. kms. Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
Yet, according to census reports, Sanjay Gandhi National Park had 20 Indian Leopards in 2007.
Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary had seven leopards in 2005. The number fell to five in 2006, and to two in 2007.
The number has dropped to one in 2008.
And this is a cause for serious concern amongst all environmentalists and lovers of wild life.
Travel India The Great Indian Bustard
Author: Binoy Gupta
extinction
In fact, it is the most endangered member of the bustard family in the world;
and has disappeared from almost 90 per cent of its former habitat.
The total population of the Great Indian Bustard is estimated to be around 700.
You can see the Great Indian Bustard in the Desert National Park (Rajasthan) and in the Lala-Parjau Sanctuary in western Kutch (Gujarat).
Travel India Kanha National Park
Author: Binoy Gupta
Backdrop of Rudyard Kipling’s
Jungle Book
You can imagine the beauty and fascination of Kanha National Park by the fact that Kanha National Park was the backdrop of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Jungle Book’.
Today, Kanha National Park is one of India’s largest and finest National Park and Tiger Reserve located in Madhya Pradesh, India.In the 1930s, Kanha was divided into two sanctuaries, Hallon and Banjar, of 250 and 300 sq. kms each.Kanha National Park was created on 1 June 1955.Today, it covers an area of 940 sq. kms in the two districts of Mandla and Balaghat.
Together with a surrounding buffer zone of 1009 sq. kms, and the neighboring 110 sq. kms Phen Sanctuary, it forms the Kanha Tiger Reserve.
Travel India Jaisalmer
Author: Binoy Gupta
The Golden City
Where would you go if you wanted to see sand, desert and sand dunes in India?
It is crowned by a fort, which contains the palace buildings and beautiful Jain temples.
Many of the houses and temples are beautifully sculpted.
History
According to legend, Lord Krishna told Arjuna that a remote descendent of the Yadav clan would build his kingdom on top of Trikuta Hill.
Travel India Point Calimere
Author: Binoy Gupta
Unique Wildlife Sanctuary
According to the Ramayana, Lord Ram himself stood at this point and carried out reconnaissance of Ravana’s kingdom in Sri Lanka just 48 kms. away.
A stone slab at Ramarpatham (meaning Rama’s feet), the highest point of Point Calimere, bears the foot prints of Ram.
Now it is a unique wildlife and bird sanctuary.
Travel India – Pichavaram
Author: Binoy Gupta
Second largest Mangrove forest in the world
Almost two and a half decades ago, when I was working in Chennai, I first heard of the Mangrove Forests of Pichavaram – 14 kms. from Chidambaram.
I did not really know what Mangrove forests were and what Pichavaram was like.
I requested my friends to organize a visit.
After my visit, I wrote about Pichavaram in the Swagat (inflight magazine of Indian Airlines) and a number of other magazines.
To this extent, I take credit for increasing its popularity.
Since then, I have visited Pichavaram several times.
My last visit was a few months after the Tsunami of 2004.
Pichavaram is a unique success story. Read the rest of this entry »