3fotosAday

Monday, November 9, 2009

Jackals of Kala Dungar, Kutch

These are a set of pictures of an amazing daily event atop the hills of Kala Dungar at the edge of the Great Rann of Kutch. In a practise and ritual that has been going on since time immemorial, the temple authorities here feed the jackals of the hills here with rice sweetened with jaggery two times a day. I've just done an article for the November 2009 issue of Outlook Traveller

Check it up at
http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com/2009/11/day-of-jackals.html

Harjibhai who's job it is to feed the jackals, lays out the rice for them

Jackals feeding on their cement concrete dining table

Harjibhai and the jackals

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Edible Nest Swiftlet

This is a set of pictures related to the Edible Nest Swiftlet in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. This was a bird that the late Dr. Ravi Sankaran of SACON had worked on extensively. He was also attempting a new kind of effort to ensure the conservation of the bird whose nest is extremely highly valued in the international market. He unfortunately passed away earlier this year after suffering a massive heart attack.

For some of my writings on Ravi and his work on the edible nest swiftlet conservation program you can check the following links:
http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com/2009/11/on-edible-nest-swiftlet.html
http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-post.html
http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com/2009/02/protected-area-update-vol-xv-no-1.html

Challis Ek, Limestone caves, North Andaman Island. (July 2002)
Many cave complexes like these in the A&N islands are the nesting sites of the Edible Nest Swiftlet.

Nest of Edible Nest Swiftlet in the hand of a nest collector, Jarawa Creek, Baratang Island (1998)

Ravi with his project staff on the field site of Challis Ek, (2002)

Friday, November 6, 2009

Giant Robber Crabs

These are pictures taken more than a decade ago - in February 1998 during a visit to the small South Sentinel Island Wildlife Sanctuary which is part of the Andaman Group of islands. South Sentinel is only 1.6 sq. kms in area and is uninhabited by humans. The island is known to support a very good population of the Giant Robber Crabs; infact the island is the only one in the Andaman group that has any giant robber crabs at all. The beach on the island is also a very good nesting site for the Green Sea turtle. The island is said to have been badly hit by the earthquake and tsunami of December 2004 and not much is presently known of the status of all this wildlife here.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A&N Landscapes 2

Limestone caves, North Andaman Island, July 2002.
Caves like these are used by Edible Nest Swiftlets for nesting. For more details on the conservation issues of the swiftlet and the work of the late Dr. Ravi Sankaran for their protection please visit
http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com/2009/11/on-edible-nest-swiftlet.html

A view from the air: The water body is the reservoir of the Dhanikhari dam which is the main source of water for the town of Port Blair, June 2007

Great Nicobar Coast, February 2005

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Fauna of the A&N Islands - 1

Nicobari Crab Eating Macaque, South Bay, Great Nicobar Island, Feb. 2002
Only two islands in the Nicobars, Great Nicobar Island and Katchal have a population of these macaques. In Great Nicobar in particular, they had become a big problem for the horticulturists and farmers on account of crop damage that they caused

Giant Robber Crab, South Sentinel Wildlife Sanctuary, February 1998.
The Giant Robber Crab Birgus latro is among the largest and the most land dwelling of crab species. It is found in a number of Nicobar Islands and only the South Sentinel Island in the Andaman group. South Sentinel is a small 1.6 sq. kms un-inhabited island that is known to have a good population of these crabs