Nannaj (The Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary)

Nannaj

The Romantic couple

The Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary


Nannaj is a village in solapur district of Maharastra, India. The land of Nannaj is semi-arid and drought prone.The climate of this region is very hot summer,dry and mild winter.The forest in this reason is thorn forest and dry grass lands.Rainfall to Nannaj is very less.

Nannaj is famous for wildlife sanctuary and especially for Great Indian Bustards(Ardeotis nigriceps). Hence it is called as Great indian Bustard Scantuary,and it is named as Jawaharlal Nehru Bustard Sanctuary in 1979.Great Indian Bustard in Nannaj was first noticed by MR.B.S.Kulkarni in 1972.Its because of Mr.Kulkarni's extensive efforts to save this endangered species, Dr. Salim Ali visited Nannaj and started research on this project. Great Indian Bustards(GIB) are locally called as Maldhok and it is a endangered big bird.The natural habitant of Great Indian Bustard is short grass plains.GIBs prefere open grass lands.

Here is an account of our trip to Nannaj

After a rainy day I visited Nannaj along with few bird enthusiasts to the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary.Prior permission to visit this place is must.I spoke with few wild-life research students in the guest house premises and found that one group was doing research on Wolves  and another group was doing research on Blackbucks .A girl in the Wolves research team  explained very clearly about the nature of Wolves. My conversation with the group went on and now it was time for us to see Queen of the Grasslands. we took a guide inside the sanctuary as he is familiar with the surroundings .He asked us to enter into a closed mud hut to watch the GIBs, as the Great Indian Bustards are shy in nature.

The mud hut

We found a  herd of Blackbucks, pack of wolves, pack of Dogs ,after much await we found the Queen of the grassland flying towards us and landed away.To my surprise, I found the GIB to be much larger than what I had imagined .We spotted around 8 Great Indian Bustards.They were there for a period of an hour and then flew off to another grass land on the opposite side.We were still there in the hut to see more GIBs. During this time we saw a pack of Dogs hunting Blackbucks. And on the other side of the land we found a herd of wolves in a playful mood.

The time when I visited Nannaj, the forest department had cleared all the big trees over a huge area of land to make the grass land GIB friendly and to grow the Great Indian Bustard's population.

Dry Grassland

It was a pleasure to the eyes to see Blackbucks playing and jumping on each other along with Great Indian Bustards in the beautiful grass lands.

Great Indian Bustard and Blackbuck

School children from the local school visited the Sanctuary on the same day and tried spotting birds with one of our friends Spotting scope.

These are the list of species of Birds we saw in Nannaj

1.Red -Wattled Lapwing, Yellow-Wattled Lapwing.

2.Chestnut Bellied Sandgrouse

3.Sykes-Lark

4.Indian Courser

5.Jungle Babbler

6.Jungle Bush Quail

7.Red Necked falcon
8.Short Toed Snake Eagle
9.Eurasian Collared Dove
10.Common Hawk Cuckoo
11.Indian Robin
12.Munias
13.Francolins
13.Spotted Owlet
14.Raptors
15.Indian Silver Bill
16.Pipits
17.Pied Bush Chat
18.House Sparrow
19.Indian Peafowl,Peacock
20.Baya Weavers
21.Small Minivets
22.Black Shouldered Kite
23.Common,Jungle  Myna
24.Jungle,House Crow


Apart from this we also spotted few garden Lizards(which are food for Great Indian Bustards),Red mites and etc..........

Coming to Accommodation one can stay at Forest department guest house which is preferable or can stay at Solapur hotels.The distance from Solapur to Nannaj is approximately 22 kms and the travel time is approximately 30mins.

Muthathi

Muthathi is a settlement situtated on the banks of the river Kaveri near Malavalli, Karnataka, India.

Muthathi is 100Kms from Bangalore.The route is as follows : Bangalore>kanakapura road>Sathanur>Muthathi Anjaneya Swami temple>Muthathi village.

Muthathi is associated with Hindu diety Lord Hanuman called here as Hanumantharaya and Goddess Sita devi .River Kaveri flows along this area, Muthathi is coverd with dense and lush green forests,and comes under the Kaveri Wildlife Sanctuary.You will be excited to see yourself driving in the middle of the forest.

Muthathi is also a good place for Bird Watching.

Swimming at kaveri river is dangerous,its because of whirlpools and strong currents.

Preferred transportation to this place is one's own vehicle or a taxi,its beacuse the bus service to this place is not very regular.

Here is how our day trip to Muthathi went

We reached Muthathi and visted the temple of Lord Hanuman. The view from temple premises is beautiful,we found a small trace of water falls from temple premises.As the temple is in the middle of the forest and there were plenty of trees around the temple,we saw monkeys and aslo a Rufous treepie.

Then we headed back to Muthathi village. To our surprise the place was  totally flooded. people came there in lorry and cars. And the entrance where we find the river was not so clean it is filled totally with feathers of birds,legs,hands and head of goats, yaaaaaak its totally horrible. We went  a bit further to see a clean spot and after our 15min travel we found totally a good place and it was very clean,calm,and beautiful,and importantly nobody was there.

We settled there with all our packages and enjoyed Swimming, birding .We spotted few water birds, bees, butterflies,Wagtails,Cormorants, big fish ,Asian Paradise flycatchers, Orioles, Leaf birds,Monkeys,White cheeked BulBuls ,and more.

Asian Paradise Fly-catcher.

Wagtail

Yellow browed BulBul

Can you spot it. if so leave a comment with the name of this beauty.

We had packed our food from home and enjoyed having lunch beside the river bed.There are no hotels here.

Apart from cleanliness in the entrance of the village everything is nice here.You will feel yourself totally recharged in the middle of the lush green forest everywhere, a calm sky and serene water all around with the calls of birds makes this place even more beautiful.

I captured the calmness of nature in my Cam.

Pied Bushchat

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Butterflies

Fish inside the water

Other Places you can viist after visiting Muthathi are Soligeri hill, Bheemeshwari or Cauvery fishing Camp, Mekedhatu, Sangama ,Galibore fishing camp and Chunchi falls.

Mekedhatu( I call it as Rocky land)

HTC Wildfire

HTC Wildfire is an Android based, entry-level smartphone from HTC
A good handset worth its price.

Specification of HTC Wildfire are

It has CPU Speed of 528MHZ and the platform in which it is built is Android,
The memory of HTC Wildfire is 512 MB ROM and 384 MB RAM,
The display size of Wildire is  8.13cm along with touch sensitive screen, (capacitive)
The dimensions are 10.67 cm (L) x 6.04 cm.(W) x 1.22cm.(T).
IT comes with internal GPS antenna.

Network specifications are:

HSDPA/WCDMA (900/2100 MHz)
GSM/GPRS/EDGE (8050/900/1800/1900 MHz)
Bluetooth 2.1,A2DP,FTP,OPP, and PBAP
Wi-Fi. IEEE 802.11 b/g

Other specifications of HTC Wildfire are

1.Stereo audio jack is 0.35cm
2.It has standard micro-USB.
3.5 megapixel color camera with auto focus and flash and
4. expansion slot (microSD card)
5.Optical track pad
6.Given a charger it also works as a data cable.


Highlights of HTC Wildfire are

It has polite ringtone, it means some phones ring and ring and ring! with HTC Wildfire the ringer volume drops as soon as you pick the phone.

The Stated MRP of HTC Wildfire is Rs.17,490. And I bought it from Flipkart for just 10k.

Samsung phones in the same range dont have flash while HTC Wildfire has flash.

Optical track pad in HTC Wildfire is very useful to navigate up-down-side. And to take a picture from camera you can use this OTP.

Wildfire runs on Android version of 2.2

HP Pavilion G6-1313AX

 HP Pavilion G6-1313AX

Specifications:

Processor-AMD APU Quad Core A6

RAM-4Gb DDR3 RAM

Screen-15.6 Inch.

500 GB Hard drive 

Operating system-Windows 7 Home Basic.

This is a wonderful budjet budget notebook from HP . Carrying this is quite easy as it weighs 2.3kgs. Coming to the looks it has a good look

The dimensions of HP Pavilion G6 is 374 x 245 x36.5 mm 

It has 15.6 inch high-definition bright view LED backlit screen . And the maximum screen resolution is 1366 x 768 pixels.The keyboard is very well laid out.

The biggest advantage of this laptop is that you get a quad core processor from AMD for the same price of an Intel i3 processor which is a dual core processor. Another major advantage is that the A6 processor has an AMD ATI Radeon HD 6520G graphic processor which has 1Gb graphics card in which the processor and graphics card share the same physical space  but operate independently. In an Intel processor, the Graphics processor is integrated but is not dedicated like the AMD A6. It improves life of battery and the laptop. Plus,  the AMD A6 has turbo boost which means it runs slowly normally, when it needs to operate more powerfully/faster its turbo boosts upto 2.4 GHz and it is more for any program to run. 

A better web cam would have been preferred as it now has 0.3 mega pixel which is not satisfactory. Given the price and the other features it is a good compromise. Coming to the battery backup it has 6 cells and the maximum battery backup is 3hrs.HDMI port is in the laptop not in the AMD processor.


Windows Experience rating Index

The individual scores are

Processor: 6.7
Memory(RAM):5.9
Graphics:4.6
Gaming graphics:6.1
Primary hard disk:5.9

If you use Windows Aero, the overall rating of the Laptop is 4.6;

AMD System Monitor

I purchased this laptop from http://www.flipkart.com/

Kerala - God's Own country

Kerala
It is one of the most beautiful places in South India and is also know as God's own country.My friend recently visited Kerala and here are her words about Kerala

                                                   
                                                                 
We enjoyed the beauty of Kerala in all its glory  - from the lush rainforests of Thekkady to the rolling green hills of Munnar. In Kerala we also enjoyed a cruise on the backwaters ,and had a stroll around in the tea plantations to enjoy the bounties of nature in abundance.

Kerala is one of the most enchanting and romantic hill stations of South India. The natural beauty of Kerala attracts thousands of visitors round the year. An exquisite combination of hills, rivers, lakes, dams, flora and fauna makes it an exotic and vibrant hill station within the Western Ghats. One of the most prominent feature which adds to Kerala’s beauty is the vast expanse of tea plantations spread across thousands of acres.The cool weather and the silence in nature makes Kerala a honeymooners paradise.


Kerala's backwaters are a bewildering labyrinth of waterways, lakes, rivers,streams and salty seawater.

Romantic Munnar

Munnar is one of the most favored honeymoon destinations in India. Its cool climate, fresh environment and green waved tea carpeted mountains are the perfect setting for a great holiday.Today most parts of Munnar are carpeted with the breath taking greenery of tea plantations. Before, it was home to tribal communities and many species of wild animals.

Munnar Tea plantations

Eravikulam National Park

Adventures at Thekkady

Thekkady's forests are home to tigers, elephants, sambar and many other endangered species.  The artificial reservoir is part of the Mullaperiyar dam across the river Periyar. Boating in the reservoir gives a chance to see the wild animals in close range which comes to the banks of the reservoir to drink water. adventure activities like trekking, hiking and camping. Being a place where a lot of tourists visit, there are cultural programs conducted in Thekkady, mainly performing arts like the kathakali.

Elephant ride

Cultural shows

So, what are you waiting for? Just pack your bags and head towards this lovely land!

Google+ and Youtube

Google+ is now integrating with one more new Google service and it is Youtube this time.

As you all know Youtube is filled with tons of content from across the world - it may be music,lectures,amazing videos, etc...

As I saw my Google+ today, I found a new feature added to the top right corner in a square box. When you move your pointer, the YouTube logo will slide out asking "What would you like to Play?". You can type the music name or a song it will open in a new tab and give you the related search. A new playlist of video resulting from your search will automatically be populated.

Screen shot of YouTube play button

BARBET - THE KUTROO.... kUTROO.... BIRD.

One can find these many varieties of Barbets in India, namely

COPPER SMITH BARBET(Megalaima haemacephala).

WHITE CHEEKED BARBET(Megalaima viridia).

BROWN HEADED BARBET (Megalaima Zeylanica). 

CRIMSON THROATED BARBET(Megalaima bricapillus).

BLUE THROATED BARBET (Megalaima asiatica).

LINEATED BARBET (Megalaima lineata).

GREAT BARBET (Megalaima virens).

Crimson Throated Barbet
Anashi

Barbets are arboreal birds .Barbets have a leafy green coloured body with a rough plumage, having moustaches at the base of the beak, large head when compared to the rest of the body. They have a short curved beak, short and strong legs,wings are curved in shape. Sexes are alike among Barbets. Barbets are generally found in lush green areas or the area covered with more trees. I saw Copper Smith Barbet near my home and saw this in different places of Bangalore and more in Nandi hills. One can recognise a barbet's call very easily because of  its unique and loud call,  which is heard as two different calls like Kutrr. Kutroo...Kutrooo and Kut..knt...knt......

Copper Smith Barbet in Love
Mudumalai

According to Salim Ali the types of Barbets are

COPPER SMITH BARBETS found in - Dry and moist deciduous biotope. Subcontinent & Sri lanka. 

CRIMSON THROATED BARBET found in  Evergreen frest up to c.1200m Western Ghats complex from Goa south to Kerala and W.Tamil Nadu.

WHITE CHEEKED BARBET found in Evergreen and moist -deciduous forest,gardens and groves. Western Ghats complexes from River Narmada south through Kerala; Shevaroy and Chitteri hills.

BLUE THROATED BARBET found in Light deciduous and evergreen forest and groves. Lower Himalayas up to c.2000.m, from Rawalpindi and Kashmir east to Arunachal Pradesh;  South of  Maniour, Chittagong and Calcutta.

BROWN HEADED BARBET  found in well wooded moist and dry deciduous country, often entering gardens within city limits, Subcontinent; Sri Lanka.

LINEATED BARBET found in moist deciduous and light secondary forest, and gardens. Lower Himalayas up to c.1000 m, from Dehra Dun east through Arunachal Pradesh; NE. Hill states; Bangaladesh; N.Orissa.

GREATER BARBET found in Subtropical evergreen and moist temperature forest, c. 1000-3000m. Himalayas; NE. hill states; Bangladesh (Chittagong region).

White Cheeked Barbet
Theppakadu

For futher details please go through 

THE BOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS by Salim Ali.

Both male and female Barbets take care of their incubation, nesting and feeding of the young ones.They mostly roost in the holes of the trees.At a time they can lay three to four eggs.

In ANASHI I found Crimson Throated Barbets feeding on Fig & Peepal tree near the forest guest house. Most of the barbets I saw were feeding on fruiting trees. One is blessed to hear the cacophony of a group of barbets. 

Copper Smith Barbet is a bit larger than a Sparrow and smaller than Myna, it is grass green in color with crimson breast and forehead.with yellow throat and and green streaked yellowish underparts.

Crimson Throated Barbet is a bit larger than a Sparrow and smaller than Myna, it is  grass green in color with crimson fore crown, forehead, chin, throat and upper breast, crimson patch below eye and on cheek, the latter streaked blackish.

White Cheeked Barbet  is grass green in color with white cheek stripe and with white naked eye patch black,breast  streaked with brown and with white chin and throat and is about the size of a Myna. 

Blue Throated Barbet is about the size of a  Myna and it is  grass green in color with crimson crown and fore head,sides of head, chin, throat and fore neck are pale blue in color and it has a transverse black band above the eye, crimson spot on the each side of the neck and at the base of the bill.

Brown Headed Barbet is about the size of a Myna and  it is grass green in color with head, neck,and breast brown streaked with white. Very clear orange bare patch around eye extended to the bill.

Linesated Barbet is about the size of a Myna and it is similar to Large Green Barbet and it has a small yellow eye patch and doesn't extend to nape and it is broadly streaked.

Great Barbet is about the size of a Myna and it is brightly coloured yellow bill with bristles at base  and it has maroon crown with violet blue , black head and bright scarlet patch under tail.

Your comments and suggestions on this post are welcome.