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The marvelous pictures of amphibians, reptiles, bi

The marvelous pictures of amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and even other taxa make wildlife as a field really attractive to people. While these pictures might not represent how hard it was to get those pictures, and in general about the field conditions that one might have faced. Field conditions change rapidly across landscapes or biomes (going from forest to grassland and even tundra); here, staying for prolonged time means being exposed to harsher climatic conditions, hard terrain, and other problems, including venomous creatures and even large-bodied apex predators. Overall, though aesthetics of landscapes or crystal clear macrophotos of amphibians or reptiles might make you visit these areas, understanding the potential problems that one might be exposed to should be taken into account in order to maximize the output from the system you are in currently and look for possible dangers out there.

Did you know that increased stress levels from unc

Did you know that increased stress levels from unchecked tourism can have a direct effect on the reproduction and fitness of tigers? Read the post to understand exactly how flagship-centric rampant tourism is becoming a problem for tigers, and even a bigger one for the geographically isolated population of tigers in similipal tiger reserve. Have you ever been to a reserve and encountered the common notion of just chasing after the tiger itself and leaving behind a plethora of diversity? Read the research behind this post:
1.Physiological stress responses of tigers due to anthropogenic disturbance especially tourism in two central Indian tiger reserves.(https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coz045)(Authors : Govindswamy Umapathy, Abhinav Tyagi, Vinod Kumar et al., 2019) 2.Glucocorticoid Stress Responses of Reintroduced Tigers in Relation to
Anthropogenic Disturbance in Sariska Tiger Reserve in India.(https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127626 )(Authors: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee and Manjari Malviya et al., 2015) 3.High frequency of an otherwise rare phenotype in a small and isolated tiger population(https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2025273118 )(Authors : Vinay Sagar and Uma Ramakrishnan et al., 2019)

3 years of learning, furnishing, practicing new sk

3 years of learning, furnishing, practicing new skill sets, and polishing the ones I had. Pune has been a blessing to me; the people, the nature around me, and the culture are what developed me into who I am currently.

1. Photos start with me participating for the first time in the campus bird count at our college, getting a chance to meet like-minded people such as Avishkar Munje and Siddhant Mhetre. 2. Then slowly building a nature club in the college with Avishkar and conducting wildlife-related activities in a more structured way. In the second photo, you can see the crazy response we got from our next campus bird count in 2023, where we stood first all over India in terms of the checklist made among all other colleges. Then 3 and 4 are the glimpses from Wildlife Week, where in the 3rd I am giving a talk on ethics in wildlife photography and its application in conservation, and in the 4th photo I co-led a street play on the topic of human-animal conflict with Iswari and Disha. 5, 6, and 7 are some of the best outings we had together, going from savannas around Pune to northern western ghats looking for herps and other diversity. 8th is a massive-sized female Malabar pit viper, which we spotted on a late-night trail. That was so crazy to spot at first and was a moment I will never forget. 9th is when we (Sid sr., Yash Bish, Aryan, and me) started our research project together around the savanans of Pune and Satara, understanding how exotic tree plantations on savannas affect bird diversity, and 10th is when I got a chance to present our work at IWEC in NCBS, highlighting the effects of these plantations on bird diversity and the importance of conserving old-growth savannas for their irreplaceable role in supporting endemic and high diversity of species across various taxas. Overall, to summarize all these pointers for you all, good mentors, company, and like-minded people can really drastically change your life and the way you look at things. All of these experiences collectively shaped me towards my end goal of conservation, motivated by ecological research. Hopefully I can really do something good for this field, which has given me so much.

Night trails have just become one of my new advent

Night trails have just become one of my new adventures and addictions.
After reading Kenneth Anderson's "This Is the Jungle," I am far too inspired to explore forests and other ecosystems in complete darkness or under full moonlight, experiencing every step I take into these surroundings.
These trails may not always be perfect for sightings, but they are the most rewarding in terms of experience.
The peace you receive as you walk around a forest at night, with a cool wind blowing against your motion and the excitement of spotting or perhaps hearing strange things, is what makes these trails so remarkable. 1.Indian Tree Frog
2.Massive Stick Insect
3.Malabar Pit Viper
4.Some Huntsman species(probably green huntsman)
5.Owl Moth
6.Indian Red Scorpion
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#maharashtra #herping #herpetology #herpingindia #nighttrails #treefrog #malabarpitviper🐍 #stickinsect #ambolighat

In January 2023, I filed a petition opposing the d

In January 2023, I filed a petition opposing the development of a zoological park on the grounds of the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary.
It has been about a year since the petition was filed, and it has been effective in preventing construction in a protected region that is an important nesting habitat for various bird species.
Read the full story in the given post, and thank you for your constant support.
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#bharatpur #bharatpurbirdsanctuary #petition #rajasthan #keoladeonationalpark

Other than following and visiting major birding re

Other than following and visiting major birding regions in search of these unforgettable occurrences, flying shots are one of the most difficult aspects of wildlife photography. When the weather is cloudy, deciding on the right shutter speed and aperture with an ISO that doesn't influence your image quality is a hectic work for sure. The experiences behind these shots, however, are a feeling that cannot be expressed in words, such as watching thousands of Lesser flamingos in close proximity to seeing the mighty crested serpent eagle watching just a few metres away above me. #crestedserpenteagle
#lesserflamingo
#canonasia #canoneosr5 #600f11

A short story behind this photo This snake had bee

A short story behind this photo
This snake had been on my list for a long time, and the idea that it was so common and yet there had not been a single sighting was difficult to accept as a fact. Probably on every herping trip, I would hallucinate every Green Branch to a vine snake hanging or chilling out but ya that's the fun part of these spotting because the time when you gave up that you won't see the target species fully then only you see it and it may sound dumb but it always happens with me and for this snake,
me and my batch mate almost walked 5-6 extra kilometres every night just to see this and We thought looking for something else after many efforts, and at that moment, when we looked for the last time around a green fence, we finally discovered it and were jumping around 1 minute in front of the snake, who was probably asleep.
In frame:Indian Vine Snake
#vinesnake #bengaluru #karnataka #reptiles #reptilesofinstagram

Old continuous patches of forest,the marshy soil l

Old continuous patches of forest,the marshy soil litter, the fresh stream water, and of course a pile of unidentified bird calls are what it was really like for a month in Arunachal Pradesh.
Its a dream when you live in the northeast and wake up every day with the calls of brownish flanked bush warblers calling around somewhere hidden beneath the bushes, Himalayan swiftlets passing through in flocks over your head, and the distant callings of plaintaive cuckoos in the landscape. It just makes your day.
In the night, you see clouds moving fast and a clear sky with uncountable stars, and when you walk a little bit near the streams, you see the dancing ferry lights of the forest the fireflies.
The soothing sound of streams and the freshness and purity of their water are uncomparable to anything you have drunk till the date.
The culture, the care, and the homely feels of Arunachal are something that can't be found easily in India.
A dream of staying as long as you can to watch birds and other creatures came true the moment I entered the forest of Arunachal.
I was lucky to say that even a brisk walk for 10 minutes from the town can lead me to trails unexplored, full of biodiversity, and sightings that remain in your head for a long time.
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1.Black Throated Prinia
2.Paris Peacock
3.Wedge-Tailed Green Pigeon
4.Mock Viper
5.Habitat shot of some drongo sp.
6.Golden Babbler
7.Orange-Staff Sergeant
8.Cruiser
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#arunachalpradesh #northeastindia #birds #mockviper #uppersiang #uppersiangdistrict

A complete recount of one of my favourite wildlife

A complete recount of one of my favourite wildlife encounters or frames from the previous month's wildlife outings. It goes from encountering the magnificent crested serpent eagle perched on a tree in bright day light to the season's favourite sighting of the fan-throated lizard, record shots of the Milky Way at its peak, and the most unexpected shot would be the barn owl visiting my PG on a daily basis with a backdrop of the moon, then some commoners in Pune like tickells blue flycatcher, and then the best sighting of Indian yellow tit and indian blackbird.
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#pune
#wildlifephotography #maharashtra #crestedserpenteagle #milkyway #explorepage #explore #birds #raptors

Urban areas primarily sustain species that do not

Urban areas primarily sustain species that do not have such particular habitat requirements, or what we term "generalist species," and there is little variety in highly urbanised regions due to a lack of natural habitat cover, the major cause of which is poorly planned cities.
But there are still some natural ecosystems thriving in these city areas, supporting a good amount of diversity in terms of birds and animals, but racing development is on the verge of consuming those last remaining habitats as well!
We must recognise the significance of these ecosystems for the biodiversity of the area as well as for humans.
If present, these ecosystems serve to manage reducing the overall temperature of the city termed as "heat dump"
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#urbanecosystem #birds #barnowl #urbanphotography #urbanwildlife #pune #maharashtra

Dedicated post to recent documentation of some of

Dedicated post to recent documentation of some of the herpetofauna of maharashtra.
Herping doesn't actually falls into my area of interest when walking around in dense jungles or even in grasslands
It's mostly birds which takes my attention most of the times but in recent time I have got some exposure about how to go about basic herping with the help of my enthusiastic friends who are more into herping.
Now I always think of Turning stones and see what's inside to just lower my anxiety of missing something precious inside that😅
1 and 2nd slide=Common Cat Snake.
3.Beddomes Cat Snake
4.Fungoid Frog
5.Brooks Gecko
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#maharashtra
#reptile
#herpetofauna
#catsnake #commoncatsnake #fungoidfrog

Forest birding is an altogether different feel ,li

Forest birding is an altogether different feel ,like when you enter the dense vegetated area in the early morning with fallen leaves and twigs and every step you go inside the forest you increase the probability of encountering something special or something you never have thought of like forest are that mysterious is what i think. In the early morning you have so much of calls and activity in the forest of different birds and other animals that at one point you start getting frustrated because you can't I'd them all. The fresh air,dense cover of canopy,chilling temperature it all makes forest unique from other habitats present in the various ecosystems.
And experiencing this can allow one to think the importance of these habitats to humans and other creature on this planet.
#tahmini
#maharashtra
#captureoncanon #forest #forestphotography #squaretailedbulbul

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