Just laid hands on this beautiful hard cover book

*India’s Forests* : Revisiting Nature and History

A compilation of essays from some very cool researchers & writers with a foreword by an amazing historian Dr Shekhar Pathak, while the editors, Arupjyoti Saikia & Mahesh Rangarajan have a rich history of great writing as well.

Looking forward to reading this

https://www.penguin.co.in/book/indias-forests

#books #IndiasNature #Forests #Essays #history #environment #Communities #Ecology #PenguinBooks #Culture

A Blue whistling thrush (Myophonus caeruleus), from my bird photo archives (March 2019)

A Very beautiful, happy bird in the Himalayas, It's melodic and regular morning songs are a joy in themselves.

Location : Front yard of my home in the Himalayas circa 2200 metres about sea level.

#birds #nature #IndiasNature #BirdsOfMastodon #Himalayas #BlueWhistlingThrush #MyophonusCaeruleus #SongBird #Passerine

A Mango tree in full bloom, 5th March 2026, in Delhi

Meanwhile in South India mango fruit are being sold by fruit sellers both boutique and normal (meaning to say easily available) (see linked post)

#IndiasNature #trees #aam #mango #MangiferaIndica #Trees #Plants #flowering #Delhi #nature #phenology #seasonwatch

https://mastodon.social/@ramkay/116302021176551342

Called  nāga Lingam maram or poo (flower ) in Tamil.

A dramtatic tree when budding or flowering. The branches make it look like a climber on a tall host rather than a tree.

A native to lowland tropical rainforests of Central and South America (wikipedia) now Widely grown in South India, esp. in planned landscaped gardens (esp. institutional).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couroupita_guianensis

#IndiasNature #bloomscrolling #flowers #nature #botany #floweraOfMastodon #tree #cannonBallTree #CouroupitaGuianensis

Cool fruits like Melons are back in town. And across town these bullock carts are stationed.

The bulls are beautiful, but seem gaunt and hard at work in the hot unrelenting sun.

In another place I saw a man stand and patiently feed another such bull some overripe fruit.

The cart is a somewhat modern one- equipped with modern tyres.

#bull #BullockCart #street #streetphoto #India #IndiasNature #Chennai #Fruits #fruitcart

Spring is in the air, it is on the ground, and it is showing up on winter deciduous trees.

This cluster shows a still leafless Himalayan Birch (Betula alnoides) full of yellow catkins, the other taller trees are Himalayan Alder (Alnus nepalensis) which have new leaves & leaf buds. The dark evergreen trees are Tree Rhododendron (Rhododendron arboreum).

#trees #nature #spring #Hinalayas #IndiasNature #HimalayaSpeaks #HimalayanBirch #Alder #Rhododendron #Phenology #catkins #biology #ecology

We came scouting for bent-toed geckos & huntsmen spiders, & to write a paper in the solitude of the Himalayas — the real reward was this beauty, the hygroscopic or barometer earthstar (Astraeus hygrometricus)! Almost perfect conditions needed: slightly fired, moist, sandy & shady substrate & rain to expose the spore sack. My friend spotted not one but 15-16 of them!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astraeus_hygrometricus

#AstraeusHygrometricus #fungi #mushroom #nature #IndiasNature #AmazingNature #barometricEarthstar #himal

A Red Pierrot (Talicada nyseus) butterfly. Dehradun India.

As per Sanjay Sondhi of Titli Trust, the Red Pierrot was not seen in this region till some years ago. The theory being that this butterfly may have arrived with the boom in Kalanchoe, the host plant, of the Red Pierrot.

Whatever reason this is a beautiful butterfly, both closed wings, or open wings.

#entomology #IndiasNature #butterfly #lepidoptera #TalicudaNyseus #RedPierrot #Himalayas #Dehradun #nature

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talicada_nyseus

A Jewel Bug, aka Lychee Shield Bug
Stunning on a natural red background (bracts of a pointsettia plant )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysocoris_stollii

#bugs #truebugs #nature #indiasnature #jewelbug #entomology