Observations by karthikak2

A shoot tip or an insect!!

During a walk in the thick forest of western ghats, one of the shoot tip of a plant on the path caught my attention which made me take a second look. The shoot tip i thought was actually this flower chafer, a male Narycius opalus, a in the tribe Cetoniini in the familiy Scarabaeidae. The genus Narycius only consists of this single species which is endemic in the Western Ghats.
It guess it was mimicking the shoot tip. Shot in very low light conditions!

On Saturday evening the weather was good with light showers in few parts in Bangalore. We went on a night walk hoping to see something new due to the change in weather. It was almost an hour since we started, we came across some really good subjects. We documented, observed their behaviors for a while and then went ahead.
As we moved on searching for more subjects, saw this green snake, resting on a rock wall. It was light green with black markings all over its body about a feet in length. We knew it belonged to genus Boiga but not the exact species. Later after consulting with the experts we found it to be Boiga flaviviridis - A newly discovered (Year 2013)species of cat snake in peninsular India, by Gernot Vogel & S. R. Ganesh.

It was a cool sunny day.
The forest floor had little bit of moisture from the rains a week back. As we walked along the path filled with leaf litter, one of my accomplice stopped and said, a snake! over there! It was an endemic species of tree snake. It was right in front of us, a few feet from us. It was stunned like a statue, it was not moving. Its entire body was flat. It had transformed into a dry stick. I went close without making sudden movements and took some images.

And from no where a frog jumped across the snake, the snake's head turned towards it. Then we thought there might be some drama. The frog leaped again and went further, the snake started chasing it, but before we could spot the frog and snake, both had disappeared into the leaf litter.
The snake would have had his meal for sure!! The perfect camouflage and its silent movement made us loose the sight!

Long and legless but not a snake!!

The place was not wet as it is supposed to be in this time of the year. We started exploring the forest floor. The leaves were almost dry with very little moisture. I started to look under the rocks and logs, only to find lots of termites and ants. One of the log was free of ants and termites, i knew there would be something but never thought i would see a caecilian. It was very calm and not moving. I had never seen a caecilian so calm. After documenting, left him under the same log under which he was found.
Most of the caecilians that i have come across is during night and in streams. Earlier in july i came across 2 caecilian larvae in Agumbe in morning, in a small rain fed stream. They were very fast and were moving upstream. And a few adults in Amboli at night in streams. This was my first caecilian in this part of coorg!! Better version here
http://www.indianaturewatch.net/displayimage.php?id=542392

And the show began!
Anil's bush frog - Raorchestes anili | Coorg
The most beautiful specimen of this species that i have come across till now.
He was on a tree at about 5 feet, calling out loudly. It took me a while to spot this guy. He seemed to be camera shy, always trying to face away from camera.While i was taking some record shots and it started to rain, then all of a sudden he was not there on the tree!!
He was on this broad leaf that was a perfect stage for him.Then on he was least bothered about my presence, even the sudden movement of to leaf due to the wind didn't bother him.

http://www.indianaturewatch.net/displayimage.php?id=539603