The worldwide distribution of extant jerboa species is extensive throughout the arid and desert regions of North Africa and Central Asia. The Lesser Egyptian Jerboa Jaculus jaculus however, is found in North Africa, throughout the Arabian Peninsula, and as far north as Southwestern Iran. Although several species of jerboas have been designated as vulnerable or […]
Oddball Critters
We may not be the people’s choice But we oddball critters are awesome Will you be our voice?
Icelandic Visitors
It had been many weeks since I had visited the Pilling area of Lancs. I made a couple of trips to the area recently to catch up on the birdlife. As expected a number of pink footed geese and whooper swans had arrived from their Icelandic breeding grounds. The Pilling area is a traditional winter […]
Birding An Namas
An Namas is an area north of Tanoumah in the Asir Mountain chain. It is the northerly most point where Asir (Arabian) Magpie can currently be found and is a good birding location. Whilst birding a small valley there I found a lot of good birds including Ruppells Weaver, Violet-backed Starling, Crested Lark, Gambaga Flycatcher, […]
Extinction: Top Three Countries
Going back thousands of years, humans seem to have always carried an innate belief that their lives are more important than animals. Given that an animal cannot articulate and communicate its thoughts (though there are humans that struggle with this also), it has always been very easy to capture, kill, eat or display our fellow […]
Hunter and Hunted – Judah
Whilst searching for scorpions we found a very small Black-sting Scorpion or possibly a Deathstalker in the ultraviolet torchlight. When we got closer a spider was in attendance and it became clear the scorpion was entangled in the spider’s web and was in fact already dead. It appears the spider had killed the scorpion or […]
Sighting of the most popular Tiger in Tadoba
I ended the previous post on Tadoba with the fleeting image of Matkasur, the dominant Tiger of Tadoba’s core zone. I wished he had surfaced earlier, when there was more light. Having said that, I reminded myself that it was a wild Tiger in its territory and any sighting happens by chance. I consoled myself […]
Omnipresent raptors of Kabini
It was the rainy season and just before we started the afternoon safari towards the Kabini backwaters, it had started raining. Given the all round dampness I was wondering if we were going to draw a blank in terms of wildlife sightings. We drove deeper into the Nagarhole National Park with absolutely no sign of […]