The Advisory Boar

By Abhijit Menon-Sen <>

Birds named after their habitat

The Zitting Cisticola is just one familiar example of the many birds whose scientific names are derived from their preferred habitat.

Read more…

Rohan Chakravarty is an excellent cartoonist

I commissioned a couple of illustrations for my web site from Rohan, and he did a great job.

Read more…

Trip report: Basai, 2010-08-01

At the end of a hectic and stressful week, Hassath and I spent a pleasant morning at Basai.

Read more…

Trip report: Okhla Bird Sanctuary, 2010-06-20

A brief midsummer bird-watching trip to Okhla in hot and humid conditions gave good views of all of Delhi's usual Bittern species.

Read more…

Trip report: Sultanpur National Park, 2010-06-12

This is a brief report of a visit to Sultanpur and Basai this morning. We (Ramit, Ammu, and I) did not spend much time there, because it became very hot by 0830.

Read more…

Trip report: Asola Wildlife Sanctuary, 2010-06-02

Highlights from a morning visit to Asola near Tughlaqabad, including close views of all three species of Delhi's Bee-eaters.

Read more…

Seeing all of India's vultures

When I was very little, we lived in a house in Alipore (near Calcutta) where we used to see (and smell!) many vultures, and I never outgrew my fascination for these huge birds. Now, many years later, I consider myself very fortunate to have seen every species of vulture that occurs in India, because these birds that used to be everywhere are now critically endangered, and may be on the verge of extinction.

Read more…

Harike, January 30–February 1 2010

I've had a hectic start to the new year as far as bird-watching and travel are concerned. I went on a solo trek to Dayara bugyal in Uttarakhand in late December, participated in the annual waterfowl census at the Pong dam reservoir in Himachal Pradesh in mid-January, did a lightning weekend trip to the Chambal river in UP a week later, and went to Harike in Punjab at the end of the month for another waterfowl survey.

I've had a great time, of course, and it's been wonderful birding in new places, but it's also been demanding and tiring. My memories of the time I spent at Harike are already fragmented, and I don't feel up to writing another exhaustive report. Instead, here's a selection of the more vivid moments that I will remember the trip by—not in any particular order, and with no attempt to fill in the fuzzy grey areas in between.

Read more…

One afternoon on the Chambal

I packed a bag and pulled on my boots at a few hours' notice this last weekend for a trip to the Chambal river with Mr. and Mrs. D. S. Pandit and Devashish Deb of Delhibird.

Read more…

Pong Dam waterfowl census, January 15–17 2010

My first visit to Pong Dam was to participate in a remarkably well-organised winter waterfowl census conducted by the Himachal Pradesh forest department. Here's a long report.

Read more…