Friday, February 10, 2006

grating ...

discover the differences between evolution that occurs over centuries and that which occurs in "milliseconds and minutes." evolutionary transformation can be seen in massive climate changes that occur every few thousand years, or in the few seconds it takes to make a decision on what to do with the leftovers in your fridge.
some of the most important evolutionary events in earth's history didn't just create new organisms, they created new fundamental biochemical processes. and where do biochemical processes come from ? they evolve from other biochemical processes.
most new animal species are believed to arise when a single species splits into two. but new animals can also be created when two species come together to create a single new species, "evolution hasn't ended", new species are evolving, and humans can have a big influence on that process.
white-bellied treepie (dendrocitta leucogastra) is a local resident found only in the western-ghats of southern india. the treepies are long-tailed birds in the family corvidae. they are highly arboreal (tree dwelling) and rarely come to the ground. sometimes travels in 'feeding-parties' with laughing-thrushes (garrulax species). the nest is quite shallow and lightly built in trees and bushes with 3-4 eggs per clutch. the voice is described as harsh and grating, but quite varied and includes a grating k-r-r-r-r sound as well as more melodious notes.

24 Comments:

Blogger rauf said...

coming up with a seperate post on painted stork with your information
in Blunt knife.

The process will not fit in to a box Suresh, Its not confined to any
rule. Climatic change perhaps goes in a wave form, it has to come back to normal. During that climatic change unusual, unpredictable twist in evolutionary process can happen.
There have been evolutionary blunders, one particular bird comes to mind where its upper beak is so twisted that it cannot pick up any food, it has to tilt its head to eat.

Beautiful shot Suresh, want to shoot the nest. I'll go after some more birds. CBE on my way back, A Carnatic singer is coming today, I'll book the ticket tomorrow. I'll keep CBE-Chen open.

5:42 AM  
Blogger rauf said...

Suresh, please observe mosquitos for instance, the new breed is resistant to all the repellants making my life miserable. The repellants are getting stronger and stronger, so are the mosquitos.

9:10 AM  
Blogger rauf said...

Suresh, this blogger thing shut down for some time, its playing hide and seek again

12:35 PM  
Blogger Patty said...

Very touching photo. It says so much. The lighting is pleasant as well. Great shot!

Have a fun, creative day!

12:57 PM  
Blogger Bob said...

The composer Messiaen said that birds are the greatest composers on the planet...perhaps he never heard this one's grating!

5:51 PM  
Blogger MBrown said...

Great shot showing their surroundings in which they live.
Not sure I have seen these little guys before.
Beautiful birds!

10:00 PM  
Blogger wildpic said...

hello kalyan varma, as you are aware wildlife photography is more in the planning, i spent nearly a month following and identfying a right and possible location to picture these birds in the nest.

yes, nest photography is banned but i was lucky that it was part of the forest department project with a lot of dont's. i pictured this in the anamalais.

i dont think its much about the place where you live, rather a question of how much time one has to spend on wildlife. i havent been able to spend anytime in the wild, in the last year and a half.

i left my comments on your blog, am not sure if you saw it.

cheers !

10:22 AM  
Blogger wildpic said...

rauf, will forward some more info about the painted stork today.

i agree rauf, the process does not and will never fit into a box. evolution is a very sensitive phenomenon that constantly updates with the infinite variables. extinction is indeed about getting cornered in over specilisation and then facing a sudden change.

thanks rauf, you liking the pic means a lot to me. drop by anytime rauf, do keep cbe-chen open.

take care !

10:34 AM  
Blogger wildpic said...

hello david kleinert, i agree, these birds look gorgeous in real, the small pic does not do much justice. i always wish i could post my high res images, but too big for the blog.

thanks david, cheers !

10:37 AM  
Blogger wildpic said...

rauf, the mosquito is a living proof of adaptability and taking advantage of a new and condusive environment. we cannot destroy them but we can stop them from breeding ! which is the only solution but unfortunalely its a collective effort ...

10:40 AM  
Blogger wildpic said...

hi patty, i was following these birds for a month, then spent time everyday watching them grow the next generation, its so wonderfull to see the amount of care and responsibility they have. beautiful experience. i had to choose the morning light before it got too harsh and the birds are most active in that time aswell.

thanks patty, you have a great creative day too !

10:47 AM  
Blogger wildpic said...

hi rob, you should listen to this bird called "malabar whistling thrush" ... its one of the most musical that i know of, used to wake up everyday listning to them, it beats any human composition.

and about grating, may be its some new age rock for them ?

cheers !

10:51 AM  
Blogger wildpic said...

hello mbrown, i do fancy wildlife pics showing their habitat, without that theres no wild in the life. these birds are endemic to few parts of the southern india's forests, so you need to come down here to see them, wish you could sometime.

cheers ! thanks !

10:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi suresh! first time here.First rauf,then patty ,then u...I feel I have stumbled into a world of very creative people ...feel like Alice in wonderland! lol!
Beautiful picture--although I have nothing sensible to say about the lighting and the angle and ..well..the rest.
Just that I am constantly amazed by the colors of nature...and how well u captured that in this pic.

1:30 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Well, Rauf found me and now I have found you. I feel quite humbled by the skill and beauty of your photography. I have taken perhaps 20 photos I truly like out of hundreds over a lifetime but thanks to the two of you I now cart my little digital with me all the time. Nothing to compare to the equipment you probably use.It will take another lifetime, I think, to capture colour and light the way you though!
I had not thought about (reverse?) evolution in terms of two species coming together. Do you have some particular examples in mind?
B

9:26 PM  
Blogger Seemantini said...

amaZING! right from the moment uv frozen to the parallels uv drawn!

11:49 PM  
Blogger Jill said...

Very cool! Nice one, as usual.

9:39 AM  
Blogger wildpic said...

hi there e2d or alice ;) ... welcome to wildpic !
you seem to be well aware of the wildlife management and the perception of reality towards it, thats wonderfull for a start, for proactive concepts. keep me posted, i would greatly appreciate ...

never mind about the technical aspects of photography, it make one go broke, like me now.

am glad you like the pics, its my constant battle in this life :)

cheers !

7:42 PM  
Blogger wildpic said...

hello shamantra, welcome to wildpic ... yes rauf got me to blog and ever since its been great fun meeting people through friends.

as i was saying in my previous comment-reply, the quest for betterment in photo imaging is a neverending process that leaves one broke, its important to strike whats right for the purpose, but its all worth it anyway.

carrying your camera around is a great idea, am humbled that my pics aid your inspiration.

about the reverse evolution, have a look at my 'kollegal ground gecko' post (its on the same page). about two different species coming together, my immediate response would be a mule (horse and a donkey) but its sterile. some species of monkeys like the langur's are inter-species breeding and the scientists are still trying to classify them taxonomically. if you particular, will provide some more info and may be create a new post.

cheers !

8:13 PM  
Blogger wildpic said...

hi simi, am learning so much about story telling and proving a point, ever since this blog happened. glad you found the thread ! :)
am happy ...

cheers !

8:15 PM  
Blogger wildpic said...

hi jill and oliver ... thank you !

take care ...

cheers !

8:15 PM  
Blogger wildpic said...

hi kalyan varma,
i guess you havent heard about the kind of damages that some wildlife photographers have inflicted on birds nest, and its not uncommon for eg, certain branches are chopped off or moved aside to get a better frame of the birds, usually these birds end as prey for bird of preys. some have relocated nests for better lighting. some make very obvious hides that disturb the feeding pattern or avoid the entire feeding of the young.
you and i might be nice guys but theres no way of identifying that. a lot of photographers are free-loaders who cant think anything beyond the trophy and conservation becomes a joke.

all the best with your plans and trips, hope its a great experience.

cheers !

8:31 PM  
Blogger wildpic said...

hi kalyan varma, i understand your drift, its such a double edged dilema. where do we draw the line is the crucial question in conservation, what do we base it on ? am personally not for this so called eco-tourism, its no different from regular tourism except the fancy eco addition to it, but we have seen eco-tourism work wonders for conservation in certain tropical countries, but thats due to carefull scientific and sensible care takers constantly updating the needfull.

personally, our forests needs a substancial core zone drawn and restrict as much activity as possible within it.

for the wildlife photographers, would love to see a registration, clear statement of purpose, free usage of ones pics for education and conservation purposes, peer group review to discuss ethics.

clearly this would make my life misreable but i have to draw the line saying, that the wildlife is more important than iam, for the simple reason that not much of wildlife is left of it.

i truly appreciate your views, its crucial to all of our survival, atleast as wildlife-photographers !

10:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Best regards from NY! »

6:10 PM  

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