Visit to Tadiyennamool and HoneyValley - a profile

Landscapes

A drop of rain can cleanse my sins
A gentle breeze can calm my burns
How powerful your spell I wonder
Isn't it why you are mother nature?

Butterflies & Moths

Chocolate Pansy with wings worn out.


Gladeye Bushbrown:

Common five-ring:

Whitebar Bushbrown:

Chacolate Pansy:

Common Bushbrown (wet season form):

Scientific Name: Theretra nessus
The moth was so big that it ran like an aeroplane before taking off into the air.

Orchids & other flowers

Scientific Name: Habenaria longicorniculata
This is a ground orchid. You can make out the size of the orchid in the right most image.

Scientific name: Aeschynanthus perrottetii. This is an epiphytic creeper seen on higher branches. This is not an Orchid.

More info from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeschynanthus)

Aeschynanthus is a genus of ca. 185 species of tropical herbs. The genus name comes from a contraction of aischuno (to be ashamed) and anthos (flower). The common name for some species is "lipstick plant", which comes from the appearance of the developing buds of some species.

Scientific name: Dendrobium aqueum (I thought it to be Coelogyne breviscapa after looking in books and internet)
This is an epiphytic orchid occurring in clusters on tree trunks.
(Wildflowers of Coorg by T.Ananda Rao is a good source for orchids of this area)


Scientific name: Impatiens scapiflora (???) Any help in identification is much appreciated.


Another orchid species that grows on the ground. Any help in identification is much appreciated.


Common name: Bharangi
Scientific name: Clerodendrum serratum
The Sanskrit work bharngi literally means that which is glorious. Another name of the same plant, bhrguja, implies a relation of the plant with the great sage Bhrgu.
Related links: http://www.indianaturewatch.net/displayimage.php?id=22313

Scientific name: Satyrium nepalense
Don't know if this is an orchid or not. Yet to check.


Scientific name: Oberonia denticulata
This is a pendulous epiphyte orchid. You can see the flower bending downwards.


This belongs to Impatiens family. I got it wrong for an Orchid.
I got to see this on the side of "biLi-yAtre-beTTa" visible from HoneyValley estate as I lost my way to Tadiyennamol peak.


This orchids are found in clumps and clusters on tree trunks. Any help in identifying these is much appreciated.


These tiny yellow flowers are a common sight on high altitude grasslands of Western Ghats.

Birds
(POWER OF DIGISCOPING)

Southern Hill Myna, Blue-winged Parakeet, Velvetfronted Nuthatch, Southern Hill Myna

Exact location of the bird in the wider image has been "marked" on my FLICKR page:
Hill Myna in the rains: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpitta/2896740028/
Blue-winged Parakeet: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpitta/2896740022/
Pair of Hill Myna: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpitta/2896740042/
Velvet-fronted Nuthatch: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpitta/2896740008/

Franklin's Prinia (Prinia hodgsonii)

Mammals

Dusky striped Squirrel:

Other Life Forms

Some kind of Bracket Fungi

I do not know what these fungi are. They were pretty interesting, having a kind of umbrella cap.


A pil-millipede and a mollusc:

Some grasshoppers. The last in the right was found near a small stream.


One of the arboreal ants of the genus Ployrhachis found in the pristine forests of Western Ghats. The right image show the ant frozen in the leaf litter due to my presence.

(Source: "On a trail with ants - Ajay Narendra and Sunil Kumar M)

An ant-trail carrying food. Do not know the identification. The metallic sheen was quite interesting.


An ant-nest.




Caterpillars: The right two images are the colourful caterpillars of unpalatable Common Indian Crow butterfly. (Source: Butterflies of peninsular India - Krushnamegh Kunte)


Slug found in Heloconia flower


Miscellaneous:

A view of "HoneyValley" home-stay:


My friend "Swaroo" (pet name for my Swarovski ATS-65-HD) taking shelter from the rain.