Nature – Shoba Narayan

Shashank Dalvi’s Big Year of Birding

By: Shoba Narayan December 21, 2017December 19, 2017

Bird Podcast, Birds, PodcastsAndamans, Big Year, bird species in India, birding, endemic birds, Indian birds, Nicobar islands, Northeast, Orange bullfinch, Rann of Kutch, Shashank Dalvi, western ghatsLeave a Comment

Shashank Dalvi’s Big Year of Birding all over India.

Interview with Dr. Jerry Jackson about Bird adaptation

By: Shoba Narayan December 20, 2017December 21, 2017

Bird Podcast, Birds, Podcastsbald cypress, Corkscrew Swamp, Dr. Jerome Jackson, Florida birds, ivory-billed woodpecker, ornithologistLeave a Comment

Dr. Jerry Jackson is a legend in ornithology, for his life-long fascination with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. I met him on a windy evening in Lakes Park, Fort Myers for a chat about the birds of Southwest Florida.

The Peacock

By: Shoba Narayan December 19, 2017December 21, 2017

Bird Podcast, Birds, PodcastsAmotz Zahavi, Charles Darwin, Hindu mythology, Lord Muruga, peacock, peacock's tail, peafowl, Richard Dawkins, Ronald Fisher 0Leave a Comment

This episode is about the peacock, not because it is the national bird of India, which it is. But because it gave rise to the second most important work in evolutionary biology. I speak of course of Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual selection.

The Great Indian Bustard: can it be saved from the brink of extinction?

Can the Great Indian Bustard be saved from the brink of extinction?

Destination Bharatpur

By: Shoba Narayan December 19, 2017

Bird Podcast, Birds, PodcastsBharatpur, Bikram Grewal, Bittu Sahgal, herons, Indian birds, Keoladeo Ghana National Park, migrants, monitor lizard, Rajasthan, The Bharatpur Inheritance book, waterfowlLeave a Comment

The Keoladeo Ghana National Park is arguably India’s most famous national park for birds. This episode offers you a bird’s eye view of the park

Genius of Birds with Jennifer Ackerman

By: Shoba Narayan December 19, 2017December 19, 2017

Bird Podcast, Birds, PodcastsBirds, corvid, genius, Intelligence, Jennifer Ackerman, louie lefebvreLeave a Comment

Jennifer Ackerman has been writing about science and nature for 30 years. Her most recent book, The Genius of Birds (Penguin Press, April 2016), explores the intelligence of birds

Profile: filmmaker and entrepreneur

By: Shoba Narayan August 14, 2017December 21, 2017

Conservation, HT Media, Nature, Profilesconservation filmmaking, conservation india, ramki sreenivasan, shekar dattatri, ullas karanth, wildlife conservationLeave a Comment

This is the story of synchronicity in the lives of a snake-loving filmmaker and a bird-loving entrepreneur who joined hands to work for nature conservation
Shekar Dattatri (left), an award-winning filmmaker, and Ramki Sreenivasan, an entrepreneur and wildlife photographer.

Mirzapur and the Greater Coucal

By: Shoba Narayan October 22, 2015September 18, 2017

Birds, NatureBirds, carpets, mirzapur, obeetee, watching2 Comments

Saw my first golden oriole of this season. Flew in and perched on a Millingtonia tree. We were in Mirzapur at the fabulous guesthouse of Obeetee Carpets. A highlight was the sighting of two Greater Coucals, two Hornbills, one Rufous Treepie; and tons of other birds I had seen: drongos, bulbuls, peacocks, wagtail, etc.

Birds in culture– the last of the four part series that I hugely enjoyed writing.

By: Shoba Narayan June 27, 2015September 18, 2017

Birds, Columns, HT Media, Nature, The Good Life/Mint Loungeallama iqbal, Birds, Birds in Sanskrit literature, eagle, falcon, hamsa, kites, KN Dave, mustansir mir, romantic poets, urdu poetry2 Comments

I pontificate on the pleasures of bird watching in this audio podcast here Like Arabs and falcons; like Indians and peacocks; like Americans and their eagles, like the French and their…..I don’t know which bird sparks the French imagination…. birds and animals are the stuff of our dreams and subconscious. The eagle, the ‘hamsa’ and…

Birding: seeing versus hearing

By: Shoba Narayan June 13, 2015September 18, 2017

Birds, Columns, HT Media, Nature, The Good Life/Mint LoungeApp, ayurveda, birdcalls, Birding Friends, Birds, India, Internet Bird Collection, Oriental Bird Images, wagtailLeave a Comment

This season is hard for birding. The trees are lush with leaves. Small birds are chirping and I can’t see them. Drives me nuts. How to identify birds just by seeing them Ayurveda divides us into three phenotypes: vata, pitta and kapha. Vatas have acute hearing and enjoy the sense of touch—if my memory serves…