Vijay Barve

East African Savana : Animals

During the walk in the Savannas, I could spot few Animals too. But since I was on foot, and had less time, could not see most of them from near.

First mammals we spotted were Gazelles. The Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsoni). They were very far from us.

After moving forward, we saw Zebra's. I guess they were The Plains zebra (Equus quagga, formerly Equus burchelli). There were many of them and were slowly moving away as we approaced them.

On the horizon we could spot some Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) .

There was another type of Gazelles. I think they were The Grant's Gazelle (Nanger granti). It disappeared behind the trees.

There were a few wildebeest too, among a group of zebras at a distance, but could not approach them.

On the way back, from the vehicle, I could see the wildebeests from near and I think they were The Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus).

In a short time that I managed, I could see lot of things I feel.

Labels: Africa, Animals, biodiversity, Kenya, travel, wildlife

East African Savanna : Birds

In October 2008, I got an opportunity to spend some time in East African Savanna. I was in Kenya, about 50 miles away from Nairobi. The place was, couple of kilometers off “Trans African Highway” which connects Cairo in Egypt to Cape Town in South Africa.

I was there for 5 days, but busy with meeting and hardly got time to go out of compound. But on last day, finally I took opportunity to walk out and explore a bit.

During my stay, I saw few birds, I could not identify them all, but I thought I will share the pictures anyway, and request for help from you to help me identify them.

These sparrow like birds were commonly seen and were nesting on medium trees, like weavers. There call was resembling Indian Mynas. The White-browed Sparrow-weaver (Plocepasser mahali

There were colonies of Weaver Birds. I presume they are Speke's Weaver (Ploceus spekei). The males were busy building nests.

There were several trees having these nests.

One more bird, The Superb Starling (Lamprotornis superbus). Really very active bird.

And this looks like The Northern Pied-babbler (Turdoides hypoleuca) .

Thanks to Alka for Ids.

More bird pictures to come.

Labels: Africa, biodiversity, Birds, Kenya, travel, wildlife

World's rarest tree frog found

An extremely rare female frog has been spotted for the first time in 20 years.

The tiny amphibian, Isthmohyla rivularis, is carrying eggs, suggesting that the species is doing well.

The discovery was filmed by the BBC in the Costa Rican jungle as part of a scientific expedition with a team from Manchester University and Chester Zoo as they work on conservation programmes for rare frogs.

Andrew Gray describes the find.

Additional footage courtesy of Alexander Villegas

Check story for video

Labels: AmphibianIndia, conservation, diversityindia, Frog, wildlife

'Extinct' frogs survive devastating fungus

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- A tiny frog species thought by many experts to be extinct has been rediscovered alive and well in a remote area of Australia's tropical north, researchers said Thursday.

The Armoured Mistfrog had been seen since 1991 until it was found in Australia's tropical north.

The 40 millimeters-long (1.5 inch) Armoured Mistfrog had not been seen since 1991, and many experts assumed it had been wiped out by a devastating fungus that struck northern Queensland state.

But two months ago, a doctoral student at James Cook University in Townsville conducting research on another frog species in Queensland stumbled across what appeared to be several Armoured Mistfrogs in a creek, said professor Ross Alford, head of a research team on threatened frogs at the university.

Conrad Hoskin, a researcher at The Australian National University in Canberra who has been studying the evolutionary biology of north Queensland frogs for the past 10 years, conducted DNA tests on tissue samples from the frogs and determined they were the elusive Armoured Mistfrog.

Alford's group got the results on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency also confirmed Hoskin's findings.

"A lot of us were starting to believe it had gone extinct, so to discover it now is amazing," Hoskin said. "It means some of the other species that are missing could potentially just be hidden away along some of the streams up there."

Craig Franklin, a zoology professor at The University of Queensland who studies frogs, said the Mistfrog's rediscovery was exciting.

"It's very significant," Franklin said. "We've lost so many frog species in Australia ... Hopefully it's a population that's making a comeback."

The light brown frogs, with dark brown spots, congregate in areas with fast-flowing water. So far, between 30 and 40 have been found.

The chytrid fungus was blamed for decimating frog populations worldwide, including seven species in Queensland's tropics between the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Armoured Mistfrogs had been classified as critically endangered rather than extinct, but most researchers believed they had died out from the disease, Alford said.

Most of the Armoured Mistfrogs that Alford's group has found are infected with the fungus, but the disease does not appear to be making them sick, he said.

Alford and his team plan to study the creatures to try and determine how they managed to coexist with the fungus, in a bid to aid future conservation and management of vulnerable frogs.

Story

Labels: AmphibianIndia, conservation, diversityindia, threat, wildlife

Urban Biodiversity in Copenhagen, Denmark : June 2008

I had opportunity to visit Copenhagen in June 2008. June was a really good time to travel because the weather was really pleasant. I could walk a lot on the streets. To help me even more the days were really long, almost 20-21 hours.

I am trying to give a glimpse of whatever biodiversity I came across while I was there.

These Pigeons were happily moving on the ground feeding. I felt at home because this is very familiar site back in India too.

This Magpie was commonly seen scavenging on the trash cans. I found them commoner than the crows there.

The swans were present in the lakes. Some of them were very active in the afternoon.

And some of them were taking a nap.

The swans were bold and friendly and would let me go near to take photographs.

The gulls were feeding along with Swans.

And look at this Gull sitting on the statue.

And the familiar Coots were also seen.

The ducks were present, but were not looking as bright as we see them in India.

The crows were present, though in lesser number.

There another type of Pigeons which I need to identify yet.

I also saw a lot of sparrows, though I could not photograph any.

The were lot of flowers around. I could hardly photograph them, but took some snaps on the way, which are mostly planted garden flowers. Here are few of the photographs.