BT Wild ART - A unique Journey to the wilderness

Sunday, 2 September 2018

Asante Sana Kenya

Welcome back to the land of Wild, I know you all wait for the release of a new topic every Sunday but I skipped last Sunday surprisingly, my sincere apology for missing out on a blog day but I know one thing for sure that you will be delighted and forgive me for going missing from the blog post last Sunday. The reason is I was on a trip to Kenya to bring the bunch of topics for you, ha ha ha now I can see smile and eagerness on your face to know the report of Kenya trip. I will share trip details and pictures based on which you will have to tell me your opinion about this trip. Since this was long journey covering different places in Kenya I will publish blogs on Kenya trip in four stages, to begin with, I will update you on trip report and experience with Mother Nature in Kenya. Keep tracking this space for more excitement because I will give you surprises in installments, so now Get Set Go to Kenya

मैं अकेला ही चला था जानिब-ए-मंज़िल मगर लोग साथ आते गए और कारवाँ बनता गया

In words of Jogi this how 13 wildlife lovers with one dream took a flight to Kenya in search of only madness and nothing else. We spent seven days to explore one of the best part world’s 2^nd largest continent that is Africa, the journey was planned so perfectly by Mumbai Travelers that we were getting rewards from nature on every moment. The journey started with Nature beauty (Rift Valley) followed by Naivasha lake and Masai Mara the world cup of wildlife (includes various parts of forest and Masai village), similar to the sequence of an event I will start with nature where I will update you on overall natural beauty we explored during the whole trip.

The real heaven

The place is nothing but the heaven, the valley, the lake, and huge grassland, the combination of a changing atmosphere, different light conditions, and the varied color of the sky were truly mesmerizing. We were hypnotize by the scenic beauty of the rift valley to start with and ended with unbelievable lovely forest. On one hand, the Rift Valley offered blue sky with green land and on another hand, the forest offered the ever-changing color of the sky because of competition between rain and sunlight creamed with a mix of green and golden grassland was top of the world. It is difficult to decide which part is more beautiful, your eyes and mind just stops at the place and restrict you from going back to the city life. This was superbly described by Chandana Mam see how beautifully concluded the whole trip in limited words. You just need to feel each word to understand the kind of heaven this place is, kind of experience and fun we had during the trip.

“Everything is so vividly in mind and eyes, miles of stretches of golden grasslands, sky with all possible hues of blue gold pink red, wind in my hair, being one with nature makes one feel closer to the supreme creator...I don't know whether I left part of my heart there or carried part of Mara within me”

Even while writing the blog I sleep off to wild world, it is difficult to control the words and emotion, else blog will never end hence I am restricting my self to write more but I promise to give you another angel (Naivasha Lake update) on next week.

Knowledge section – The Rift Valley

I know not all are aware of Rift Valley hence let me help you with some exciting details of this key place.

The Great Rift Valley is part of an intra-continental ridge system that runs through Kenya from north to south. It is part of the Gregory Rift, the eastern branch of the East African Rift, which starts in Tanzania to the south and continues northward into Ethiopia.

Africa’s Great Rift Valley is a 6,000-mile crack in the earth’s crust, and much of it is found in Kenya, where it has literally cut the country in two, the valley contains the Cherangani Hills and a chain of volcanoes, some of which are still active.

Dil se “Ashe”

Experts

Saurabh, Jogi and Team MT

Co-Travelers

Poorva, Deepti, Maria Mam, Chandana Mam, Suhas Kaka, Shripad Sir, Gopi Sir, Ananth Sir, Nitin Sir and Buru

Safari experts

James, Cyrus and Andrew

Hotels

Pride Lantana, Hotel SOPA resort and Hotel Santrim

The message of the Day

Wildlife is Mother Nature’s greatest treasure, To protect it, we must take every measure

Author:

BT Wild Art – Bhavesh Thakkar photography

Life is Safari. Enjoy it.

Memory Lane

Sunday, 19 August 2018

Wonderful Woodpecker

BT Wild Art welcomes all of you to the blog post; we love to hear feedback from you so we request you to post your comments on the blog so as we can serve quality blogs to our lovely readers.

We hope you enjoyed time with an elegant elephant that is too on a right day, since we picked up animal last week now its time to look at to the wonderful bird today. We always think that only animals are useful in some or the other way but we never realize the contribution of birds in maintaining the balance ecosystem. Similar to other animals woodpeckers are equally important, let me elaborate the same in next sections.

Catch me if you can:

Initially, when I started forest visit I was not much aware of woodpecker, the only thing I had heard is that it has a sharp beak to tap on the tree but never had seen it. First time I saw Woodpecker at Nagzira forest co-incidentally it was my first forest visit as well. It was wow feeling to watch this little bird in its home zone; it is a little bird with a super color combination. Due to its small size, it is not that easy to capture woodpecker because it is like an impatient kid who keeps flying from one tree to other and due to its little size it is always difficult to locate and capture in such a dense area. We are very lucky that we could manage to capture it in most of the visits. I remember sighting at Corbett for around 15 minutes, in normal case you hardly get sighting for a couple of minutes but here we got it for a longer time than we expected which itself is rare and unique hence after such effort if you get jackpot you feel like blessings from nature. It's not only about sighting we should also know about the importance of nature's creatures which I learned over the various visits and hence will update you on various unknown details of this little bird which will help you to identify and locate this lovely bird in your nature trips

The Little wonder

Woodpeckers are part of the family Picidae, a group of near-passerine birds that also consist of piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. There are over 180 species of woodpeckers, all in the family Picidae

Woodpeckers live in wooded areas and forests, where they tap on tree trunks in order to find insects living in crevices in the bark and to excavate nest cavities

The woodpecker pecks to attract a mate, to warn off predators and rivals and as a way to mark his turf. This particular type of pecking is known as “drumming,” and woodpeckers often seek out hardwood or other hard surfaces for this activity to ensure the sound is loud and far-reaching

They mostly nest and roost in holes that they excavate in tree trunks, and their abandoned holes are of importance to other cavity-nesting birds

Several woodpeckers are under threat as their habitats are destroyed. Being woodland birds, deforestation, and clearance of land for agriculture and other purposes can reduce populations dramatically

Something unique

An important part of the ecosystem, woodpeckers help control insect populations and create nest cavities that are used by other birds and mammals who cannot excavate the cavities themselves

Male and female woodpeckers work together to excavate a cavity in a tree that is used as a nest and to incubate eggs for about two weeks. When a woodpecker hatches, it is blind and does not have any feathers. One parent brings food to the nest while the other parent stays with the young. The young generally leave the nest after 25 - 30 days

They sometimes come into conflict with humans when they make holes in buildings or feed on fruit crops, but perform a useful service by their removal of insect pests on trees

A message of the Day

The Pleasant morning wake up sounds get far, if we don’t conserve birds – SAVE BIRDS

Author:

BT Wild Art – Bhavesh Thakkar photography

Life is Safari. Enjoy it.

The Memory Card

Add caption

Sunday, 12 August 2018

Elegant Elephant

Welcome to the blog post, let me tell you that today is Worlds elephant day and hence to salute and give much-deserved respect I decided to write a blog on this highly useful animal.

Do you know that Elephant plays an important role in maintaining the biodiversity of the ecosystems in which they live? During the dry season, elephants use their tusks to dig for water. I am sure not many people are aware of such facts so let me update all of you on stories and unknown details of this energetic mammal.

The Great Gajraj

We all like Gajraj as it has important in Indian mythology, it is believed that Lord Ganesha bears an elephant head hence elephant is highly respected and worshiped by Indians but at the same time, it always remains on the top list of poachers. The animal is so cute that we all love it from childhood when I started forest visits the first thing I wanted is to see an elephant in its natural habitat where you can see tuskers in a big group. The best place to see a family together in India is Jim Corbett; it is huge open grassland suitable for an elephant to roam around in huge terrain with its family doing all such behavioral activities which you can enjoy and frame it as well.

One of the behavioral activity is a mud bath it is a treat to watch. Elephant utilizes mud to beat the heat, romping around in mud not only cools them down but provides a protective layer to shield their body from the sun’s rays and it is also relief them from insect bites. It is one of the best sightings to enjoy that is too in the wild, we were lucky to see the elephant family enjoying a mud bath, they were using their trunk to spray mud all over the body usually covering the back of the ears first as this is where the heat loss is most efficient.

Another behavior is extra protective towards young ones, Elephants are known for protective behavior especially when they are with calves, even they may attack if they feel danger from another side. It is always advisable to keep a distance from elephants when you are in a wild. The elephant is such an important animal and is full of qualities that it is actually difficult to describe it in limited words, still, let me bring out interesting details which are not known by many, let’s move to next section to read fantastic details of the elegant animal.

The Smartest and the Strongest

Elephants are exceptionally smart creatures. They have the largest brain of any land animal and three times as many neurons as humans. Symbolic elephant meaning deals primarily with strength, honor, stability, and tenacity among other attributes. Elephants are exceptionally smart creatures. They have the largest brain of any land animal, and three times as many neurons as humans, while many of these neurons exist to control the elephant's large and dexterous body.

A group of elephants is called a herd, the herd is led by a matriarch, which is the oldest female. Females, as well as young and old elephants, stick together in a herd. Adult males tend to wander on their own. Elephants also have certain rules. For example, when they are meeting each other, they expect the other elephant to extend its trunk in greeting. The matriarch will often teach young elephants in her herd how to act properly.

Something different – Do you know about Musth?

Males ("bulls") leave their family groups when they reach puberty and may live alone or with other males. Adult bulls mostly interact with family groups when looking for a mate and enter a state of increased testosterone and aggression known as musth, which helps them gain dominance and reproductive success. Musth is a periodic condition in bull (male) elephants, characterized by highly aggressive behavior and accompanied by a large rise in reproductive hormones. Testosterone levels in an elephant in musth can be as much as 6 times greater than in the same elephant at other times. Bulls in musth have often been known to attack female elephants, regardless of whether or not the females are in heat. There has been speculation that musth is connected to the natural periodic reorganization of dominance among males in elephant herds.

The elephant's aggression may be partially caused by a reaction to the temporin, which naturally trickles down into the elephant's mouth. Another contributing factor may be the accompanying swelling of the temporal glands; this presses on the elephant's eyes and causes acute pain comparable to severe root abscess toothache. Elephants sometimes try to counteract this pain by digging their tusks into the ground.

Multitasker

The African elephant's other role is to pull down trees and break up thorny bushes. As a result, they create grasslands and salt licks in order to make other animals' lives easier to survive in their environment. Their final role is that they create water holes by digging in dry river beds

The elephant head symbolizes great intellect and wisdom

During the dry season, elephants use their tusks to dig for water, wherever they live, elephants leave dung that is full of seeds from the many plants they eat.

Tusks are used for defense, offense, digging, lifting objects, gathering food, and stripping bark to eat from trees. They also protect the sensitive trunk, which is tucked between them when the elephant charges

Ivory is expensive mainly because its supply is very limited, coming from elephant tusks only, and secondly because of its value as a material due to its carving qualities and its status as rare luxury goods

A message of the Day

On eve of World’s elephant day, take an oath to save this multitasker creature, conserve them - Don’t let them be a history

Author:

BT Wild Art – Bhavesh Thakkar photography

Life is Safari. Enjoy it.

DSLR section

Saturday, 4 August 2018

Painter Painted Stork

Hello lovely readers, hope you are doing good and enjoying the rainy season. I thank each one of you for the following blog religiously it motivates me to come up with new topics every week. In past weeks we have seen various jewels of India so as to have a change of topic I decided to write on a lovely bird, I am sure you will enjoy the topic.

Rangeela Ratan

Painted Stork is a colorful bird hence I tagged it as a Rangeela Ratan, it is commonly found near a wetland. I have been following it from past 2 to 3 years and every time I found unique moments from this rangeela bird. The partnership started at Bhandup Pumping Station do you know this place? This place is well within our own Mumbai city. I know it is surprising for you but it is fact, the first time I saw this bird within the city and I got mesmerized by the style of this bird. Painted Stork is tall and colorful bird gives lovely frames to the photographers when it takes a leap. From day one, I fall in love with this bird and I started following in my visits.

As I said I love this bird but it is not one-sided love, Painted Stork loves me too 😝 ha ha ha I know you will be thinking what is this, How can it be true etc. the reason is that I need not go elsewhere to find this bird, now a day’s Painted Stork has started visiting a small wetland near my home (near T. S. Chanakya Maritime Institute). this means Stork is searching for me as well😝

From past few years, I have been visiting this place for Flamingo which is now becoming fruitful with other birds as well. This year in month of May I got super surprise with sighting of my love that is near home, I went for Flamingo in the morning where around 20 people like me were waiting for arrival of Flamingos with camera but I notice some unusual moment from this Rangeela bird at the same time when flocks of Flamingo arrived. This was testing time for me, whether to go for Flamingo or to catch Painted Stork, I was the only one who decided to go for it instead of Flamingo and guess what I was rewarded with superb frames with this colorful bird and that is too active fishing for 20 minutes. Let me tell you how it gave me a colorful frame while catches its prey, it immersed half open beaks in water and sweep it from side to side and snap up small fish, isn’t is unique? Of course, it is unique, you can check out pictures to understand and co-relate the story.

If you want the best frames than always to go for action even it is with a common bird, it will give you uncommon moments, which will make your frame unique. This is the reason why I love this bird the most, the way it go for fishing it offers wonderful opportunity which is like a special treat from the Mother Nature. Now after such a wonderful experience let me tell you some facts about this lovely bird, let us move to the next section.

I am a Painter

The painted stork is a large and fabulously colorful water bird with a striking wing pattern. although a drab brown when young, as an adult the painted stork displays primarily white plumage, with a bright pink tinge towards the tail and a black band of feathers across the chest

The painted stork has a long, yellow-orange bill, a vivid yellow-orange face, and pink legs. This beautiful bird also has an incredibly long neck, which likes most other storks, it holds outstretched during its elegant, soaring flight

It is found in the wetlands of the plains of tropical Asia south of the Himalayas in the Indian Subcontinent and extending into Southeast Asia

They prefer freshwater wetlands in all seasons, but also use irrigation canals and crop fields, particularly flooded rice fields during the monsoon

They feed mainly on small fish, which they sense by touch while slowly sweeping their half-open bill from side to side while it held submerged. They walk slowly and also disturb the water with their feet to flush fish

Painted storks breed on trees either in mixed colonies along with other water birds or by themselves.The platform nests are typically placed in a tree on an island or in an otherwise undisturbed area with colonies consisting of thousands of nests