Black Dragons in a Holy Place

It was a Sunday Morning and right after attending mass at church, I went over to a small pond that was built beside the church. My word, it was full of black-coloured dragonflies. It was surprising to see that almost all of them were black or dark blue. I sort of wondered what these 'black dragons' could be doing by the church? Something fishy going on maybe?

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Home, Creepy Home

Here are a couple of critters I found in my home during my stay in December 2009. A spotted house gecko at night.

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Another nocturnal creature, a katydid. This one's brown in colour, unlike the green ones I commonly see around here.
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And right outside near the porch was a rather big, black and shiny earwig.
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Have another look at its large hind pincers.
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Weaver Ants and the Mimic

So once again, I was back home and started my routine checks around the bushes by my house. I spotted a few of these large weaver ant nests, some high and some low among the trees.

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These ants sure are fearsome creatures and their bites are nasty. However, not far away I managed to find another 'weaver ant'- just that this one had 8 legs.
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Now here we have a weaver-ant-mimic-spider (thats a long name), a mimic of the common weaver ant. These spiders tend to act like weaver ants and use the opportunity to snatch away and feed on unaware weaver ants. Since they look really alike, most ants may not easily recognize them. And many predators, at one look may think they're one of those fierce ants and hence decide to leave them alone. As you can see, this spider seemed to have already feasted on a weaver ant when I took the picture.
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Dazzling Dragon

Up in the hills, it was tough to spot wildlife. Even if you do get a chance to spot a nice creature, there isn't a guarantee you'll get to photograph it. I'll end off with some pretty shots of a dragonfly. This yellow one was found near one of the dams.

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It flew off but I spotted another dragon close by, and this one looked stunning. It was much more rewarding than the previous dragonfly. I just love the crisp, golden-orange colour of the wings.
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I tried a few shots with flash when the clouds took over the sky. Nope, sunlight still beats the artificial light of the camera flash.
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Tiny Birds in Idukki

During the 3-4 days we had in Idukki, I spotted a couple of birds near the guest house we were staying. Of course, with my camera with a mere optical zoom of 3 times, it was really tough capturing decent shots of these birds. All I managed were some shots that are maybe, just enough for identification. I've identified some as the Red-Whiskered Bulbul.

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Poop!
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This is one species I've yet to identify. Well, not such a birder anyway!
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