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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Night Surprise - Stick Insect

The night at our guest house was a great night, however. It was really cool and we all had to stay inside to avoid catching a cold. However, before getting back indoors, I found something that made me do otherwise.

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On the front porch was this long stick insect, one of the biggest I've seen so far in India. I started photographing it as it stay still on the porch, ignoring me and my camera flashes.

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Soon, I decided to get it onto my hand and let it crawl over me. I got my cousin to take some pictures of it on me. Once I got it onto my palm, it became active and started walking around my hand. Guess it was 'day dreaming' all the while. I let go of the stick insect onto some nearby plants, and then went indoors to sleep.

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A Big Family Trip to the Hills of Idukki

Just a few days after coming back from Calicut, our family, together with two other relatives and their families decided to go for a trip to the wild and hilly areas in the Idukki district. To be honest, I really didn't like the fact that even our parents were coming, together with small kids that were only about 3 years old. This meant trouble, and that's exactly what happened. Some of the adults and kids started vomiting while the mini-bus climbed the mountains. By the end of the day, we reached a guest house and stayed there for the night. Here are some shots that I took during the ride. This is a view from the guest house we stayed.

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Some shots that I took from one of the mountains we climbed.

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While travelling in the coach, we could see many tea plantations by the sides, all looking great in green. Many tea pickers were also at work.

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Here's a shot I took while crossing a dam. Mountains surrounded by shimmering water, with low clouds floating above them. We are not allowed to take photographs of the dam, however. Photographs would have looked much better if I had a Digital SLR Camera, but I'll have to wait for long to get one.

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Generally the trip was okay, except the fact that all we did was just travel. We didn't get out into the forests much, and hence hardly any wildlife was spotted. Many of us were feeling sick by the end of the trip. So from then I have decided that if I were to go for a wildlife trip, I'd only go with someone who's not too young or not too old.