be kind to animals

Yesterday was the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.

Not something people other than Catholics (and Anglicans) would know, or be expected to know.

St. Francis is the patron saint of animals and the environment. I don't know too much about him myself, only what I've learned from the little research I did today.

But his policy of being kind to animals, even to  a wolf,  'the fierce wolf that had ravished' the flocks of the people of some part of Italy 'because through hunger "Brother Wolf" had done this wrong'? 

That's got to make you think. 

Ours is a stewardship of the earth. 

#shadeofgreen- be kind to animals. Let them have their space. And may the tigers you befriend come to your funeral!
 

in memory of Ming, Simba, Rachel, Mumu, Kiko and all other beloved animals

(quotes from http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06221a.htm)

App-solutely ingenious!

Another post about apps.
The best part about technology is using it to make the world a better place. The Internet is where millennials develop a collective social consciousness, if we want to.
Everyone I grew up with knows the story of Noah and the Ark. But I'll tell it for those who haven't heard it: Many thousands of years ago, God was unhappy with humankind. Nobody was behaving in the manner He expected of them. So God decided to flood the earth and clean it of all the sordidness. There was one man, Noah, whose life pleased God. Noah was given a mission: he had to build an ark, and take his family and two of each kind of beast and bird into that ark while God washed the world. It rained and rained. When it finally stopped and the land dried, God promised never to send another flood. The rainbow is a sign of that promise. (I knew catechism would come in handy someday.) Because they protected so many creatures, I like to think that Noah and his family were conservationists.
Project Noah isn't related to the Biblical character. Noah here is an acronym, according to the site. It stands for Networked Organisms And Habitats.
The site, and app, help citizens of the world aid scientists in the collection of data. You take pictures, upload them and identify the species. I think that is such an interesting idea.
And with the Western Ghats having recently been given the title of World Heritage Site, I think it is doubly important that we record as much as we can. None of Goa's wildlife parks are in this year. Sigh.
Thank goodness Project Noah is available online- they don't have a Blackberry app, so no smart phone business for me. Never mind- I can't wait to get started!
For more apps-for-nature, read this BBC article.

jambul

Tis Jambul season. And kantam season. And Chunnam season.
Bought the jambuls in the picture on the streets of Panjim. 100/- for 80 berries. Quite nice.
Support local fruits and fruit pickers and vendors. The greater the demand for something, the more the people who make money off it are likely to fight for it (in this case, the trees)

Bird update: a coucal ate the eggs. It dropped one down- mum found some pieces.
Oh well.

red whiskered bulbuls

Remember I said I love observing the creatures around me? (In Robin and I)
Well, now I actually have a chance to observe, at close hand, a pair of red whiskered bulbuls nesting.

How do creatures without opposable thumbs form something so well? The nest's on an evergreen tree that you wouldn't think could take the weight of a bird as large as a bulbul, but so far it's doing well.
We weren't sure the bulbuls would choose to stay- we thought they might abandon the nest halfway because of the activity near it. (hardly my fault they chose to build near the front door)
We do our best not to disturb the parent that is in the nest. It (male? female? no distinguishing marks) doesn't sit on them throughout the day. I guess it gets hungry. And maybe it doesn't want to poach the eggs.

This was taken rather hurriedly, in a moment when the parent birds were on a break. Don't they look like candy-coated chocolate eggs?

I'm so excited! I hope I get to see the chicks! The countdown's begun- 10 days more...
BEST EASTER PRESENT EVER!!!

birding in Goa - 2

Last time I introduced you to Lloyd Fernandes, who runs Birds & Breakfast. Here's a little more information...

Lloyd's busiest period is from November to March, because that is when the two-legged visitors arrive- birds and people! Goa plays host to several migratory bird species and people, usually foreigners, come to see them. They arrive with long lists and tick off what they’ve seen, making notes about where they’ve seen which kind, how many times, etc. They have lists for each region, each country, and even each county, monitoring species and numbers. Lloyd believes that Goa too should have some sort of ‘bird audit’- this will help keep track of the birds of Goa and encourage people to watch them.

Every business needs publicity in order to grow. So far, Lloyd has relied purely on word of mouth. He recently started blogging to make himself and his work accessible to more people. Birds & Breakfast is also accessible on Facebook.

So, should you feel like waking up early one morning to gaze in awe at the birds, Lloyd’s the person to go to. He’ll even feed you!

birding in Goa- part 1

Most people in the bustling village of Calangute have tourism-related businesses. Lloyd Fernandes is no exception. The owner of several vehicles, he will ferry you to and from a place. He will drive you around Goa so you can see her natural and historical wonders. Besides these rather mundane activities, he will (if you are so inclined) take you bird watching.

Lloyd owns and runs Birds & Breakfast, which are exactly what he delivers. Each group that comes to him gets a custom-made experience, based on the kinds of birds they want to see and the places they want to visit. You walk through forests, stand beside lakes- just watch the birds, with Lloyd softly pointing out something you don't want to miss, like a golden oriole or Indian Pita (not the bread). And after that, a simple but delicious breakfast of tea or coffee, bread, boiled eggs, homemade mango jam, honey, and fruit.

Lloyd has been doing this for fourteen years now. He’s had a number of interesting bird experiences in that time: he’s held the chick of a red-wattled lapwing, seen a drongo eat a sunbird, and, in his own backyard, watched a pair of tailorbirds raise their young. The first group came to him in 1997. They gave him his first pair of binoculars and a book by DrSalim Ali. There’s been no looking back. Learning from and alongside the avid bird watchers who have hired him, Lloyd has seen over 400 of the birds that can be found in Goa. He can even recognize more than half of them by the sounds they make.


Next time- how you can get in touch with him!