Barred Buttonquail Turnix Suscitator

Buttonquails resemble true quails, though they belong to an entirely different family ‘Turnicidae’. Barred Buttonquail occurs across India, south China, and south-east Asia. In the Himalayas, it is known to be distributed up to 2500m. The species is also known as ‘Common Buttonquail’. In Corbett Tiger Reserve, Barred Buttonquail occurs in grassland and scrubland habitat […]

Smooth Indian Otter at Jhirna Sot, Corbett Tiger Reserve

The smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) is found across South and South-east Asia. It occurs in suitable habitat across most of India and prefers freshwater lakes, rivers, ponds, wetlands etc, though it is also known to occur in salt water along with the coastal areas. It is a large otter weighing about 7-11 kg and growing […]

Butterfly Season at Jim’s Jungle Retreat

Butterfly Season at Jim’s Jungle Retreat Lycaenidae is the largest family of butterflies with more than 6000 species found across the world. In India there are more than 440 species of butterflies belonging to this family. Most of these species have blue upperparts and hence these are called ‘Blues’. Rounded Pierrot is a tiny butterfly […]

Don’t Step on a Bee Day

Don’t Step on a Bee Day (10th July 2019) Bees belong to family ‘Apidae’ that includes Honeybees belonging to genus ‘Apis‘. Honeybees are eusocial in nature exhibiting characteristics including highest level of social organization, cooperative brood care, colony consisting of overlapping generations of adults and division of labour into reproductive and non reproductive groups. Worldwide […]

Bengal Bushlark (Mirafra Assamica) at Corbett Tiger Reserve

Bengal Bushlark (Mirafra Assamica) at Laldhang Grassland, Dhela Tourism Zone, Corbett Tiger Reserve Bengal Bushlark has a strong bill, short tail, white supercilium, strong dark streaks on grey upperparts, spotting on upper breast and behind the ear-coverts, warm coloration to underparts and rufous coloration to the wings. It is resident in the Indian subcontinent and […]

Russell’s Viper at Tumaria Reservoir, Corbett Tiger Reserve

Russell’s Viper at Tumaria Reservoir, southern periphery of Corbett Tiger Reserve The Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii), is a highly venomous snake found across much of South Asia, south-east Asia, southern China, and Taiwan. Characterized by a flattened, triangular head that is distinctly broader than the neck and a pattern of oval-shaped markings along its body, […]

Sloth Bear pair in Dhela Tourism Zone, Corbett Tiger Reserve

The sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) is found across parts of the Indian Subcontinent including India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The species prefers grasslands, scrublands and tropical forests up to 1500 meters elevation. They have a shaggy coat and a lanky appearance, a mane around the neck and long sickle-shaped claws. Sloth Bear is omnivorous in […]

Indian Owlet-Moth (Spirama Retorta) at Jim’s Jungle Retreat

Indian Owlet-moth is a beautiful nocturnal moth belonging to ‘Eribidae’ family of moths. It has a large distribution range from Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China to India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and south-east Asia in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The species displays an interesting pattern on its wings that […]

Indian Scops Owl (Otus bakkamoena) – A Resident Owl of Jim’s Jungle Retreat

Indian Scops Owl is a species found across southern Asia from Arabia in the west, through the Indian Subcontinent, and till Indonesia in Southeast Asia. It is a beautiful owl, about 23-25 cm in size. The species prefers forests and woodland areas and can occur in human habitations close to the forest. This family of […]

Kalij Pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos)

The Kalij Pheasant is a species occurring from the Pakistan Himalayas in the west to Thailand in the east. There are at least nine subspecies found across the distribution range of the species. The coloration of the males varies among the different subspecies but the western birds belonging to subspecies ‘hamiltoni’, also known as White-crested […]