I have A New address!

Terra farmer has moved to a new home:) The new

address is http://kanak7.wordpress.com/

Would love to have all my blogger friends visit my new page!

A Treasure Trove Of Wings II

What's a blogger to do if Blogger is bent on not letting her format her

posts? Should I write on the Comments section or post the text

separately? I chose the latter even if it makes me feel somewhat

foolish it's better post than wait for weeks (maybe) for the technical

snag to vanish!

With thirty tomato plants firmly in the ground (in my backyard) and

some eggplants in several pots, there's hardly anything that I need to

do in my ribbony strip of land. So I headed over to my sister's house

yesterday to photograph birds. She lives in a neighbourhood that's been

inhabited for a longer period than mine. One look at the trees and you

know how ancient that place is!

It helped that a house in the vicinity was uninhabited, derelict, and the

once flourishing garden was going to seed. But as I stood there with my

camera with the lizards, and myriad butterflies all flitting on the blooms

of the most invasive weeds of our region, the thought of leaving certain

areas wild in one's garden made much sense to me. Although the birds

weren't many yesterday,there were wings galore. I even saw a bee-like

insect with vivid colours, one that I had never seen before.

As for the lizards (I'm posting only one photo), many of them seemed

to be happy basking in the reluctant warmth of a wintry sun. And the

lizard with Attitude almost seemed to say..."Come on! This is where the

eagles dare and I need to go back before they fly over and hang out on

that tall tree there!" And a fine specimen it was! Others paled into

insignificance beside her:)

Here's a list of what I photographed. There are many more photos but

I'm keeping those for two reasons. The first is that I've posted the images

quite a few times so I don't want to bore you with the same species, the

Pansy varieties, for example. The second is for the lean season:) If that

comes at all!!! So here we go............

1. Parrot pecking at a guava in my sister's garden

2. Eagle on a tall tree in the neighbour's yard

3. The same eagle

4. A sparrow-like bird commonly seen in gardens

5.Lizard with Attitude

6. Common Gull butterfly

7.Crimson-tailed Marsh Hawk dragonfly

8.One of the Satyrs

9.Plain Tiger butterfly

10. Another satyr

11. Common Castor butterfly

12. An unidentified bee-like bug

13. The same

14. Common pierrot butterfly

I hope you liked seeing some of the wildlife of this neighbourhood. Please

check out the last post for the images.

A Treasure Trove Of Wings- I

A Himalayan Sunrise

A must-do on the Darjeeling visitor's list is to watch the sunrise over 

the magnificent mountains. The best view is from Tiger Hill which is 

at a height of 8,515 ft.  My niece took these series of photos of the sun

rising over Mt. Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world.

The local name of the mountain means "Five treasures in the snow"

referring to its five summits all above 8,000 mtrs. The last photo

shows Pumili at the Flower Exhibition Centre at Gangtok in the

mountainous state of Sikkim. The photo just above was taken at the

same location. I hope you enjoy going through these images.

High Tea!!

Although tea is grown in many areas of India, Assam and Darjeeling are the

most well-known the world over. The flavour of Darjeeling tea is unique and

is called the Champagne of Teas! My niece, Pumili, was there recently and

this is a photo that she took of a tea garden in Darjeeling. 

Tea is grown at an altitude ranging from 600 to 2000 mtrs. The cool and

moist climate, the soil, the rainfall, and the terrain, all combine to give

Darjeeling tea its special taste. More about the different kinds of

flavour can be found here.

Blooming Friday/Flowers From The Hornbill Festival

My last post had nothing to do with blooms, or gardening

for that matter, but I was coming to that. It was just that

I had to wait till Blooming Friday to post these pictures:)

Every year there's an amazing display of flowers at the

Hornbill Festival and I told my husband to take

as manypictures!! These are the images he got for me.

I love them all!!

There's something wrong with the formatting now but

I hope you click on the pictures. To see what's blooming

around the world, please visit Katarina's Roses and Stuff.

I don't know the names of the orchids but I hope you

enjoy viewing the anthuriums, the roses, liliums, and

the bougainvillea. And of course, the succulents and

the poinsettias.

The Hornbill Festival

The week-long Hornbill festival in the neighbouring state of Nagaland concluded on the 7th of December. Named after the Great Indian Hornbill, the most famous bird of the state, the festival showcases the best that the state and its people has to offer. Craft, sculpture, foodstalls, floral exhibits and the rich cultural heritage of the different tribes are beautifully displayed.

The photo on the left (for some reason Blogger isn't allowing me to continue with my usual format) shows the replica of the birds.

Belonging to the family Bucerotidae, hornbills are found in

tropical and su-tropical regions of the world. They have long,

curved bills which are generally brightly coloured. The name

refers to the shape of the bill. Buceros being "cow horn" in

Greek. They nest in natural cavities in trees and sometimes

on cliffs.

The hornbills are noted for their nesting habit. The male seals

the female into the cavity and feeds her through a bill-sized

opening for as long as the female incubates the eggs. That could

be anything from a period of six weeks to three months.

(Facts taken from Wiki)

My husband was there during the last two days of the festival. These

are the images he came back with. Several tribes, there are as many

as sixteen, put on a grand show. He's still raving about it. I can under-

stand why and I'll surely be there next year:)

With the the image of the bird in the background, traditional

dancers prepare to take the stage. The festival is growing in

name and very soon it could well be the best known from our

region. I hope you've enjoyed viewing these images.

A Random Winter Post

There's a lot of promise in this leaf as the hues show. And so much a

part of this season. Whether on the ground or in pots, they're not to

be missed! My potted poinsettia is just beginning not to be' green only'!

And all the nurseries wear this look now. New and tender plants all

in plastic bags neatly lined up.

In my sister's garden the poinsettia is standing tall in a blaze of red!

Most mornings our city is covered in winter haze. I took this

photograph on my way to a market on the outskirts this morning.

For the freshest produce straight from the local farmers, it's worth

going all the way!

And winter also reminds me of other areas of our region where

we head over during our sons' school break. The expanse of the

Brahmaputra captured in the northernmost part of Assam by

my husband during one such vacation.

Mountains and rivers....a perfect combination for a great winter

break. Another shot from the archives. This and the one below

were taken on another vacation to the neighbouring state of

Arunachal Pradesh. The view of the snow-clad Himalayan ranges

is one of the highlights of the trip.

The place where we love to be....almost every winter we head

towards the Nameri sanctuary on the banks of the river

Jia-Bharali. These are the camps we stay in. The place is

a birder's paradise.

There's so much to look forward to in this season. The roadside

flower vendors are out in full force:) I bought some marigolds,

tuberose and gerbera plants today. I've planted tomatoes and

coriander. The cherry tomatoes have re-seeded and the

nasturtiums have followed suit. Didn't I tell you that this is

our best season?!!