Agasthya 5.3 Announcement and snippets

Snippets:

A pack of 15 wild dogs, trying to hunt down a sambar was spotted around Kakachi on 30th August by the ATREE frog team while sampling frogs in the forest. On the same night a porcupine and a snake, suspected to be a Ceylon cat snake were also sighted by them.

Comb Ducks were common around Singampatti between Jun to Sept often seen in flocks ranging from 15-60 at inundated paddy.

Ganesh and Prashanth, sighted a rusty-spotted cat, the smallest of all cats in the world, amidst a rocky scrub near Singampatti on 8th Sep.

A great stone plover and about 15 Ruff and Reeves were sighted at Sivagalai tank, Thoothukudi district by ATREE wetland bird team on 3rd Sept.

Thomas Mathibalan, a bird watcher from Sivagalai, mentioned that the Armugamangalam tank, an important wetland that holds water during the dry season for birds, went dry after a gap of 30 odd years. This was because water was pumped out of it to Thoothukudi city.

The broad-tailed grass bird, a known resident in the hills of KMTR, was seen near the Ooth tea estate by Seshadri and Prashanth on Sept 9th.

Migrant grey wagtails were seen at Nalmukh by the first week of September.

A dead ruddy mongoose was seen near Manimuthar forest check post on 2nd Sept by Seshadri and Allwin. It bore injuries on the face and had died in the wee hours of the morning, possibly run over by the bus to the estate.

A dead brown mongoose was seen in Manimuthar area by Seshadri and John on 27th September. Though it appeared to be road killed, there were no visible injuries.

A porcupine, mouse deer with two fawns, an un identified shield tail, a montane trinket and an un-identified civet were seen by Seshadri and John while doing field work in Kodayar between 28th-30th, September.

Members of the ATREE team trekked on the old Kandamparai forest route to Manjolai from the plains. They walked a little over 20 km and saw many frogs, birds and two spiders which dive underwater. They also encountered evidence of leopards and tigers several times along the route.

The north east monsoon set in vigorously on 25th Oct. By 31st Oct, 255 mm of rainfall had been recorded at the ACCC.

People of Nanalkulam, near the Vaagaikulam heronry celebrated a cracker free Deepavali.

Black necked Ibis, darters and little cormorants have begun to nest at Vaagaikulam.

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