Research
in the rainforest had long been a tantalizing proposition for me. Rumbling down
the jeep track on that first foggy morning, I was full of excitement for the
days to follow, and sheer joy for being in a rainforest. As luck would have it,
Paromita, a sprightly co-volunteer deftly showed me around the research
station. I was awestruck by the beauty of the place, its pools and streams and
dense forest. There were two resident Malabar Pit Vipers, countless little
geckos and nocturnal visitors – scorpions - that warrant a thorough shoe check
every morning. Large Brahminy skinks chase one another, and occasionally little
snakes, on the leaf litter. A little white macaque skull sits with an old grey
bovine one at the entrance.
ARRS is
located on a small erstwhile plantation of betel nut and paddy field,
surrounded by forest. Kalinga Mane (Kannada for King Cobra House) houses the neat
and very comfortable dormitory, kitchen and open dining area. The office is one
of the classiest I have seen, with traditional carved columns and doors, and a
great view. The adjoining library is compact and cosy and contains a diverse
collection of journals, magazines, encyclopaedias, field guides and even fiction.
There are three lovely cottages on the premises at strategic locations.
Verandah
next to office. Photo by:
Mallika Sardeshpande
My work as a volunteer here was
to collect data on dragonflies. We were observing their activity throughout the
day at a little pool in the paddy field. This meant that we often heard and saw
birds and even the Malabar Giant Squirrel at close quarters! Paromita and I
would quietly stalk the species of our interest, swoop down on them with an
insect net, gently mark their wingtips with colour codes and release them. We
tracked their hunting flights and rather aggressive territorial chases and
ended up basking in the sun with them all day. Some very interesting and
heartening discussions would ensue during these hours.
One of
the marked Trumpet Tail. Photo by: Paromita Mukherjee
Just a casual walk around the place could mean encountering
at least a dozen species. Look down and you will find ants (procession ants,
jumping ants, golden-backed ants, weaver ants and so on), slugs, snakes,
scorpions, tracks and droppings (of boars, cattle, deer, leopards, civets to
name a few). Look up in the trees and you will find birds, frogs (bush frogs,
gliding frogs, etc), agamid lizards (Calotes and Draco)
and mammals (giant squirrels, flying squirrels, slender loris, civets). And it
is equally important to look straight ahead as there are many spiders of all
sizes, shapes and colours (funnel spiders, wood spiders, giant wood spiders,
jumping spiders and many more) in their elaborate webs.
Butterflies
mud-puddling. Photo by: Joris Wiethase
Mornings are often begun with
the enchanting song of the endemic Malabar Whistling Thrush that likes to perch
on the dormitory roof. Woodpeckers are especially active in the mornings, and
the reverberations of hollow tree trunks being hammered can deceive one into
thinking that these birds are quite large. They are in fact flamboyant little
things that deftly maintain minimum visibility despite being right before or
above you or swiftly changing trees. The Greater Racket-tailed Drongos are unabashed
in their playful banter, sometimes making startlingly complex combinations of
screeches and whistles. Yellow-browed Bulbuls, another endemic species abound
here, often flocking with different birds to make a collective effort at
disturbing and thus seeking out insects. Malabar Giant Squirrels can get quite
loud and White-bellied Treepies dominate the soundscape with what Joris,
another co-volunteer, described as computer game sounds. The Malabar Grey
Hornbill takes the cake, though. Its signature cackling calls would always
crack us up and reiterate the importance of laughter.
The
station is run mainly on solar power. By day, skylights in the traditional
tiled roofs allow bright diffused sunlight to bathe the indoors. The bathrooms
provide the luxury of hot water, a by-product of cooking. Evenings are
illuminated by LED lamps, but more so by conversations over dinner. Some nights
we would watch superb documentaries – not only published ones, but also some
awesome footage recorded by researchers during the King Cobra Telemetry Project
and an ongoing study on Yellow-wattled Lapwings.
Ajay
Giri is the resident snake rescuer. He is often summoned even in distant
villages when the situation is too tricky or the snake too risky for local
rescuers. Witnessing four King Cobra rescues and two Spectacled Cobra rescues
left me in wide-eyed wonder! The snakes are found in small tanks and wells,
attics, sheds, even in living rooms, on gates, and trees. Ajay records the GPS
coordinates, location and time of capture and release as well as the situation
of the snake confrontation. The vital statistics of the snake are recorded too!
The composed manner in which Ajay handles the snake and the situation is
admirable and insightful, and so is the interaction that follows the rescue.
The villagers talk to him about all kinds of wildlife, conflict, risks and
habitats and he hands out informative leaflets to them.
During
Human-Snake Conflict Mitigation. Photo
by: Ajay Giri
Dhiraj
Bhaisare, the research administrator is a treasure trove of knowledge. Walking
with him around the area gave us much to appreciate. He showed us India’s
smallest (Oriental Grass Jewel) and largest (Southern Birdwing) butterflies,
the Hump-nosed Pit Viper we could have either missed or stepped on, and a
beautiful Nilgiri Forest Lizard that we may not have otherwise identified, all
on one walk. He also has detailed answers to practically all kinds of questions
and casually drops thought-provoking questions and ideas around.
Ramprasad
Rao is an amphibian and ichthyofauna researcher. He was kind enough to
take us to the serene Jogi Gundi falls and the spectacular Onake Abbe falls.
Walking through the forest, he gave us bytes on trees, geckos, frogs, fish and
scat, and very convincingly mimicked some bird calls. The Malabar Whistling
Thrush began to sing with him! He also took us to the forest to extract a wild
bee colony one morning. I was delighted to see him gently cup handfuls of bees
out of a tree hollow and into the bee box. After much persuasion on my part and
concerned hesitation on his, I finally tried it myself. It was a great feeling,
fuzzy buzzing bees all over my hands! This awesome threesome is the soul of the
research station. Keeping the station well-maintained is a local staff
including the cook Nagaraj who never fails to please with hot nutritious and
flavourful meals.
The
view from Onake Abbe falls. Photo
by: Mallika Sardeshpande
There
is a pair of camera traps in the forest, one recording video clips and another
taking pictures. Going through the records, we saw many deer, a group of ten
wild boars, quite some cattle and of course humans including us captured on
camera. One of the mornings, a leopard walked down the path around 11am. At 4pm
that day, we went down the very same path; we returned though, and the leopard
didn’t. As though that wasn’t thrill enough, we used to go out every single
night with torches. Occasionally we’d carry a UV light too, to spot the
fluorescent green scorpions emerging from their burrows in the pitch dark
night. We spotted frogs, snakes, slugs and the Malabar Flying Squirrel a couple
of times. The Slender Loris was often heard but seldom seen. We were absolutely
thrilled to find Sri Lanka Frogmouths with the help of recorded calls. However
we couldn’t come up with a suitable study design for them. Either way, we made
the most of it by gazing at the tremendously clear star-strewn sky every night.
A
monthly phenomenon, the light trap set up by Deepak CK, JRF at NCBS, is a sight
to behold. A simple square cloth enclosure open to sky, it attracts moths of at
least 30 different species (yes, I counted) between 9pm and 3am (those are
Deepak’s work hours). The first to arrive are pearly white beauties, some with
heavy gold and silver designs adorning their wings. They literally look like
jewels. As the night progresses, an array of moths convene on the walls,
turning them into works of living biological art. The iridescence, camouflage,
patterns, and above all, the astounding variety is awe-inspiring. Naturally, it
also is a feast for frogs and lizards. Hawk moths are the group of interest here,
and Deepak collects specimens whenever a new species arrives to maintain record
of the species present in Western Ghats. Forty two species of Hawk Moths have
been documented from Agumbe till date.
Fortunate
as I am, Romulus Whitaker visited along with Zai Whitaker, Nikhil Whitaker and
Dr. Gowri Mallapur while I was volunteering. Cheerful, charming and very
friendly, he spoke to us about our experiences and shared his own. Joris and I
undertook a small survey on the habitat occupancy of the grasslands near the
station. The lapwings had begun to arrive. Most birds were seen flying in
pairs. We scouted for nocturnal birds too, but no nightjar, owl or frogmouth
called or responded to our playback either. The environment was so charged and
I learned a lot of things in my nineteen days at the station. Now I sit with my
laptop, sifting through the collected data looking for trends and patterns.
This was a life-building experience, and I aspire to return to ARRS and
contribute some good research.
Article by: Mallika
Sardeshpande, Pune
Volunteer: 7th to 25th January 2015
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