Common Indian Tree Frog

The same night when I photographing Red Palm Weevil, I also had another guest in my kitchen. On the kitchen sink was a Common Indian Tree Frog or Chunam Tree Frog (Polypedates maculatus). It is a common species of tree frog found in India. During summer it visits moist places like kitchen and bathrooms.

The frog was quite shy. Photographing it on a shiny, moist, black kitchen sink posed a problem as all the glazed tile in the kitchen were reflective. Since it was night I had to use the flash. Canon Speedlite 580EX II flash with Rayflash adapter posed a similar issue. I used a black cloth over the tiles to prevent extra reflection. I tilted the Ray flash adapter so that its reflection is minimized. I had to do post processing on all these photos to remove the catch light of Ray flash adapter in the eye which was quite a distraction.

Taxonomy of these frogs is a mess as this same frog till few years ago was considered to belong to Rhacophorus genus and was called Rhacophorus maculatus. The northwestern subspecies Polypedates maculatus himalayensis was formerly considered an independent species. Polypedates leucomystax, a very similar species, was often included in Polypedates maculatus in former times.

Common Indian Tree Frog

These frogs measure about 7-8 cm in body length. They are mostly brownish, yellowish, greyish, or whitish above, with darker spots or markings, rarely with an hourglass-shaped figure on the back of the head and the front of the back. The loreal and temporal regions are dark; there is a light line on the upper lip. The hind side of the thighs has round yellow spots, which are usually separated by a dark brown or purplish network. The skin is smooth above, granulated on the belly and under the thighs; a fold extends from the eye to the shoulder. Males have internal vocal sacs.

Common Indian Tree Frog Up Close

It is widespread throughout Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, as well as western and southern Bangladesh to Chittagong District; its range might also extend into nearby China and Myanmar. This common and adaptable frog is listed as Species of Least Concern by the IUCN.

Common Indian Tree Frog Frontal View

They have day roosts that they may use regularly. Their call is a sudden short and rapid series of rattling rat-tats. They wipe themselves with skin secretions consisting of mucus and lipids that help in reducing moisture loss. When temperatures are higher they secrete fluid from the skin, pant and adopt lighter skin colors.

Black Drongo Frontal View

In the last blog I had talked on the Drongo I was chasing. So here are the photos of that photo session where I was chasing these group of Black Drongo’s for a nice pose . It was cloudy, windy and rainy evening. The weather was nice for photography, but light was insufficient.

Cloud was causing variation in light. Trying to capture near black subject against white background was a challenge. I took my meter reading from a single point metering from the body of the Drongo. As we all know camera meters are stupid and they try to adjust the meter to expose to 18% grey. So my black bird would come as 18% grey(means over exposed). To compensate for that I had to under expose by 1.5 stops to get accurate exposure. Other option is to look for some thing which is neutral like green grass which when you convert to grey scale is close to 18% grey and take reading from there. There is also a possibility of sky getting blown out due to higher brightness. Fortunately cloud helped me here to soften that effect. Therefore when you see somebody dismissing a cloudy, overcast day as bad time for photography, you can instantly judge their level of understanding of lighting and photography .

Black Drongo on a Street Light fixture

Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) is a very common breeding resident bird, found in open areas, wetlands and near cultivation. This is a glossy black bird with a long deeply forked tail. They are usually found in open forests and similar lightly wooded habitats from southwest Iran through India and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia.

These are aggressive and fearless birds, 28 cm in length, and will attack much larger species if their nest or young are threatened. There are also some cases of Drongos preying on small birds. They have also been on occasion seen feeding on dead fish.

Squabbling Black Drongos

The Black Drongo has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched prominently, like a shrike. The adult Black Drongo is mainly glossy blue-black, although the wings are duller. The tail is long and deeply forked, and there is a white spot in front of the eye. Young birds are dull dark brown.

It lays three or four eggs are laid in a light cup nest placed in a fork often on the bare outer branches of trees.

It eats insects and other small animals. It will attack much larger species if their nest or young are threatened. There are also some cases of Drongos preying on small birds. They have also been on occasion seen feeding on dead fish.

Black Drongo on a Street Light fixture

The Black Drongo has been introduced to some Pacific islands, where it has thrived and become abundant to the point of threatening and causing the extinction of native and endemic bird species there.

It is said that they imitate the call of the Shikra so as to put mynas to flight and then to steal prey. Similar behavior, using false alarm calls, has been noted in the Fork-tailed Drongo. There are some cases of the Black Drongo preying on small birds, reptiles, or maybe even bats.

Black Drongo Dorsal View

Being common, they have a wide range of local names. The older genus name of Buchanga was derived from the Hindi name of Bhujanga. Other local names include Thampal in Pakistan, Gohalo/Kolaho in Baluchistan, Kalkalachi in Sindhi, Kotwal (=policeman) in Hindi; Finga in Bengali; Phenchu in Assamese: Phenchu; Cheiroi in Manipuri; Kosita/ Kalo koshi in Gujarati; Ghosia in Marathi; Kajalapati in Oriya; Kari kuruvi (=charcoal bird), Erettai valan (=two tail) in Tamil; Passala poli gadu in Telugu; Kaaka tampuratti (=queen of crows) in Malayalam; Kari bhujanga in Kannada and Kauda in Sinhalese.

A superstition in central India is that cattle would lose their horn if a newly fledged bird alighted on it. It is held in reverence in parts of Punjab in the belief that it brought water to Husain ibn Ali, an Islamic prophet.

First Glimpse of Kavaratti

Tossing and turning all through the night, I somehow managed to spend that night in that hot and humid ship cabin. Ship’s air conditioner was still not repaired. As the early morning sun peeped through the windows I went up to the deck and was greeted by a great sunrise together with nice sprinkle of clouds. Passengers Kavaratti already started disembarking from the ship.

Cloud Cover

Far away in the horizon we could see the island of Kavaratti. After breakfast we boarded the ferry which took us to the capital of Lakshadweep, Kavaratti. The water was crystal clear & we could clearly see the bottom.

Blue Sea

Boats at Kavaratti Harbor

Just like other islands everything started with welcome drink of coconut. The beach was again amazing with white sand. As we spent waiting for the tide to raise so that we can go in the glass bottomed boat ride, our team elders and kids had great time building castles & dungeons in the white coral sand.

Caves & Castles

Then it was time for a glass bottom boat ride. The water is absolutely crystal clear. You could clearly see the aquatic life and the corals from the bottom of your boat. There were live coral, marine ornamental fishes and associated flora and fauna all under us visible through that thick glass at the floor of the boat. Here are few photos (of the 1000+ photos) I took from the boat through that thick glass. Uneven thick Glass has resulted in distortion as well as chromatic aberration which I was unable to correct.

Corals from Glass Bottom Boat

More corals

More corals

Amazing Variety

Brain Coral

It was sight of our lifetime. Live coral species in the lagoon, besides shoals of different species of marine fishes, a large number of sea-cucumbers of varying size, turtles, sea anemones. Around 30% of the corals were live and the rest were dead corals. Patches of sea grass and sea weeds were seen in some shallow water zones.

Powder Blue Surgeon Fish

Corals

Black Surgeon Fish

In the lagoon area we could see patches of different coral species including live finger corals, Brain Corals, Porites sp., soft corals and other animals, besides the algal assemblages on dead corals. Everybody in the boat were screaming in joy at the sight of colorful fishes & corals and sea turtles.

Variety of Sea life

Finger Corals

Maldive Clown fish with Magnificent Anemone

Final part of the joy came in finding Nemo, the clown fish & sea anemone symbiosis. We could also spot different varieties of Surgeon fish among those corals.

Once back, we lazed on the beach again. Unlike in Kalpeni snorkeling was not free here. On payment of 200 bucks, you can get to go snorkeling. Initially I was reluctant to go snorkeling here because I had done it in Kalpeni, but the corals and marine life seemed better here, so took a shot.

The instructor Mr. Bashir was really helpful in explaining technique of snorkeling. We had great set of life jacket & snorkeling gear. Here snorkeling is in deep sea. He showed us how to do snorkeling in deep waters even though I was not a swimmer. The fascinating marine world really opens only after we learn how to do proper snorkeling in this deep coral filled sea. We were thrilled to see the colorful fishes, corals & fauna. They live their own sweet tiny little world. We saw fishes of all colors, shapes & sizes zooming past us. Amazing variety of sea life which I was unable to capture but my friend Prasanna who purchased Panasonic waterproof camera just for this trip has shot beautiful underwater shots which you can see in this Picassa album.

Life jacket helped me to stay afloat and correct technique of snorkeling he showed me it was breeze to learn and enjoy. The snorkeling at Kavaratti is a must-do. There were few from our group who went for scuba diving. Since I had opted for snorkeling instead of scuba I missed that. After an hour of snorkeling, I came out tired, then the lunch was served. The lunch was good here.

Folk Dance

Local Ladies

Post lunch, we had usual cultural entertainment in the form of folk dance. We also visited an aquarium and museum of Kavaratti. A large sperm whale skeleton, several shells and varieties of fish, sea creatures preserved in formalin were there for display. Marine aquarium featured of few reef marine life. We could spot some species which we saw in the morning during our snorkeling trip.

Yellow Box fish in Aquarium

Kavaratti is the capital of Lakshadweep. It is also administrative center for all the islands of Lakshadweep with several Government offices. The Island land area is around 3.63 sq.km, with a population of 10,113 (2001 Census). Kavaratti has a lagoon on the west coast, which spreads to around 4.9 sq.km.

Rock Lobster in Aquarium

Due to some unknown reasons we were not shown the following two must see attractions of Kavaratti even though they were mentioned in the web site. First was the desalination plant set up by the National Institute of Ocean Technology which is based on pressure and temperature differential in the seawater and not on membrane (RO) technology. The plant was the sole source of drinking water being piped free of cost to every household in the island.

Critically Endangered Hawk bill Turtle in Marine Aquarium

Second was Ujra Mosque is the most beautiful among the 52 mosques in , Kavaratti, the capital island of Lakshadweep. The Ujra mosque is known to have been built by Sheikh Mohammad Kasim in 1670. The skill of Kavaratti’s craftsmen can be seen in the Ujra Mosque, the most outstanding of the 52 mosques of this Union Territory. The ceiling of the mosque is made of driftwood and ornately carved and painted in complementary shades of green and red.

When we asked the tour conductor they said the present itinerary of the Kavaratti trip did not include those two items. Since the time was running out we decided not to take risk of venturing in the island on our own and decided to take ferry back to our ship after the mandatory group shot at the beach. That was last island of Lakshadweep Atolls we are supposed to visit in this trip.

Our group

With heavy heart and sleepless eyes we bid farewell to the beautiful island. When we reached the ship we were in for a surprise. Ships engineers had repaired the air conditioner and we sighed a sense of relief. As the sun dipped down in the sea near Kavaratti ship started to sail away. Sharp 8 PM dinner was served after which we settled in our cabins for a well deserved good night sleep.

Setting Sun

Peeping through the clouds

Goodbye Lakshadweep

We were to reach Kochi harbor next day to conclude our 5 day journey.

You can check the other parts of this series here.

• Nir-Laksha Dweepa-Day1-Kochi
• Nir-Laksha Dweepa-Day2-Kalpeni
• Nir-Laksha Dweepa-Day3-Minicoy