A quiet Monday morning took an unexpected turn when our housekeeper mentioned a snake in the basement. I went down to check. Barely a foot long, it was a juvenile saw-scaled viper. Small, but fully equipped. Hatchlings of this species are born with functional solenoglyphous fangs and working venom glands, so size offers no reassurance. It was stuck fast on a glue pad from a rat trap, exhausted by repeated attempts to escape. I worked slowly, carefully easing it free. Glue on

A common wolf snake visits our basement

There’s never a dull day at our Nandi Hills home. This morning, while I was having breakfast, my house help rushed in to say that a...

Since I first began visiting our site, the red-vented bulbuls have been familiar companions. They perch openly, flit across the garden,...

For a month, I kept watch over the Tickell’s blue flycatchers nesting in the hollow of a teak root bar stool in our garden. The wait was...

The Tickell’s blue flycatcher hatchlings in the bar stool nest are six days old. If I’ve got it right, they have about eight days left...

A presence in the weep hole This morning, while in my study, I noticed something brown nestled in the weep hole of the retaining wall...

For much of early July, I found myself peering out from behind a camouflaged blind, watching a small drama unfold on our outdoor deck....

There’s something quietly affirming about seeing design embraced by nature. In our outdoor bar area—just beside the live-edge teak table...

A couple of evenings ago, just as light was fading, we thought we saw something. A large silhouette on the roof of Sukoon—possibly an...

From bougainvillea bloom to Champa tree branch, a young white-eye takes its first steps into the sky. In our garden, something quiet and...

Last week, a neighbour from our community asked me for garden/landscape recommendations - this query and my subsequent response after...

It's been five days since I saw the eggs in the bulbul (pycnonotus cafer) nest - I was at our site yesterday and noticed the red vented...

While we were the first site owners in our development to break ground two years ago, many of our neighbours have started home...

My first saw scale viper up close, Goa 2019 My first opportunity to photograph snakes up close was during an exciting midnight hike in...

This morning I was wandering around the site and stopped by the boulder under the ficus tree. I noticed what looked like unusual tiny...

I usually check out the close circuit cameras at site a few times a day. Since I cant visit Nandi Hills everyday, this gives me a visual...

Some brands become synonymous with a product category - like Google for search or Xerox for photocopying... The parallel in the...