Stylish houses n killer windows…!!

This beautiful Small Blue Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) died after crashing on a window

Birds collide on windows like this which are reflecting the landscapes

Glass was an amazing invention which is now an essential part of daily life of human beings. Mirrors, specs, pots, screens, lights, windows n blah blah blah…; for lots n lots of things we use glass. None of the civilized person spends his/her day without looking at some glass material. Mirrors got the most important value in human life but use of glass for windows is taking noticeably big place in glass industry. Use of glass sheets is unbelievingly increasing to give a stylish look to the buildings. Unfortunately these bigger windows are killing many birds. Despite having exceptional sight, birds have a difficult time seeing glass. Instead, they see the reflection of the sky and plants, which they think indicates a safe area to fly, particularly if they are startled or threatened. While a strong window collision can kill a bird on impact, many times birds are stunned and appear to recover and fly away. Unfortunately, these injured birds may later suffer internal haemorrhaging and brain swelling that leads to death. Stunned birds may also be less agile fliers and more disoriented, making them vulnerable to predators. To prevent these incidents there are several easy ways to make our windows more visible and avoidable for birds. Depending on the design and location of windows we should try some ways to reduce reflection.

The last hunt...

This primarily arboreal bronzeback tree snake (Dendrelaphis spp.) was killed by a vehicle of the apex predator HUMAN while it was devouring its prey on the road. I have heard many people saying “why do they have to cross the road?” however we deny to accept the reality that we are crossing through their habitats by making roads.

Spreading Humans... Vanishing Wildlife...!!

End of life under the wheels.

Monitor lizard ( Varanus bengalensis )

Forest calotes ( Calotes rouxi )

Giant forest scorpion ( Heterometrus phipsoni )

Indian tiger centipede ( Scolopendra hardwickei )

As the human population spreading voraciously all across the world, need of land for shelter & food production is apparently growing faster. We are destroying forests for agriculture & then killing wild animals by considering them as intruders in human habitation. In the name of need of transportation & connectivity across the world we made roads, cutting down the forests..., apparently creating easiness to hunt wildlife. We widened roads in the name of need of speed which indirectly worked as permit to kill wildlife on road.

The images are showing brutal death of three rat snakes killed by a JCB machine in a day while levelling a fallow land for construction.

Road... The Final Destination...!!

Speed..... is the need of today's lifestyle n passion for some. But it should be lowered down when we are passing through forested areas because poor wild animals are unknown to the traffic rules and ultimately they get killed under wheels. Mortality rate on road is particularly high in reptiles and specially snakes, as they get false perception of wideness of road and take more time to move across. Arboreal snakes are the one which get killed most often while crossing the road as they find it difficult to move on such surface and when suddenly any vehicle appears they just stop moving so apparently get squashed.

Montane trinket snake (Coelognathus helena monticollaris)

Hill keelback snake (Amphiesma monticola)

Striped keelback snake (Amphiesma stolatum)

Green vine snake (Ahaetulla nasuta)

Checkered keelback snake (Xenochrophis piscator)

Beddome's keelback snake (Amphiesma beddomei)

Common cat snake (Boiga trigonata)

King cobra (Ophiophagus hannah)

Brown vine snake (Ahaetulla pulverulenta)

Indian rat snake (Ptyas mucosa)

Ceylon cat snake (Boiga ceylonensis)

Hump-nosed pit viper (Hypnale hypnale)

Russell's kukri snake (Oligidon taeniolatus)

Travancore wolf snake (Lycodon travancoricus)

Dead end...!!

Bird of prey became a prey...!!

Road kill on 25'th March 2010 at Agumbe-Guddekeri road, Karnataka.

Oriental scops owl ( Otus sunia )

This beautiful bird of prey became prey of superfast vehicle on Agumbe-Guddekeri road, which is approx. 8 km long road crossing through evergreen & semi-evergreen rain forest with scattered human habitation within it, which cutting it into disturbed forest patches. Lots other wild animals are getting killed on these roads regularly. So instead of only praying for their lives, we should lower down human speeds which is killing forests voraciously.

Killer Roads...!!

Road kill on 17'th December 2009 at Agumbe-Hosagadde road, Karnataka.

Small Indian Civet ( Viverricula indica )

I saw the civet first time ever in my life... & that was dead!! Thanks to PWD for making wide roads through forests & to superb drivers who are able to kill these wild animals so easily. Agumbe-Hosagadde is approx. 8 km long road crossing through evergreen & semi-evergreen rain forest with scattered human habitation within it, which cutting it into disturbed forest patches. Many poor wild animals are dying regularly while trying to cross the road in search of food, mate & better habitat. More & wider roads mean faster speeds which leads to more wildlife deaths. Planning a road through forests is akin to giving vehicles a licence to kill.