המועדפים של sriharsha444

Approx 3-4 ft long. Took ~4 hours to eat a giant Asian Toad.

Going by hood pattern and other general features, the same individual has been caught at least 6 times in the last few months within 500m of the previous sighting. First confirmed sighting of this one was on May 18 (reported here - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/53957719) and again on 6th June by a neighbour (not reported here). More recently on August 13 here (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/56320406) and again on November 1 (not reported here, preying on an Indian Toad again). Most recently on November 21 reported here (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66518871) and had just eaten another Toad.

Platythomisus sudeepi

This is not a new spider for me, I have seen this in  October 2020 at Vasanthi akkas farm. Vasanthi akka had spotted this beautiful crab spider &  because of this spider, I had visited her farm. Thanks to Flat crab spider !
Though I had clicked pics, its like visiting zoo & taking photograph. There will no much special feelings . its always  special ,when its sighted by me without anyone's help. Its excitement when we get something special without expectations.  such was this . on Vijayadashami day, that's last day of DASARA exactly after three years I was fortunate to see Platythomisus sudeepi over its egg sac !
coincidentally, exactly on Vijayadashami day I had visited vasanthi akkas farm to get Darshana of this beautiful Red spider . Spider was breeding on leaf of Hopea ponga , threatened species from westernghats ! Hopea ponga, locally called as kalmara was found everywhere & we have reached a point that this common tree is now listed under threatened species .
 October 2023
 puttur.

I was attracted to the ruckus made by crows from a tree, about 200 m. from where I stood. Expecting them to be mobbing an unfortunate owl or bird of prey, I approached the tree, taking my time. The mobbing persisted.

When I finally reached the spot some ten minutes later I could see some 30+ House Crows cawing and flying around the target tree, which was a modest, barren tree with slender branches on which I first noticed the swinging of a bushy tail.

On approaching closer, I saw the small, fawn-coloured cat trying to get down from the tree but getting intimidated by the pestering crows that kept flying close or landing close to it on the tree, calling loudly all the while.

It was really unfortunate that these very circumstances that made this elusive animal uncomfortable opened up a rare window of opportunity for me to photograph it. For the next few minutes, I kept clicking as the crows prevented the cat from climbing down the tree and escape into the undergrowth.

As this drama was getting enacted, the poor animal seized opportunity to escape when a male Oriental Honey Buzzard flew in to land just 5 m. above my head on a young Eucalyptus tree. Momentarily, the crows got distracted with the unexpected arrival of this raptor that the cat was forgotten and the entire bunch landed seeking the buzzard's blood!

When I took my eyes off the honey buzzard and looked at the tree on which the harassed cat was stuck for the past several minutes, I was so happy to see it empty, the animal having used this diversion of attention of the crows away from itself to climb down and melt into the tangled undergrowth.

Though known to occur in lightly wooded rocky and scrub-covered areas, the Rusty-spotted Cat is rarely seen in the open and hence not often reported or photographed. I think it was one of those rare days and I was happy to be able to use the opportunity to photo-document this smallest wild cat.

A Black-eared Kite (Milvus migrans lineatus) #トビ loses its prey when attacked by two crows. An egret follows in the distance.

I was standing on the street, having just finished a conversation, getting ready to begin my planned walk with camera in hand. and had kind of noticed some noisy birds off in the distance. The sound from behind me got closer suddenly and so I turned quickly, pulling my camera up to my eye, and saw a confused flutter of wings coming right at me at high speed. I managed to snap a few shots blindly and the carcass landed on the road just a couple of steps away. The birds flew off. There were children around, so I picked up the carcass and tossed it down onto the river bank next to the road out of sight. At the end of my walk, a couple of hours later, I returned to the same place and found the carcass still there. Apparently, none of the birds fighting over it won.

Kite observation here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/72675205

SPIDERS EXTENDS LIFE !
Cestrum nocturnum
( lady of the night, night-blooming jessamine, night-scented jessamine, night-scented cestrum or poisonberry)
open at night, and are produced in cymose inflorescences. A powerful, sweet perfume is released at night. (source: wiki)
we call this flower as RAATRI RANI in Kannada . As most of the flower the life of this flower is just a night !
But this flower attracts numerous moths during night & bees early morning . Hence this flower has large numbers of spiders too. Thomisidae ( crab spiders ) are mainly seen here. As spider visits each and every flower, in the process dragline (web ) is been released all through.
In the natural process, flower falls during during day. But this Night-blooming jessamine doesn't fall to ground, instead it hangs !
Yes, its SPIDER EFFECT. because of sticky (slight) spider web/ dragline on every flower connected to plant . flower doesn't fall in to ground .
This flower stays hanging for week & gets dry on air .
Yes, flowers life is just a day, but its life(though dead) has been extended just because of spider !