Endemic Birds of Taiwan

With stars like the Taiwan Blue Magpie and the Swinhoe's Pheasant to rarities like the Taiwan Thrush- meet all the thirty Taiwan endemic bird species in this new illustration! 

Prints, tees and merchandise out on my Redbubble store here, shipped worldwide.

Bird Ringing Cartoons for Birdlife Montenegro

I recently had the pleasure of collaborating with Birdlife Montenegro over three delightful cartoons on bird ringing, that were used as creatives on communication collateral and merchandise at the bird ringing camp at Ulcinj Salina, an important wetland and migratory bird pathway on the Adriatic Sea. 

A huge thanks to Ksenija Medenica and the CZIP Montenegro team for the opportunity! (For context in the second cartoon- Montenegrins are considered the laziest among Europe, and they're so proud of the tag that they even have a laziness contest!)

A New Restaurant in the Hood

A familiar sight across the forests of peninsular India, Rufous Treepies are opportunistic foragers and very dependable earbuds for Sambar deer!

Comic from my Roundglass Sustain column. 

Plum headed Parakeet Make Up

Ever overdone your make-up and felt you resemble a Plum-headed Parakeet? Cartoon from my column with Roundglass Sustain.

Defying beauty stereotypes, it is the male Plum-headed Parakeet that likes loud make-up, while females prefer a subtle grey head!

The cartoon also ran as a caption contest on Roundglass's Instagram. Check out the winning entries here: 

Owl headsets

Are you the headset kind or the airpod kind?

The Short-eared Owl meets the Long-eared Owl. Cartoon from my column with Roundglass Sustain. 

The Little Ringed Plover

On a cold December morning in 2021 at the Vena Lake in my hometown Nagpur, I observed a cheerful Little Ringed Plover perform a strange dance: repeated wiggling of the foot followed by pecking the mud. It was clear that this was an improvised hunting strategy, but how exactly it was working, I was not sure. A quick search led me to this paper and I discovered that this behaviour is a little more than just an improvised hunting strategy: the bird’s trembling foot could either be driving out hidden worms and insects directly, or altering the thixotropic properties of wet sand, turning it into liquid, and making catching a juicy tidbit easier!

I may not love physics as much as this little genius does, but we certainly agree upon one thing: the tactile pleasures of dining are lost on compulsive users of cutlery!

Comic strip from my Roundglass Sustain column.

Birdwatching in Gaza

What is it like to be a birdwatcher in Gaza? My cousin, Dr. Sukrita Lahiri, a scholar on Palestinian gender studies, sent me this poignant piece by Marta Vidal and Ameera Harouda about birdwatching in Gaza, which prompted this comic, dedicated to the twin birdwatching duo, the Sirdah sisters, who co-authored the Gaza bird checklist.

From my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine. 

Bank Mynas and Embankments

If you're a keen observer of your surroundings (assuming you're not a birdwatcher), you may have noticed driving past embankments anywhere in peninsular India, that the mynas nesting here do not have the usual brown costume and yellow bill and spectacles, but sport a humble grey colour and a striking red bill! These are aptly called Bank Mynas, and they make some of the liveliest birds to look out for, wherever embankments are situated. 

Cartoon from my column with Roundglass Sustain. 

Kishoreda was a Grey bellied Cuckoo

Kishore Kumar was a Grey-bellied Cuckoo! What are your favourite Kishoreda songs? Drop them in the comments. Comic from Roundglass Sustain celebrating monsoon and the bird of the season!

To read a similar strip about Mohammad Rafi and the Magpie Robin, visit Roundglass Sustain here.

Lord Shrike the Impaler

The most legendary Bollywood villains have their own god: Lord Shrike the Impaler! Infamous for skewering its victims to death, that range from insects and lizards to snakes and mice, the bandit-like eye stripe further accentuates the shrike's reputation!

My fascination for this bird extends across all my work now, with the shrike featuring in two of my books, Bird Business and Naturalist Ruddy!

(For my readers from the West, Gabbar Singh (played by Amjad Khan) from the film Sholay, Shakaal (played by Khulbhushan Kharbanda) from the film Shaan, and Mogambo (played by Amrish Puri) from the film Mr. India, are three of the most iconic Hindi film villains of all time).

Cartoon from my column with Roundglass Sustain.

May your New Year be like the Golden Oriole

The Golden Oriole wishes all of you a bright new year! Comic from my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine.

Prints of the comic are available as new year gifts on my Happywagon (for Indian orders) and Redbubble (for international orders) webstores

The Paradise Flycatcher on Twitter

The Paradise Flycatcher on Twitter. Cartoon from my column with Roundglass Sustain. Does that make the Black-naped Monarch the monarch of puns? Sorry!

Mistle Thrush and Mistletoe

Merry Christmas to you from the Mistle Thrush, named after its favourite food, the mistletoe, which the bird also gardens! Comic for DW News. 

Mohammad Rafi was a Magpie Robin

I first listened to his voice in an audio cassette my mother owned when I was 5, and he has since then been my guru! Happy birthday to the timeless legend, Mohammad Rafi, from me and Magpie Robins. Comic from my column with Roundglass Sustain. 

Kleptoparasitism Skua versus Tern

A dad joke about skuas kleptoparasitising on terns, with apologies to interns reading this. Comic from my column with Roundglass Sustain.

 

Laughing Gull

The Laughing Gull.

New Green Humour merchandise is on its way just in time for winter! Shop Laughing Gull prints and merchandise on my Redbubble store, shipped worldwide. 

Nature Gratitude Week

A Nature Gratitude Week special from my column with Roundglass Sustain. 

Tickell's Blue Flycatchers Tickle Samuel Tickell

Here's a birdwatchers' tongue-twister for you from my column with Roundglass Sustain: Tickell's Blue Flycatchers tickling Samual Tickell (the British army officer and ornithologist the bird and many other species are named after).

Woodpeckers of India

Meet India's 32 woodpecker species in this compilation, from the largest, the Great Slaty, to the smallest, the Piculets, and from the most common, the Black-rumped Flameback, to the rarest, the Andaman endemics! The compilation is available as a range of merchandise on my Happywagon webstore.

For orders outside of India, visit my Redbubble webstore here.

Brood Parasitism and Going Cuckoo

The Common Hawk-Cuckoo, also called the Brainfever (Papeeha), is a brood parasite of a common backyard bird: the Jungle Babbler. Spring is the time to look out for hungry cuckoo chicks pestering their foster parents! 

Comic from my column with Roundglass Sustain.