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.

Ivory billed and Great Slaty Woodpecker

Did you know that the extinction of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker makes an Indian woodpecker species, the Great Slaty Woodpecker the largest wild woodpecker in the world? Cartoon fro my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine. Thanks to Raman Kumar of the Nature Science Initiative who let me in on this bit of trivia.

The Wildlife Map of Maharashtra

Maharashtra's geography is as complex and intriguing as its animals. From the Western Ghats in the west home to a myriad endemic frogs, geckoes and birds, to the dry deciduous forests of the east home to a majority of India's tigers and the critically endangered Forest Olwet, Maharashtra has a staggering biodiversity. The state finds its state symbols in the Indian Giant Squirrel or Shekru (in Marathi), the Yellow-footed Green Pigeon (Hariyal in Marathi), the Blue Mormon butterfly, the Jarul flower and the Mango tree. Some of its true wonders are species that are found only in the Sahyadris such as the Amboli Bush Frog, the Koyna Toad, the Vigors' Sunbird and numerous varieties of hill flowers such as Karvi and the Satara Aponogeton. But possibly the biggest surprise of all is a mammal that's only found here and nowhere else in the world- the Kondana Rat, endemic to Pune's Sinhagadh!

A big thanks to WWF Maharashtra (Ms. Vaibhavi Shitut Amle, Ms. Caroline Pais, Ms. Farmeen Mistry) for commissioning the project and for giving me a chance to draw my home state! Thanks also to Dr. Parvish Pandya for reviewing the project and to marine biologist Abhishek Jamalabad for his valuable inputs. The map will soon be used in campaigns at schools associated with WWF India.

(click on the images for a larger view)

Wildlife Caricatures for WWF India

Swallowtail butterflies of India- compilation for WWF India t-shirts and merchandise.

Swallowtail butterflies of India- compilation for WWF India t-shirts and merchandise.

Himalayan Mammals- compilation for WWF India t-shirts and merchandise.

Himalayan Mammals- compilation for WWF India t-shirts and merchandise.

Woodpeckers of India- compilation for WWF India t-shirts and merchandise.

Woodpeckers of India- compilation for WWF India t-shirts and merchandise.

I collaborated with WWF India last year for creating some caricature compilations for their apparel and merchandise. You'll find these soon on their store. The animals are selected from landscapes and projects that WWF India is working on, in different regions of the country.

What does it take to be a great drummer

The Flameback Woodpecker guest-writes my comic for Sunday Mid-Day today!

Heart Spotted Woodpeckers

The Heart-spotted Woodpecker is a small woodpecker found in the Western Ghats of India and in South-east Asia, and is simply adorable to look at! They are called so because of the heart-shaped spots on their wings. Here's a pair of 'Hearties', available as prints and merchandise on my webstore here.

Orders within India (t-shirts, mugs and posters) can be placed by mailing me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com.

Mixed Species Flocks

Ever wondered why birds form mixed species flocks? Here's a comic that proposes some of my own theories! 

The Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, a great mimic of other birds, is often responsible for initiating the formation of mixed species flocks. The latest mixed species flock I have encountered was in Pakke Tiger Reserve in NE India, formed by Silver-eared Mesias, Blue-winged Minlas, Striped Tit Babblers, Rufous-capped Babblers and White-throated Fantails, all supervised by a Racket-tailed Drongo!

The comic appears in my column with Mid-Day.

To Let- Woodpecker Hole

Did you know that secondary cavity nesters like parakeets, mynas, owls, rollers and several other birds depend on woodpeckers for nesting sites? These birds compete for and occupy woodpecker holes to breed. So if you have good populations of any of these birds around where you live, you know which bird to thank!

The cartoon appears on my Gocomics page today.

The Rufous Woodpecker and the Crematogaster Ant

I had first met a Rufous Woodpecker on a trip to BR Hills, Karnataka, two years back. The bird was  curiously inspecting a Crematogaster ant nest and I was immediately just as curious to know more about this behaviour. As I happened to read more, I came to know that the Rufous Woodpecker and the Crematogaster ants have one of the most unique symbioses in nature going on with each other! Here's my theory of why this relationship came into being. The comic appeared in the November '14 issue of Saevus magazine.

There's also a caricature I've done to proclaim my love for this bird! Several aspects of the breeding behaviour of the Rufous Woodpecker seem to be unknown, such as whether or not the male too participates in nesting. I was not sure about this myself, but I have still depicted both sexes to illustrate sexual dimorphism (the red cheek patch is a male characteristic). 

Prints available on my webstore (the comic here, and the caricature here). For orders within India, e-mail me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com.

The Fig Tree

With 800 species in the genus Ficus, figs are the largest genera of flowering plants. They serve as the keystone species in several ecosystems in the country, feeding a wide array of frugivores such as birds, monkeys and bats and forming the very cradle of life in most of wild India. Here's a little ode to the fig!

Published in The Hindu Business Line this Saturday. 

Rainwater Harvesting- World Water Day

Woodpeckers and rainwater harvesting! Woodpeckers locate their nests at angles such that the nest faces away from the direction of the rain and is hence naturally water-proofed. But if one does make up his mind to harvest rainwater, it'd be as easy as this for him!

Catch this cartoon in The Hindu's BL-ink today. Happy World Water Day!

Gold Mining in Costa Rica's Rainforests

Costa Rica's rainforests are believed to have the highest biodiversity for any country! This is probably because of the fact that the landmass that is now Costa Rica and Panama served as a bridge between North and South America three to five million years ago, allowing the different flora and fauna to intermingle. Costa Rica's biodiversity makes for nearly 4% of all the species found in the world!

Infinito Gold, a Canadian gold mining company has slapped Costa Rica with a $1 billion lawsuit because the country denied them the rights to start an open pit mine in the rainforest. Several predictions have been made about the toxicity of the mining activity and its impact on the health of the rainforest. An online petition has also been started against the lawsuit here- http://action.sumofus.org/a/mining-costarica/8/2/?sub=fb We've already seen the tremendous damage done to the Amazon by gold mining, and the rainforests of Costa Rica must not fall prey at any cost!

15 Amusing Bird Nests

Nests are a truly remarkable result of evolution and an example of the artistic superiority of birds over the rest of the animal kingdom. Edward Hamilton Atkien devotes one whole chapter of his widely read 'Tribes on my Frontier' explaining why in his view, birds are a much more sophisticated class, owing to their elaborate coutrship displays and their preference for tastefully designed houses. Although nests are usually thought to represent decorative and elaborate structures such as the cup-shaped nests of flycatchers or the hanging nests of the weaver, the term applies to a wide variety of structures which are used to harbour birds'eggs. These may range from the intricately stitched nest of the Common Tailorbird to the shabby, haphazard arrangement of twigs used by doves. Some birds like the murres lay their eggs directly onto rocky ledges while some swifts construct their nests entirely out of their sticky saliva. Nests are yet another reflection of the fact that birds truly are creatures of taste.

A very happy Wildlife Week! And as always, the compilation is available as a poster, which you can order by writing to me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com. Saevus readers will have seen 11 of these already in the August issue of the magazine.

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

What flew into the Woodpecker's nest?

I often wonder what it would be like if all the members of a Woodpecker's family wanted to enter or leave the house at the same time!

Most woodpecker species nest in cavities in tree trunks, that they carve out using their strong, chisel-tipped bills, although some desert species are known to nest in holes carved in cactuses or dug on the ground. The woodpecker excavates one hole every breeding season, usually after multiple attempts. Last year I had the pleasure of observing a pair of Lesser Flamebacks at a nest, raising the chicks; alongwith my brother at Seminary Hills in our hometown, Nagpur. This species like several other woodpeckers, is monogamous, with both parents participating in nest-building and caring for the young. We observed the parents taking turns to feed the chicks, chasing potential predators and nest raiders like the mynas, and even teaching the young to fly.

Abandoned cavities created by woodpeckers are used by several otgher species to breed, such as parakeets, owlets, starlings and mynas. In Central India, the Common Myna is a blatant nest-bully, that makes continual attempts  harrass woodpeckers out of their nests and occupy the cavity.

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.