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Indian Gaur crossing the Ooty-Kotagiri road near Dodabeta peak, early March 2013.

Otakalmand or Ooty in glorious summer morning light, early March 2013.

A White-eye near Gudalur, early March 2013.

A Nilgiri Langur near Needle Rock, early March 2013.

Naduvattam lake in the Nilgiri plateau.

Grey Wagtail near the Frog Rock on the gateway to the Nilgiris from Gudalur. A migrant from distant lands, early March 2013.

A local ritual procession in Naduvattam. The place name Nadu Vattam literally means the Vattam or Kottam or Kuti at the centre of the region. It once housed the Vattam or Vihara or Jain/ Buddhist Pally in the ancient days.

A Pacific Swallow at Naduvattam, early March 2013.

Brown-cheeked Fulvetta in a crisscrossed shola patch near the road between Gudalur and Naduvattam, early March 2013.

Pykara falls, Nilgiris, early March 2013.  Pykara means the land of the cattle. This grassland sholas and Pykara river were most sacred to the Toda tribe the early inhabitants of the Nilgiri plateau.  The river Pykara originates from Mukurti peak and flows north west through the Nilgiri plateu.

The Toda buffaloes grazing in the pastures in Pykara. The buffaloes are central to their cosmology and myths. The sacred buffalo only found in the Nilgiri Toda Munds or villages were created first along with the first Toda man according to their creation myth. The Toda buffaloes have close similarity to the water buffaloes of Assam.

A Coot in Ooty lake, early March 2013.

Stopped by the bison/ gaur on the way to Kotagiri the hills of the Kota tribe near Dodabetta, south india’s second highest peak after Anamudi in the south.

A resort in a tea estate near Naduvattam, Nilgiri district.

A Barn Swallow trying to nest inside a building under construction in Naduvattam, Nilgiris.

Black-lored Tit in Longwood Shola near Kotagiri, early March 2013.

A sudden summer cloud formation above Pykara in the Nilgrirs, early march 2013.

Beguiled by the dim light a Grey Jungle fowl comes to the open near Pykara falls.

A Kestrel flying above Pykara falls, early march 2013.

Indian Gaur bull just above the road near Dodabetta, Ooty, early march 2013.

The unique flora and fauna in a roadside shola on the way to Kotagiri.

At Pykara falls with Jaime, early march 2013.

A Pied Bushchat singing in full throat near Longwood Shola, Kotagiri.

Longwood Shola, Kotagiri. It has become a small patch of the earlier micro climatic ecosystem.

Ponnani estuary at noon: The sun, the  sea and the river meet in a spectacular ensemble, a view towards north west from Ezhava Thuruthy, 16 Feb 2013.

Migrants from distant shores: Big gulls including Heuglin’s and Yellow-legged Gulls (first and second wintering) at Ponnani beach. 16 feb 2013.

The British legacy: Public Office or colonial court complex at Ponnani 1838.

A group of Sand Plovers in Ponnani shore line. 16 feb 2013

Tottunkal Pally (the Pally by the river Perar) in Ponnani; one of the ancient mosques in Kerala founded in the 8th century. Ponnani houses around 50 Pallys and is known as the Mecca of the south east. It also hosted the Al-azhar University of Islamic and Arabic studies in the early middle ages.

Green Shanks and big gulls at Ponnani beach. The colonial light house in the back ground. Ponnani was also one of the important ports after Muziris. The Zamorins of Calicut made it their second capital as their naval chiefs Kunjali Marakars were originally from here.  It is also the home of Sheikh Zainudin Makhdum who wrote the first anti colonial history from Kerala soil, The Tufatul Mujahidin (Tributes to the Holy Warriors who resisted the Portuguese) in the 16th century.

Paravais and Pallys: The little Mecca of the south east,  Ponnani was the seat of Islamic learning from AD 8th century onwards. The congregation of birds, mosques and minarets at the southern bank of the mouth of the Perar is remarkable. A view from the seashore to south east. 16 feb 2013

A view in itself: Wintering big gulls on Ponnani beach. 16 feb 2013

Kutikad temple in Ezhava Thuruthy, Ponnani. The place name Kutikad clearly signify a Sramana past. Words Kuti, Kottam and Vattam originally refer to a Buddhist or Jain Pally as in Ganapati Vattam/Sultan Batery or Kutipuram.

Turning the pot and tilling the land: Potter’s wheel and kiln/Chula in a Kumbhara alley in Ezhava Thuruthy by the Perar  on the southern bank near Ponnani.  As the Kumbhara or Kosava potters made black and red ware the Ezhava or Uzhava clans tilled and cultivated the land and nurtured the earth with paddy and coconut that desalinated the region and made it fertile and livable.

A Heuglin’s Gull first wintering in Ponnani coast in Kerala, 16 feb 2013.

A humble coconut leaf thatched tea shop in Ezhava Thuruthy. Mr Premdas Ponnani a local poet and artist before the humane hut amidst astonishing coconut groves by the Perar. 16 feb 2013

The renovated fish landing in Ponnani, a view from sea shore. Due to extensive dredging in the estuary the migratory birds and fish have abandoned this river mouth of Perar.

Big gulls in flight along the Ponnani coast.

Premdas Ponnani a local poet and artist living by the Perar in his nativity of Ezhava Thuruthy (literally the islet of Ezhava people), 16 feb 2013.   Premdas helped me to get out of the mud by the river where my bike was stranded and gave me a sumptuous lunch in his home and an aesthetic treat with his poems and paintings, thanks to Prem and his mama.

A visual composition with the river, the tree and the sky by artist and photographer Premdas Ponnani, 16 feb 2013.

Ponnani Valiya Jaram or the big Makham of Ponnani, some 400 years old by the NH 17. An Islamic missionary from Arabia is laid to rest here who directly belong to the lineage of the Prophet according to legend.

A migrant group of Sand Plovers landing on Ponnani coast, 16 feb 2013.

A Western Reef Egret at Ponnani beach, 16 feb 2013.