Wow that´s an excellent camouflage illustration of the yellow wattles lapwing chicks and the Lepidagathis plants. Probably the best. Great colours, a very nice composition and notes too. Wish we could see ... slightly enlarged size of the last photograph Thanks for posting. Raghu
--- On Thu, 17/3/11, Shrikant Ingalhalikar <[email protected]> wrote: From: Shrikant Ingalhalikar <[email protected]> Subject: [efloraofindia:65098] Plant-Bird Association on Rocky Plateau To: "indiantreepix " <[email protected]> Date: Thursday, 17 March, 2011, 5:05 PM I wish to share some observations on rocky plateaus which are usually derogated as wastelands in summer. Dry rocky hills appear devoid of activity in summer. The spinous clumps of Lepidagathis cristata stems appear lifeless but even these clumps serve as lifeline for the chicks of Yellow Wattled Lapwings that breed on the plateaus in the scorching heat of summer. Two or three chicks hatch on the bare ground and start running around the nest within 2 or 3 days (nidicolus) of hatching. Appearance of the back and head feathers of the chicks matches precisely with the dry clumps of Lepidagathis plants. On hearing an alarm call from the parents the chicks remain still and pressed to the ground such that they get camoufledged with the Lepidagathis plants fully. This interesting observation can be made in the coming 2 months. Shrikant Ingalhalikar 12 Varshanand Society Anandnagar Sinhagad Road Pune 411 051. www.idsahyadri.com Tel 91 20 2435 0765. Fax 91 20 2438 9190.
