Let's go birding

Monday, 21 May 2012 09:42

It's blazing hot, the migratory birds who left their countries to escape the harsh winter, realise that it's time to return home due to their internal clocks. Some who came in late, like the Plovers, have overstayed but will leave shortly. But then who is here to brave the summer heat? It's just the local lot. Most of them now are in breeding plumage. Their ordinary colours have vanished and now they are “dressed” in bright colours. Check on the normally white cattle egrets and pond herons, now clad in a different hue. The cattle egret builds nests near water bodies and does not mind socialising with other wading birds. Their nest looks like a platform of sticks and they are built on trees or shrubs. Cattle egrets are commonly seen in wetlands and rice fields. They accompany cattle, and pick insects off the larger animals. Some populations of the Cattle Egret are migratory and others show post-breeding dispersal.

The pond heron appears to have a hunched look because of its short neck. It has a short thick bill and buff-brown back. During summer, the adult birds have long neck feathers. When they fly, the white of their wings makes them stand out, instead of the usual dull look.

There are more ground nesting birds in bright colourful plumage, like the kingfisher, the red wattled lapwing and the tree pie amongst others.

Did you know that there are 90 varieties of kingfishers around the world? They prefer to perch on a high branch as it gives them momentum to dive deep into the water to get their prey. They are known as “cavity nesters”, making their nests in holes dug in the ground. These holes are usually in banks on the sides of rivers, lakes or ditches. Some nests are a small chamber at the end of a tunnel in a termite hill.

Chargers give RCB the knock-out punch

Monday, 21 May 2012 09:40

Deccan Chargers came up with an inspired performance to knock out Royal Challengers Bangalore from the IPL-5 with a thrilling, nine-run win at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Sunday.

This Chargers' win also meant that defending champions Chennai Super Kings makes it to the play-offs.

Chasing a modest target of 133, RCB looked in a hurry when the dashing Chris Gayle was at the crease. But, it ran into the fiery Dale Steyn who was outstanding once again. This even as Gayle smashed Manpreet Gony all over to score 24 runs in the second over of the innings, including three fours and two sixes.

After bowling a great bouncer which had the West Indian ducking awkwardly for safety in the third over of the innings, Steyn forced him to play across only to drag the next ball on to the stumps to the huge relief of his teammates.

In his next over, Steyn removed a hesitant Dilshan Tillakaratne who was trapped lbw trying to play a forceful stroke on on-side. His first spell read an impressive 3-0-7-2.

Facebook shares end flat on Day 1 of trading

Monday, 21 May 2012 09:37

Facebook’s long-awaited stock market debut did not live up to all the hype as the social network’s shares closed the first trading day on a flat note with technical glitches at the Nasdaq stock exchange sending confusing signals to investors.

After rising to an intra-day peak of $45 apiece, the shares ended at $38.23, up only by 0.61 per cent from the $38 offer price.

Friday began on a promising note for Mark Zuckerberg and his team at Facebook as he rang Nasdaq’s opening bell amid great fanfare and cheering from the company’s Menlo Park headquarters.

All eyes were then set on Nasdaq where shares of the company with the ticker symbol ‘FB’ were to begin trading at 1100 hrs.

A day after Peiris and Hillary meet, Sri Lanka decides to release Sarath Fonseka

Monday, 21 May 2012 09:34

A day after Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and officials in Washington DC, Sri Lanka announced that President Mahinda Rajapaksa signed the release papers of the jailed former Army General, Sarath Fonseka.

“President Mahinda Rajapaksa signed the papers on the 18th evening and handed over the papers to Chief of Staff Gamini Senerath before leaving for Qatar to enable the release of Mr. Sarath Fonseka. Papers will be sent to the Ministry of Justice on Monday,” Bandula Jayasekara, Presidential Spokesman, said early on Sunday, putting to rest speculation on the processes that follow the Sri Lankan government decision to release the former Army Commander.

Sri Lanka's executive President has vast powers under the repeatedly-amended Constitution. Part of an Article relates to pardoning convicted criminals. Under Article 34 (1), the “President may, in the case of any offender, convicted of any offence in any court within the Republic of Sri Lanka (a) grant pardon, either free of subject to lawful conditions; (b) grant any respite, either indefinite for such period as the President may think fit, of the execution of any sentence passed on such offender; (c) substitute a less severe form of punishment for any punishment imposed on such offender; or (d) remit whole or any part of any punishment imposed or of any penalty or forfeiture otherwise due to the Republic on account of such offence.”

Speculation on his release date began doing the rounds after The Hindu broke the  after speaking to the President on the sidelines of a function held here last week to launch a book, Gota’s War.