I spent a wonderful day with fellow naturalists– from the NTP, namely and , and Kiran Immidi (a friend of 's),Arun, and Sheshadri, who is really knowledgeable about birds and mammals, and was fantastic at id-ing tracks...he id'd leopard, boar, peacock,civet, and hare tracks for us..... and in the Devarayanadurga State Forest area, in Tumkur.

A detailed post will follow when this four-letter word foul internet connection allows me to post my pics (I got some nice ones!) to Flickr, but these I was able to upload, and I couldn’t wait to post them.

We saw two CRIMSON ROSE butterflies mating….

Then, as they mated, they flew into the air, and the butterfly on …er..the top did all the flying; then they landed on another plant not far from us, and we rushed to get that….

Later, we also saw dragonflies doing the same thing, but I couldn’t get photographs.

There are, however, pics of leopard pugmarks along with a peacock’s, various raptors, wild jasmine, the scent of which was a heady accompaniment to us the entire day, and lots and lots more….