About Karthik
May 15th, 2007 by Karthik
S.Karthikeyan, known to most as Karthik, has nurtured a deep love for wildlife for over 25 years. He is an avid birdwatcher and also has a keen interest in butterflies. As an amateur photographer he has till date photographed a wide variety of subjects including butterflies, landscapes, wild flowers, flowering trees, lesser mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and other insects. Many of his works have been published in leading dailies like Deccan Herald, magazines like March of Karnataka, Sanctuary Asia, The Bengaluru Pages and Newsletters of WWF-India and publications like - Some South Indian Butterflies, Amphibians of Peninsular India, A Field Guide To Indian Mammals, Encounters in the Forest, A Photographic Guide to Birds of India and Nepal, ‘A concise field guide to Insects and Arachnids’ and Publications of Centre for Environment Education to name a few.
Karthik has been educating and creating awareness among the young and old alike on various aspects of natural history through nature camps, talks, slide shows, and nature-based activities.
He has undertaken various faunal surveys including those at Biligirirangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary and Devarayanadurga State Forest and Bannerghatta National Park. He has also done a project on the little known Indian Tree Shrew.
The Fauna of Bangalore: The vertebrates and butterflies of Bangalore – A Checklist that gives a listing of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes and butterflies published by WWF-India, Karnataka State Office was authored by him. He has co-authored a booklet comprising of activities targeted at high school students titled Ideas for Outdoors – Plants also published by WWF-India, Karnataka State Office, Bangalore. He has over 50 technical publications in International/National journals and periodicals and over 85 popular articles (most with supporting pictures) in leading dailies, magazines and other periodicals. Prior to joining Jungle Lodges and Resorts Ltd. he was working with WWF-India for over 13 years.
In the Press
CitizenMatters : Ready to escape into the woods?
On the Web
Pixetra Club : Featured Member
Article titled ”Perfect Symphony” published in The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2009/10/12/stories/2009101250560200.htm
Contact
Email : palmfly AT gmail DOT com
enjoyed reading about someone whom I hold in esteem! His conducting Naturalists’ Training Programs for JLR should also be mentioned, as he is creating a group of avid naturalists whom he infuses with his love for wildlife.
Hi Karthik,
This is a good looking site, the Kashmir trip brings back fond birding memories from 10 years ago when I was pioneering mis-adventure travel and extreme birding! I may be able to write up my journal one day. I look forward to more reading here, this is inspiring, thank you.
Simon
Hi Karthik,
I am glad that your website is finally up and you also have a blog to share your experience. It’s good to know a nice person like you who has show much love for Wildlife. G’luck in this journey.
Hello folks!
Thanks for your inputs.
Deepa : Thanks for your kind words.
Simon : Thanks for your comments. I am glad that you enjoyed reading it and that it brought back memories. Would love to read your journal whenever you do write it.
Sudhir : Thanks for the encouraging words. Will definitely try to keep the site going without allowing it to stagnate.
Very nice website. Enjoyed reading all your journals really liked the descriptions that go along with each picture.
Like Deepa has mentioned, I am definitely one among the many NTP attendees that enjoyed learning about the natural world from you. You are an excellent teacher!!
Hi Karthik,
Congratulations on a very clean and neat website!!! Great to see your site and the amazing pictures. Please keep it coming. Hope to see the articles written by you up here as well.
Best Regards,
Ullas P A
Stumbled on this site and was pleasantly surprised to find someone I knew 20 years ago. Then, I was pulled into birdwatching by our common friends like Milind and Harish. During the outings at places like GKVK, Ramnagar and several other lakes in around Bangalore, I wondered what was so wonderful about these places that people get excited about. But people like Karthik would look at a plant or an insect and describe it in detail about their structure, purpose, food habits, survival tactics and so much more. A great learning experience.
I have been in the US for the last 15 years now and definitely miss those days. Planning to return to India next year — hope to catch up with old friends and old hobbies.
Keep up the good work Karthik — the beard gives you a good “Professor” look.
Hi Karthik
This was just what I was looking for. Have been a birdwatcher for the past 25 years…in isolation though. A site like yours will, I hope, help when I see a bird I can’t identify or when I need some such related information . Do you answer such queries or help with photographs to aid identification? Could you make this site really active for people like me… crazy about wildlife but too tied up to join any organised activity?
Have shifted to Bangalore now and hope to get involved in some organized birding activities here. Any ideas?
Tobin
Hi Karthik…..
Good effort …..this will really motivate people to look outside with a different ‘OUT LOOK’. You are nurturing the writer within you. That really speaks volumes after many years……. Nice that you are documenting your experiences……… what more i wish …….will be with you in Nature……………
Hey Karthik!
Best wishes for the New Year and very cool website. Just came across it. Do keep in touch. Cheers!
Sandesh
Hi Karthik,
This is Karthik this side, I’ve heard a lot about you & ur work from Sandeep Chakraborthy. Hope to meet you soon
Kart
www.wildlifee.com
My dear and respected Shri Karthik,
A person who respects the other lives created by God, is God personified in human form. You qualify for this title.Kindly take further steps to help God create TREES in Karnataka.Pl furnish your Tel no. in the Web-site for contacting by well-wishers and Friends
Hi Karthik
Great work. Very informative. Website has really come well. was grt spending time with you, esp. during naturalists training programmes u conducted. you posses amazing knowledge on ecosystem, i hope u come out with a book.
Saurabh
Your blogging skills are almost as good as your field skills - the latter is definately very hard to beat.
Gopi Sundar.
Hi Karthi, this is a neat website. This will enrich us more with your wealth of knowledge and experience.
Amazing photographs! + very interesting species and write-ups.
Hello Karthik,
I came across this site when surfing… thanks for refreshing the memories of eaglenest. Looking forward for another trip!!
Regards,
Aparna
Thank you for these remarkable photos and your most interesting commentary. We vividly remember our walk with you in the BR Hils and the great introduction to so many wonderful birds there. We have not yet made it to the Eagle’s Nest sanctuary, but we still hope to be there one day.
Hi Karthik
This is an amazing compilation of flowering trees and photographs are excellant. Very well designed website.
Information is wonderful.
thanks and regards
Prakash
Hi,
I am planning to set up a small boutique swiss cottage tented accomadation in kolli hills. You would have already visited this place but I request you to be a guest of honour in our resorts. Kindly give me ur contact details so as to reach you. I also stay in Bangalore.
Manimaran
manima2001@gmail.com
Hi Kartik,
Great to see that you are doing good work as always. Pl. send me your email id as I stumbled on this blog while surfing for the trust that Ramanna set up. Have heard a lot about your romps in the wild with JLR. Will be in Bengaluru for 26 - 29th April 09. Do let me know if we can catch up.
Take care,
Lima
It is wonderful to see the lot of flowering trees. Actually i am planing to plant flowering tree in my newly built house. Unfortunately the nursery people didnot undersatnd the tree names which we get it from internet
i am not able to get the desired trees.Your website gives phots as well as names.
I am in salem how to get the -Jacaranda obtusifolia ssp. rhombifolia tree . do u have any method to send the tress we wanted. Is salem is suitable for growing this tree
Regards
can’t seem to open the photography page at all, and i’m disappointed that i can’t access your articles. monogamy and the ashy wren warbler in particular. i had a tailor bird and two wren warblers living together in a nest of leaves they built in a hucchellu plant in my garden. they came and went together and eventually there were four red eggs. so maybe the tailor bird was a family friend. still it was most intriguing.
Hello Karthik
I was very pleased to see this site and learn more about the trees that grow in Bangalore. Most of which i happen to see everyday but never knew the name.
Both of us go back a long time. I have come out with you on multiple treks and nature hikes when you used to conduct such tours for kids at Kumaran’s School. The very first time when you took us to Bandipur (1996 may be. I was 16) I was very mesmerized by your love towards nature. Those trips shaped my interest towards the beauty of nature and this sparked my love towards photography. I have been shooting a lot since 5 years.
You deserve an applause from my side. Thanks a lot.
Cheers.
Raghuram
www.flickr.com/photos/redbull
Dear Karthik,
Wonderful site. I enjoyed reading and seeing the pictures. Keep it up and post some more interesting animal facts and stories, which will interest many people.
Best wishes,
Vinay Luthra
Dear Karthik
It is an unbeatable site where you have created an amazing natural planet by all mean. Now I am getting you from Saudi Arabia while I am researching for a mangove (Costal afforstation) study. And keep it up….
Your reply will make me happy..
Regards,
Mohammed Shihab
Shihablever@gmail.com
Hello Karthik !
It’s been a great introduction to insect photography ( and bird pics ) while visiting your blog !
Your work and dedication were first recommended to me by a commoj friend and well- wisher Ameen Ahmed,I am not one bit dissapointed.
We aim to operate out of the Nilgiris, considering Masinagudi as a base, pls let me know how we can work towards increasing awareness and organising special interest tours with a focus on the fauna and the flora, which unfortunately is completely overlooked by folks as they are preoccupied with ” animal sightings “.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Cheers !
Omer Kaiser
98455 81829
My other half never tired of talking about you - and the camps at Bhadra & Bandipur he attended ages ago where you were the camp director.
You may know that the fire you lit has resulted in atleast 3 converts - myself and 2 kids; And a butterfly conservatory that we are putting up ( check the site ). My son , now 11, is a good snake handler and a budding naturalist.
Excited to find this site while just browsing . Rohit will be delighted to know. And next time you are in Goa , we would want you to be our guest.
Also needed some help in id of a few caterpillars that we are breeding . Let me know where to mail them
Hello,
I found your photo of Saraca asoca in a web search. I am the art director for the Buddhist magazine “Living Buddhism” and we have an article discussing the variety of trees featured in Buddhist texts. Since the Saraca asoca blossom is so beautiful I would like to feature a photo in the article. Are you interested in selling the rights to use your work for other publications?
Best, Shannon
Shanno Bodie
Art Director :: Lightbourne, Inc.
Cell: 503.542.3551 :: 800.697.9833
Good to know someone out there who shares my passions…!!
I also motivate children and youngsters to get back to Nature and learn Patience, Harmony & Co-existence.
I have been photographing Nature & wildlife from past 2 decades. Soon i will share my works.
Being an Actor & a Filmmaker hardly i get time on Net
Aasif
Wonderful website, informative & entertaining.
With regards
Sameer
Hello Karthik,
I have a deep love for wildlife and would like to be a part of the JLR Naturalist team, please let me know if there are any openings.
Looking forward to hear from you at the earliest.
Thanks & Regards
Varunesh R
(r.varunesh@gmail.com)
Have heard a lot about you from lakshmi and been oggling at ur pics, esp Butterflies the past couple of hours!! beautiful… will hopefully get the chance to meet and do a nature trail with you!!
Hello
Karthik, Thought it was you as soon as I stumbled on this!. Great pix. How are you doing? I am in the US now, in Virginia.
Have sent you a link to my blog, check it out sometime and do write back.
Jayasri
My name is David Rankin. And I am a professional watercolor painter whose focus is India. My present efforts are in the Ganges Himalayas ( http://web.me.com/davidrankinmac ). I am very pleased to discover your blog. It confirmed an identification I had been trying to make concerning a blue tree in the Himalayas … Jacaranda mimosaefolia. But as I’ve looked over your fine blog I am thinking I will add it into a new site I am creating that offers people all over the world a wealth of interconnected sites… all of which serve to promote India’s natural beauty & uniqueness. Thanks for your efforts. And by the way… have you any info regarding the enormous “Upper Ganges River Turtles” , some of which reach massive sizes of 6 feet across or more? I saw one only once in my guru’s ashram at Saptasarovar… a few miles north of Haridwar back in 1970. But I’ve never seen any authoritative articles or TV documentaries on this amazing turtle even those it’s the biggest in the entire world??? And Info?
David
Hello Karthi
Makes me feel so proud to see you in this field and being held in high esteem by so many enthusiasts like me. I am glad that we were classmates and good friends. Hope to join you soon in one of your camps.
It is a wonderful information related to trees in Bangalore.