Naturalist

Our naturalist Mr. Ajith Padiyar is from Bangalore, he has been fascinated towards wildlife and nature from a very young age. His grandfather would make him sit along with him to watch wildlife documentaries on television. He was around 11 years old when he watched a documentary “Sahyadris:Mountains Of The Monsoon” by Sandesh Kadur which moved him so much that he decided to be a photographer and filmmaker.
Read MoreHis family got him his first camera at the age of 12, it was a Nikon D3000. His life around photography began just there, He says “ i would take my camera everywhere I’d go, photograph every living thing I’d see. Carrying my camera to Lalbagh botanical garden every evening had become a routine. I’d click pictures of different birds, especially owls because they were found abundantly there”
The first ever picture of an insect clicked by him was a praying mantis, which got him into macro photography. Time passed by and he progressively learned more about wildlife and their behavior. He started uploading his pictures on social media. A while later, during bachelors degree, his professor Mr MJ.Shafi encouraged him to put on an wildlife photography exhibition for the college which was a huge success. The very next year a picture of the Malabar Pitviper was exhibited in the “Paws Trails International Wildlife Festival sponsored by National Geographic” This encouraged him to continue his passion towards photography and film making. His first video article was published in Jlr explore on “ The Malabar Giant Squirrel “ A documentary close to his heart. After Bachelors degree he interned with ARRS (Agumbe Rainforest Research Station), where the team worked on radio telemetry of king cobras.
Next off, he pursued his masters in Wildlife and Management from Kuvempu University, Shivamogga, Karnataka. Here he got an opportunity to learn and share his understandings with peers, working with the state forest department to train the forest graduates, and also speaking to the upcoming generation about the importance of conservation through the “Chinnara Vana Darshana program” which translates to ”Introducing nature to kids” were some of the activities towards wildlife conservation. During his final year of Masters he worked on the diversity of spiders, where he managed to find close to 200 and more species. Currently he is working as a naturalist at RiverMist resorts where he is continuing to work towards documenting the beautiful floral and faunal diversity which are present in the Western Ghats so that we can use the power of visual media to showcase and create awareness about the importance of conservation of our beautiful world and the creatures that inhabit it












Exciting Things to Do!

Nature Walk

Night Trail

Spider Walk

River walk
List of birds spotted in RiverMist Resorts
- Little egret
- Cattle egret
- Little cormorant
- Grey wagtail
- Forest wagtail
- White Browed Wagtail
- White throated kingfisher
- Stock Billeg Kingfisher
- Pied Kingfisher
- Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher
- Common kingfisher
- Orange minivet
- Chestnut Headed beeeater
- Green bee eater
- Blue bearded bee eater
- Black necked ibis
- Glossy ibis
- White breasted waterhen
- Bronze winged jacana
- Bush Quail
- Jungle babbler
- Yellow billed babbler
- Indian Yellow tit
- Black Shouldered kite
- Black eagle
- Common kestral
- Creasted serpent eagle
- Oriental Honey Buzzard
- Shikra
- Besra
- Asian Fairy Bluebird
- Malabar Whistling Thrush
- Malabar Barbet
- Coppersmith Barbet
- White Cheeked Barbet
- Lesser Flamebacked Woodpecker
- White Bellied Woodpecker
- Heart Spotted Woodpecker
- Pygmy Woodpecker
- Roufous Woodpecker
- White Naped Woodpecker
- Streak Throated Woodpecker
- Brown Shrike
- Bay Backed Shrike
- Thick Billed Flower Pecker
- Pale Billed Flowerpecker
- Orange headed thrush
- Black Capped blue rock thrush
- Red whiskered bulbul
- Red vented bulbul
- Grey headed bulbul
- Black bulbul
- Ruby throated bulbul
- Yellow browed bulbul
- Asian brown flycatcher
- Indian paradise flycatcher
- White bellied blue flycather
- Red naped monarch flycather
- Brown breasted flycatcher
- Verditer Flycatcher
- White rumped shama
- Malabar Trogon
- Srilankan Frogmouth
- Puff Throates babbler
- Dark fronted babbler
- Scmiter babbler
- Brahminy starling
- Indian nuthatch
- Indian pefowl
- Black drongo
- Ashy Drongo
- Bronze Drongo
- Racket Tailed Drongo
- Common tailorbird
- Jungle myna
- Hill myna
- Indian silverbill
- Black throated munia
- Scaly Brested munia
- Tricolored munia
- Crimson backed sunbird
- Lotens sunbird
- Purple Rumped Sunbird
- Jeordons leafbird
- Indian Pitta
- Indian nightjar
- Indian scops owl
- Brown fish owl
- Barn owl
- Wire tailed swallow
- Ashy wood swallow
- Palm Swift
- Crested tree swift
- Saheen falcon
- Peregrine falcon
- Indian pond heron
- Ruddy Breasted Crake
- Yellow footed green pegion
- Pompadore green pegion
- Nilgiri wood pegion
- Indian rock pegion
- Oriental turtle dove
- Indian spotted dove
- Laughing dove
- Asian Emerald dove
- Booted eagle
- Black kite
- Brahminy kite
- Greater coucal
- Blue faced malkoha
- Asian koel
- Rose ringed parakeet
- Plumb headed parakeet
- Malabar parakeet
- Vernal Hanging parrot
- Roufous treepie
- White bellied treepie
- Large billed crow
- Oriental magpie robin
- Indian robin
- Tickells blue flycather
- Indian blue robin
- Malabar woodshrike
- Bar winged flycatcher Shrike
- Small minivet
- Indian nuthatch
- Common iora
- Indian white eye
- Zitting sisticola
- Baya weaver
- Indian golden oriole
- Black hooded oriole
- Malabar starling
List of Frogs spotted in RiverMist Resorts
- Microhyla sholigari
- Micrixalus specca
- Micrixalus candidus
- Micrixalus kottigeharensis
- Nyctibatrachus sps
- Nyctibatrachus kempholeyensis
- Nyctibatrachus karnatakaensis
- Indosylvirana intermedia
- Indosylvirana indica
- Indosylvirana montanus
- Polypedatus macultus
- Polypedatus occidentalis
- Pseudophilautus wayanadensis
- Raorchestes luteolus
- Raorchestes ponmudi
- Raorchestes tuberohumerous
- Pedostibes tuberculosis
- Indirana semipalmata
- Euphlyctis cyanophlytis
- Hoplobatrachus tigerenus
- Rachophorous malabaricus
- Rachophorous lateralis
- Ramanella mormorata
- Uperedon taprobanicus
- Duttaphrynis melanosticus
- Clinotarsus curtipes
- Sphaerotheca breviceps
- Minervarya sahyadris
- Duttaphrynis brevirostris
- Minervarya sps
- Minervarya sps
List of Spiders spotted in RiverMist Resorts
Salticidae Family
Genus:
Phintella
Carrhotus
Stenaelurillus
Epeus
Rhene
Orientattus
Toxeus
Proszynskia
Phintelloides
Brancus
Hasarius
Brettus
Plexippus
Myrmaplata
Menemerus
Telamonia
Hyllus
Asemonea
Afraflasilla
Foliabitus
Hindumanes
Chalcotropis
Indopadilla
Rhene
Aranidae family
Genus:
Opadometa
Parawixia
Cyclosa
Neoscona
Eriovixia
Eriovixia
Hyptiotes
Argiope
Gasteracantha
Cytophora
Tyrolida
Leucauga
Anepsion
Arachnura
Araneus
Herennia
Gea
Chorizopes
Meotipa
Neogea
Gibbaranea
Therididae family
Genus:
Theridion
Argyrodes
Plantnickina
Thwaitesia
Propostira
Episinus
Dipoenura
Chrysso
Rhomphaea
Chikunia
Ctenidae family
Genus:
Ctenus
Africactenus
Lycosidae family
Genus:
Lycosa
Hippasa
Pardosa
Thomisidae family
Genus:
Camaricus
Amyciaea
Thomisus
Boliscus
Spilosynema
Oxytate
Achaeranea
Indoxysticus
Strigoplus
Angaeus
Massuria
Tharpyna
Cheiracanthiidae family
Genus:
Cheiracanthium
Calanopus
Liocranidae family
Genus:
Oedignatha
Uloboridae family
Genus:
Uloborus
Hyptiotes
Miegrammopes
Tetraghnathidae family
Genus:
Tetragnatha
Orsinome
Dictynidae family
Genus:
Nigma
Oxypedae family
Genus:
Tapponia
Hamadraus
Oxyopes
Segestriidae family
Genus:
Ariadna
Segestria
Selenopidae family
Genus:
Selenops
Corinnidae family
Genus:
Aetius
Corinnomma
Echinax
Pholcidae family
Genus:
Belisana
Smeringopus
Nephilinae family
Genus:
Nephelia
Sparassidae family
Genus:
Gnathopalystes
Olios
Pandercetes
Sparasidae
Amaurobiidae family
Genus:
Himalmartensus
Pisauridae family
Genus:
Eucamptopus