Our car gently meandered through the twisty narrow roads of the tea estates and entered the thickly wooded coffee plantations. All eyes were planted on the canopy of high tree tops. After a few patient turns there he came.. fluttering his huge wide wings sounding as if a chopper was landing and perched upon a huge tree. At last there he was.. The Great Indian Hornbill.. The State bird of Kerala. The one whom we were on the lookout for.
We jumped out of the car and hid behind the coffee plants. He was a fully grown adult male. He kept restlessly jumping from one branch to another tearing apart the tree bark and searching for insects hiding beneath. Luckily a huge tree bark fell a few feet away from us or else it would have been a different story altogether.
He then started making his characteristic barking call which gives him his Malayalam name "Malamuzhakki" meaning one who resonates the hills.
Very soon we could hear another fluttering sound and his partner came and joined him. They greeted each other by striking their beaks. Started playfully hopping around the branches. The male caught an insect and started feeding his love.
We felt as though we were in another world mesmerised by their love in the woods.
The journey
Myself and couple of my friends Kannan and Deepak decided to head to Nelliyampathy hills for the weekend.
Nelliyampathy is a quaint hill station located in Palakkad district of Kerala. Commonly known as poor man's Ooty this hill station tends to get crowded on weekends and holidays. So we decided to stay there over night and to explore the lesser crowded areas. Our main aim was to shoot the rare and elusive Great Hornbills.
Stay was arranged with a couple of phone calls at Pulayanpara. We all geared up for the trip and our ride was Kannan's Punto Abarth. He was at the wheels as he wanted to test the Abarth on the hills and we were the photographers.
Reached the checkpost at Pothundy by around 4pm and started the climb up the ghats. We moved slowly, listening to birds and calls from Malabar Giant Squirrel. Stopped at many locations to take pictures of birds and the Pothundy dam views and of course the Punto Abarth which turned out to be the photoshoot model throughout this trip. A few clicks enroute.
The stare
Concentration
Abarth all the way
Reached kaikatty which is the first small human habitation after 18kms of ghat roads. Stopped over for some black tea and cakes and meanwhile enquired about the probability of Hornbill sightings from the shop owner.
He became vocal about the increasing wild animal encounters in Nelliyampathy since the time it has been taken over by the Parambikulam tiger reserve. Wild animals could be seen even during day time and he also mentioned about the attack of a wild gaur on a plantation worker couple of days back.
He advised us not to venture out after dark and also assured us that Hornbills could be seen in the area early in the morning.
We headed to our hotel and had dinner. Took a few short walks along the adjoining tea garden and finally slept early.
The next day we woke up early and set out in search of Hornbills. We had to go another 15 kms through tea estates and coffee plantations to reach hornbill territory.
The sun was lazily waking up on the winter morning. Climate was chill and the tea estates looked glorious in golden light. Since I had my 150-600mm lens, couldn't click much of the beautiful landscapes. So posting a few pics here taken by my friend Deepak about the misty morning in tea estates. Owing all credits to him for the landscape clicks throughout this TL.
We didn't waste much time as we wanted to see the Hornbills when the light is good.
Great Hornbills are inhabitants of high trees and prefer dense forest canopy. This makes them all the more difficult to locate. Nelliyampathy is one of the few places were we can observe them. We were moving into the canopy when this guy caught my eye.
Crested serpent eagle
He looked well fed. Signs of abundant prey.
Sunlight slowly seeping through the trees
Eyes still wandering on the tall tree tops. Suddenly saw some movement on the top of a tree and before we could even stop the car two Hornbills flew away from us. That was our first sighting. Disappointed at not getting a shot we moved ahead. But somewhere in the corner of my mind I was confident of spotting another.
Our route was going to end and nearly 2kms before the last motorable point I saw a sudden flash of colours plummeting from the skies. Immediately stopped the car, jumped out and ran into the coffee plants.
That was our moment of reckoning. Joy unbounded. Cameras started clicking and we were witnessing a hornbill love story unfolding right infront of our eyes. Let the pics do the talking.
Looking for partner
Caught an insect
Waiting for partner
Finally partner arrives
Sharing the meal. More like a French kiss.
Going for a toss
We thanked God. Luck was on our side. There have been times when it was very difficult to spot even a single one. We spent a good hour with them until they bid adieu and vanished into the distance.
We went to the last stop called Karappara. Had breakfast from the only tea shop available and walked towards the waterfalls. A local guy warned us that elephants were present on the route. So we were on guard. Clicked a few pics and came back.
Pair of black birds
Karappara Waterfalls. More like a river than the falls.
Headed to Victoria after that. A Nilgiri langur started showing tantrums at us.
Signs of rich biodiversity
A red Pierrot butterfly
Damselflies
Reserve Forest was lying ahead of us. It was forbidden area ahead as we didn't have permission to enter. Saw a couple of gaurs at a distance who suddenly vanished into the thick bush. There were lion tailed macaques playing on the interior trees. We decided to head back.
Continued...