Hornbills of Valparai

I won’t miss any chance to go to Sholayar Forest since it is one of my favourite route and an awesome birding destination. I knew a place in Valparai  (a part of Sholayar Forest range) where there was a Great Hornbill nesting and I has seen lot of pictures from the same spot. It was just 200 kms from my home town in Kerala. I thought why not to have a weekend drive to Valparai; Decided and started on very next day 🙂 

I was accompanied with 2 of my friends; both were nature enthusiasts which made the trip really memorable. We started morning by 4.00 and plan was to reach the destination before 9.00 so that we can witness the feeding. I wasn’t expecting anything to photograph, but it was worth watching this beauty. Sholayar Forest was so beautiful as always and we should really thank the Forest Department of Kerala and Tamilnadu for taking care of it. Still the forest is so clean without any plastic bottles and other wastes and this time the road was superb after maintenance. We found lot of Malabar whistling thrushes and Emerald Doves on the way and we stopped at few places as we found the bird activity was more in those places. I really love to hear the bird songs in the morning; doesn’t matter even if I am not able to click them. 

When we reached the spot it was around 11.50 and we had already missed the first show. I wasn’t very sure about the exact place where the nesting is. We found the place with the help of a tea shop guy and it was a giant tree with a hollow in the trunk. When we reached, there was a forest guard already he said not to stand close to the tree where the feeding happens. He was hesitant to give the information and seems like he doesn’t want us to photograph them. He was right and I absolutely respect his intention; it wasn’t a good idea to disturb those to get some photographs. So we just roam around and found a proper place with safe distance around 100 meters from the tree.

My friend was explaining about the hornbill nesting and feeding. Usually the female hornbill builds a nest in the hollow and she seals the opening with plaster. She will be inside the nest with the chick relying on the male hornbill to bring her food, until the chicks are half developed. During this period the female undergoes a complete moult and fed by her mate through a slit in the seal. Amazing isn’t it? 

I was aware about the approximate feeding time and I was sure that it will some again around 2.00 or 3.00. The younger once was already in the nest and sometime its head portion was visible. After waiting around 3 long hours the beauty has come. It started feeding his junior and partner putting his beak inside the nest and it was taking the fruits one by one from his beak and tossing it in air and feeding the younger one. It took around 1o minutes to feed and flew away after that. I was enjoying the show through my camera. 

I was sure that there will not be any good image since there was a distance around 100 meters between the us and the tree; but I was really happy to witness the show. It is not about taking good photograph; but there are all the precious moments of nature that we should not miss. But at the same time we have to make sure that we are not disturbing them. Mother Nature is a phenomenon and she always will hide some kind of treasures like this and as a nature photographer I always love to pay a treasure-hunt with her 🙂

Here the pictures from this trip…