Just before sundown a female climbs to the top of a bamboo on what looked like a precarious perch. It wasnt long before a male came and gave a literal 'flying kiss'. The image attached is of this moment. They repeated this a couple of times until the female lost her footing and both flew off.
This was followed by an extended session of casque clasping in various positions, with both sitting on the same horizontal branch, with the male above on the vertical branch and female below and so on.. too many shots to be posting on a bird photography forum ;) The funny side also hit me then with these near absurd looking birds who looked more like a couple with extraordinarily long noses trying to smooch. The kissing sometimes got naughty with the male 'biting' the females behind.
The male then seemed to be nibbling something from the nodes of the bamboo and then he has something in his beak. He flies to the female with the gift and seems to be offering it to her; bowing and what looked like nuzzling her neck with his casque. The female seemed more than eager to accept the gift but the male looked in no hurry apparently wanted to take time wooing and complete his whole ritual (so very different from the haughty females in most displays). He finally gives the offering to her and surprisingly in a few moments he wants it back!
The female obliges and then the male starts his offer display again. He offers the gift again which the female is more than happy to accept but drops it clumsily.
Then an awkward 'silence' prevailed as both didn't seem to know what to do. After sometime the male hops off and the female follows.
Of all the birds just a couple of males seemed to be scratching at the bamboo but just one pair seemed to be actually courting or rather I assume its the same pair that continued as the flew back and forth across the river
Ganeshgudi, Karnataka, 16th Jan '13
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