(delhibirdpix) Rufous-necked Hornbill

THE LONG AWAITED 'BILL' 

I had left the Lama Camp around 4.15AM armed with

my gear to photograph this particular bird.  I

wore my camouflage gear and realised in my eager

quest to photograph, I had forgotten my gloves! I

did not have my breakfast and so, was only on the

cup of tea that I had before leaving the camp :-(

and had a very late cold lunch in the evening.

I climbed nearly 1000 feet to get eyelevel shots

from a safe distance as this was the breeding

season of the bird and I did not want to disturb

it in any manner. So, here was I, merged within

the vegetation at a distance, battling the blood

sucking flies called 'Damdum', the 'Kurki' –

smaller flies, mosquitoes and not to mention the

leeches. :-) Then began the long wait of 12 hours

to watch and capture moments of this bird – the

Rufous-necked Hornbill! and was I glad that the

weather was perfect.

Its arrival was heralded by the sound of a mini

copter; it appeared to be 8 years old. Are you

aware that the age can be calculated by the number

of striped markings on its beak? I sensed that it

was near its nesting site as it came every hour

and a half.  It never flew directly to its nest;

it would take a detour to ward off any predators

and then after making sure there were no

intruders, it would feed its mate inside the nest.

It was here that I witnessed an amusing incidence,

once the male came after two and a half hour break

and fed the female who promptly threw the feed out

three times – feminine anger! :-) Not much

difference in behaviour from their human

counterparts ;-) 

My long patient unmoving wait did result in a numb

seat and piquant situation wherein an unsuspecting

Barking Deer came within 5 feet distance, there

were other birds too at such close range but with

such a big lens I was helpless. :-( However, I

took a number of videos of the Rufous-necked

Hornbill and was extremely satisfied at the end of

the day. I am off to my next destination, till

then, happy waiting .... :-)

Place: Eaglenest,Arunachal Pradesh 

Date: 18/04/2014

Camera: Canon 5D Mark III

Lens: Canon 400mm F/2.8 IS II

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