Malabar Grey Hornbill

Hello friends, we started New Year with the hope that at some point in time this virus will take a halt but it is not, the different waves are shaking the world like anything. It seems this is going to be part of life hence vaccination and precaution play a critical role, we have seen that due to vaccination this wave is not dangerous as the previous one. Please ensure we are fully vaccinated to save ourselves from any unexpected situation. 

The bill 

Yes, today presenting the story of the Bill, the big bill that is none other than Hornbill. We are familiar with Hornbill but not sure how many of you know that there are different types of Hornbills and they differ in their behavior as well as habits.

The reason for bringing the hornbill story is due to a recent experience with Malabar Hornbill at Old Magazine House. While deciding the topic for the day I thought let me share this unique experience with you. The story is about how such a big bird eats small insects. Even though insects are very small but may turn life-threatening if it is not taken up properly, today’s story is on the same line; let me update you on what I observed with hornbill so when next time you decide to eat insect then you know how to eat 😆😆

The story is about a great experience at OMH (Old Magazine House), one afternoon I was taking a walk to search if I get anything. Suddenly we saw Malabar grey in front of us with something in its bill it was nothing but a caterpillar. The main highlight of the sighting was a method of eating rather I would say the style of eating. It was rubbing the caterpillar on the tree multiple times to ensure that it could remove bristles before eating. These bristles/spikes of caterpillar may be toxic and may not be smooth for eating hence birds like hornbill ensures that bristles are removed prior to eating. This was a unique experience, you can check the DSLR section to experience the same. After this unique behavior let us see what all qualities this bird is having

The great Characters 

The Malabar grey hornbill (Ocyceros griseus) is a hornbill endemic to the Western Ghats and associated hills of southern India

Some local names are - Dhanesh in Marathi, Kaldal hakki in Kannada, Sholai kaka in Tamil, meaning forest crow, Kozhi vezhambal in Malayalam

It lacks the casque typical of Hornbills. Its beak is quite long, slightly curved, and yellow

Males have an orange bill with a yellow tip and a black stripe, while females have a pale yellow bill

The tail is black, tipped with white at the bottom. White broad supercilium above eye running from head to hindneck, whitish streaks on head, crest, throat, and upper breast

The Malabar grey hornbill female lays three to four eggs during the breeding season and stays inside the nest after blocking the entrance, while the Malabar grey hornbill male gets food to the nest. The same nest is reused by the pair year after year

This bird species is known not to use its voice when the male brings food to the nest while the female is confined inside. The male taps the tree to alert her of his presence

The diet includes berries, figs, insects, small rodents, and reptiles are included in the diet. Typically, the male and female both search for food and prey, but when the female begins nesting in seclusion, the responsibility of feeding her and the young ones falls on the male

The process of seed dispersion knows them as the gardeners of forests because of their essential contribution

See so many qualities this bird is having, whenever you visit any forest do observe and see if you find this bird around

I hope you liked magical vernal, keep blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.com 

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section 

Classic Kadumane

Wishing my dear ones a very happy New Year, hope New Year brings a lot of joy and happiness to everyone’s life.

Let us welcome 2022 with a virtual tour of one of the classic places situated near Dandeli, as I had promised let me release a blog on one of the best places I have ever experienced to date. The experience is just unmatched that is why I suggested to my lovely group to plan the trip here, this resulted in my second visit in the same year. We enjoyed it a lot and would love to take all of you here through this blog, so get set ready to fly directly to this wonderful place.

The introduction

Let me introduce the place, it is none other than “Kadumane Home Stay” a place that has won the National award twice now you can understand why this is close to my heart. Mr. Narsimha owns this place and is supported by Rohan and other humble and supportive staff. 

The place is beautifully planned to start from the name itself, Kadu means "Forest” and Mane means “Home” so this indicates, “Forest is Home.”

After the name let me talk about the surrounding, densely covered by lush green trees and a variety of meaningful plants, added with growing and promoting honeybees for generating pure honey, the tag line is “No Bee No We.”

Now it is time to talk about the stay, you can opt for cottages or opt for a tent for camping type of feeling. We opted for a cottage stay, neat and clean with all basic requirements fulfilled, trust me you will not miss any five-star stay when you stay with nature. 

Now, at last, let me talk about survival I mean food, basic food but with yummy taste especially herbal tea. No scope of complaint at all, eat as much as you can they serve with an open heart. 

I know after all these you are keen to know about the birding activity which was the end motive, so to meet lovely birds let’s move to the next section.

The Attraction

The place offers varieties in terms of enjoying lakeside birding, forest-type birding, and night trail where you can try your luck with unique nocturnal species.

To begin with, after reaching we tried hands-on lakeside, the evening was dry but still got activity of Chestnut-headed Bee-eater and a glimpse of a couple of sneaks to Amish. The evening was well spent at the lake but expectations for the night trail increased due to the dry evening.

I had briefed the group about the last visit experience so everyone wanted the repeat action, with this hope we started the night trail, Rohan was trying hard to help us with success. Let me tell you what we were looking for, it was none other than “Flying Squirrel.” With help of Rohan we could sight as many as high five, the mission was accomplished with the super sighting of this nocturnal rodent but because of squirrel hiding, we could not experience the gliding. Due to nighttime and far distance, we hardly managed pictures but trust me to see this beauty it was a treat for our eyes, night trail may not offer pictures but it helps you with the unique behavior of the forest. 

We had only one day to explore and we really had a wonderful time including food, stay, feel of the beauty of nature and some lovely creatures. This is how we enjoyed our time at Kadumane with an all-around experience and ended on a highly successful trip, this includes the sighting of Chestnut-bellied Bee-eater, spiderhunter, Flying squirrel, Moth, Spider, Velvet-fronted nuthatch, Minivet, sunbirds Cormorants, Drongo and many more. 

The experience that we had at both OMH and Kadumane was unique and will not be available at any five-start resort. You can get luxury with money but not the feel of nature, so the moral of the story is that you should experience such Jewels of our country and spread awareness about the importance of such places. 

Vocal on Local 

As our PM says be vocal about local we should explore local shopping, a small shop run by Mr. Narsimha offers lovely local varieties such as pure honey, spices like black/white pepper, Cardamom, Kokum, Hing, soap and many more, do visit and buy from these local shops it will give you natural flavor. 

I hope you liked this blog, keep blessing me and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Vote of Thanks

Mumbai Travellers and Team – Many thanks Saurabh, Jogi, and Pathamesh for managing the tour so smoothly, you guys are rocking, keep it up.

Co-Travelers  - Amish, Ashwini, Preeti, and Sarang, thanks for yet another blockbuster trip, you guys are awesome.

Kadumane Management – Rohan and the group helped us with a comfortable stay and food to make the journey a success. Many thanks for all the help

BT Wild Art

Dils se DSLR