When my friend and collaborator, Aung Si, and I were documenting the ethno-ornithological knowledge of the Solega tribals in 2010, some of our interviewees mentioned the name “ naare” when we saw the Indian Grey Hornbill with them. The dispersal patterns that came about due to this topography, and how they shaped the current distributions of these bird species have been the subject of much speculation. These hills are situated at a junction of the Western and Eastern Ghats, and are known to share floristic as well as faunal components from both regions. Some other Western Ghats evergreen forest species that have not (yet?) been seen in the BR Hills are the Malabar Trogon, White-bellied Woodpecker, White-bellied Treepie, Heart-spotted Woodpecker, and the Flame-throated Bulbul. In fact, others have pointed out the lack of hornbills as one of the avifaunal peculiarities of the BR Hills (Srinivasan and Prashanth, 2006). Other than the Indian Grey Hornbill in the scrub forests of the foothills, there have been no reports of hornbills in the BR Hills. Your Browser does not support the new HTML5 Audio-Tag, sorry!Īnd then my heart skips several beats as a large black, white and yellow bird with a huge beak soars across over the forest canopy. I call out to MK, “ Naare! Naare!” He is amazed too, and we get up and rush towards the sound. I have heard this call before, but never in these hills, in all the thirteen years that I have roamed them. It is repeated several times, and then a bell of recognition rings in my brain. Somewhat reminiscent of a Barking Deer’s alarm call, but not quite that. Once, a huge Gaur bull had grazed peacefully a few metres away from us. Tiger! We see a Sloth Bear mother with two cubs riding on her back, holding on for dear life as she shakes a fallen log for grub.
We hear alarm calls from Barking Deer and Sambar, and then a roar. We see a troop of grey langurs on the ground, the young ones at play, somersaulting over each other. She makes short and soft, guttural calls every time he arrives. We see a male Mountain Imperial Pigeon bring nuptial gifts of caterpillars to his mate. Observing wild creatures requires one to be still and silent, and as a result, we see and hear what really goes on the jungle. My field assistant, MK, sits a few feet away from me, keeping an ear and eye out for elephants.
They talk mostly to each other, but also to their neighbours. I sit hidden in the bushes across the forest road from a Racket-tailed Drongo nest, noting down what this breeding pair does, and recording what they say.
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