Properly, Honeyguides are an fascinating birds and there are a variety of them. Ten to be exact within the Genus Indicator. Eight of them present in Africa and two in Asia. Out of those two – one in India. I used to be chasing the one in India, the Yellow-rumped Honeyguide. I’ll get on to it after telling this story to start out with. The story goes that I wished to see this hen (like all different birds of the world I have to add) and set my thoughts to it. Now each time I visited the Himalayas, I used to be on a continuing lookout – I used to be ready for and encounter in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and naturally on my final go to to Uttrakhand. Properly to be truthful I used to be additionally searching for it in our go to to Borneo, the opposite Honeyguide of Asia – Malaysian Honeyguide. Properly, being on a lookout and to truly see the hen is just like the sip and the lip – each shut however it is going to be when it is going to be.
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| The looking occasion – our Birdguide on the left… |
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| The Yellow rump being clearly displayed. |
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| The hen that refused to be afraid – main me to the Beehive? |
My visits to Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and even Borneo had been a washout and this occurred over a interval of greater than 5 years. Then got here the final birding journey to Uttrakhand, a visit to Chopta, tugged in-between the 2 COVID lockdowns, that also had the title of this hen as a goal species together with a dozen others I have to say. Our Birdguide was completely sure that we are going to see the hen and in hearts of hearts, I used to be not so positive. The previous failures had been weighing heavy on my thoughts to say the least. Properly the day arrived and we walked upstream from the street the primary day at Chopta and that was the place we had been to see the hen for positive, or so our Birdguide has mentioned – like a 100% positive. Properly we waited, scanned the realm for any indicators in any respect for the birds – however for the large Beehives buzzing with bees within the far distance on a ledge – there was nothing. Properly they had been different birds and fairly ones – however this was to not be. We waited and scanned the close by areas for over an hour. Since we had been to succeed in our vacation spot that was nonetheless a couple of hours away we had no alternative to chop the chase and after a small Maggie Lunch and moved on. The frustration was on my face. A number of hours down the lane we stopped once more with a Cliff in far distance and the Birdguide telling us that we may be fortunate right here because the hen is seen at this place additionally generally. Lacking the hen the place it was absolutely to be seen and now at a spot the place it’s sighted generally is actually not very hopeful. Properly, we stopped on the stream and all our group began searching for some lovely birds across the stream. I requested our information if we will stroll alongside the street to the place close to the Beehives that was about half a km away and since relaxation didn’t reply enthusiastically – we each, the Birdguide and me, moved on. As luck would have it, nearly 200 m forward – there was a flutter in a tree close by and each the Birdguide and me shouted concurrently – HoneyGuide. I used to be shaking with pleasure and transferring my toes barely a couple of inches at a time to make sure the hen doesn’t fly away. The hen was nonetheless not clearly seen although we had been listening to it and catching the glimpses of it in that tree. I bought one clear shot and the hen determined to be extra assured than me. It perched on to a department an arms size away and was under no circumstances afraid. I coronary heart was leaping with pleasure – I known as out to the remainder of the workforce. The hen didn’t thoughts my shout in any respect – all of them got here – and the hen was there nonetheless singing in entrance of all of us and what a day we had.
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| Oh what a sight it was – particularly when it has eluded you for five years plus some change 😉 |
The Scientific Identify of the hen is Indicator xanthonotus. The primary a part of the title, Indicator, and it’s precisely what it sounds – to Point out as in English. And the second half xanthonotus may be damaged into two components – xanthous – which means yellow, and ~nōtos which means backed. This principally will get all the way down to Indicator hen that has a yellow again. And now you’ll be able to correlate with the widespread title – the Yellow-rumped Honeyguide. The story of the hen is an fascinating one and it goes one thing like this… this hen is understood for main mammals and people to the bees nests, enabling the stronger mammal to interrupt open the hive/nest and profit from honey, while the honeyguide eats the grubs, bees and the wax. The native (African) superstition calls for that a number of the honey is left for the honeyguide, in any other case subsequent time it’s going to lead the searcher in the direction of a hidden snake or leopard. Properly – search the web and you’ll find such movies doing rounds however most of them are usually not confirmed or verified – all the identical the folklore lives on…
That is the explanation why birding is my ardour – each hen has a narrative and each story has a hen 😎
