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~ Mid-air Acrobatics ~
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~ Mid-air Acrobatics ~

by Sachin Rai

Gallery: AvianPosted March 1, 2012765 views20 comments
Info: Two males took off from a fruiting tree, flying side-by-side. Suddenly they turned and faced each other, bumped their beak mid-air into each others, turned again and continued with their flight. This kind of behaviour in hornbills (known as casque butting) had not been recorded until recently when I made this picture.

Species: Malabar Pied Hornbill
Latin name: Anthracoceros coronatus
Where: Dandeli Tiger Reserve, Karnataka, INDIA
When: Early 2007

Equip: Canon 20D | 100-400 IS
F-stop: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/2000 sec.
ISO: 200
Exposure Comp: -0.3 step

Comments

20 comments
Comment posted by Carlette Bragg on March 1, 2012 at 6:58 AM
Great capture! Thanks for sharing! :toast: :toast:
Registered on March 19, 2009, 76 Posts, 387 Comments
Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on March 1, 2012 at 7:09 AM
Welcome ! Great frame to announce your arrival !
Terrific interaction, very well executed !
Jagdeep Rajput :toast:
Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments
Comment posted by Tonia Graves on March 1, 2012 at 9:47 AM
Great interaction here! I like the mid-air positions of the birds. Nice work! :toast:
Registered on October 29, 2011, 92 Posts, 1035 Comments
Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on March 1, 2012 at 9:50 AM
This is an incredible photo. Love seeing this behavior.
Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments
Comment posted by Basri Akcasoy on March 1, 2012 at 11:01 AM
Excellent shoot,
I believe it's very hard to catch with considerable sharpness.
Thank you for sharing
Registered on February 16, 2012, 118 Posts, 767 Comments
Comment posted by May Haga on March 1, 2012 at 11:02 AM
Wow, totally incredible interaction between these two amazing birds.
May
Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments
Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on March 1, 2012 at 12:48 PM
Welcome! Wonderful behavioral action captured well. Great perspective, nice colours, and clean BG. Both birds are in great position - very tough to do.
You've lost some detail in the black areas on the right bird; it would be fairly easy to re-capture some of the detail with a program like Viveza.
What is the purpose of this interaction between the birds?
Looking forward to more images from you!

Sandy
Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments
Comment posted by Verdon on March 1, 2012 at 2:37 PM
WOW. three thumbs up!!! :wavey: :toast: :wavey:
Registered on June 10, 2011, 147 Posts, 1444 Comments
Comment posted by Ken Archer on March 1, 2012 at 7:49 PM
:eek: Amazing behavior action you captured here Sachin. I am looking forward to seeing more of your photography.

Ken Archer
Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments
Comment posted by Rob Drummond on March 1, 2012 at 8:49 PM
Great detail, behaviour and action Sachin, congratulations
Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments
Comment posted by Sachin Rai on March 2, 2012 at 1:51 AM
Dear all, Thank you for the kind words.
@Sandy: No one knows the reason for the behaviour for sure. But since both of them are males, it is a speculation that both males want to show off their skills of acrobatic skills in flight. This was in January end, just before they start nesting. I believe you know, that female Hornbills have to depend on the male for food throughout the nesting period, hence maybe this is just a procedure on showing off their skills of exchanging food maybe. As I said earlier, it could largely be a speculation. There are records of Casque-butting in some hornbill species, where two males would fly head on with each other and clash their casques (the piece above their beaks).

Registered on February 29, 2012, 15 Posts, 26 Comments
Comment posted by Venugopal Thantry on March 2, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Fantastic ....TFS
Registered on May 12, 2011, 33 Posts, 144 Comments
Comment posted by Alan Bryant on March 2, 2012 at 10:04 AM
Very nice action shot there :cool:

Congrats on capturing this and sharing it with us :toast:
Registered on March 31, 2006, 473 Posts, 1081 Comments
Comment posted by KC Choo on March 2, 2012 at 7:58 PM
A very dramatic moment captured.....and so well!
Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments
Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 2, 2012 at 10:51 PM
Welcome to NPN Sachin. This is a remarkable image, I haven't seen this behavior in hornbills or ever seen an image of it and to get it nice and sharp with both birds in good positions with that equipment is fantastic. :toast:
Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments
Comment posted by John Tobias on March 3, 2012 at 11:29 PM
Sachin, this IMHO is a great action/behavior shot! Well done, very sharp, good color fine detail. Thanks for sharing.
Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments
Comment posted by Simon Bennett on March 4, 2012 at 12:21 AM
Fabulous interaction.
Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments
Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on March 7, 2012 at 12:41 PM
Congrats on the WP! Especially nice in so short a time here -
amazing image and very unusual behavior.
Really looking forward to more of your images..
Sandy
Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments
Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on March 7, 2012 at 2:54 PM
Congratulations on the Weekly Pick for Avian. A terrific capture. And congrats also on documenting the behavior.
Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments
Comment posted by Angela McCain on March 7, 2012 at 9:07 PM
Great catch of this behavior. Welcome to NPN
Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments