Researcher’s Corner

I was always fascinated by hornbills (called ‘hangrayo’ in the locally spoken language Nepali) as a child. However, I live at an elevation of around 1600m, and hornbills are rarely seen in the forests around this altitude in Darjeeling. This is likely due to the extensive tea plantations and monoculture of non-fruiting trees, which have fragmented the forest landscape. Yet, stories of hornbills once frequenting my native place always intrigued me.

“As I navigated through the underbrush, I suddenly heard the unmistakable whoosh of large wings cutting through the moist air. The sound was immense, almost like the roar of wind through the trees, but I knew it was the flight of something extraordinary.”

“He then presented the shiny object to the female, placing it gently on the ground near her. The female, in turn, would inspect the gift with great interest, often picking it up and carrying it back to their nest. This wasn’t just a one-time event. I observed the male bringing numerous gifts, each time performing his courtship dance with the same enthusiasm.”

“And at last… one fine evening.. just before sunset, when we climbed up on a river island.. We heard the call “chirik chirik”. I turned to my colleague to know if he was doing a playback and just then, I saw four males flushing from a thicket only a few metres from me.”

“On that specific day suddenly, there were alarm calls from all the lapwings and all of them flying in the air, flapping their wings. There was eeriness in the air. Then we saw a rat snake trying to feed on the eggs of the ground-nesting lapwing.”

“But then Sherlock showed what birds can do! I started training him for the new sequence and within just one week, he learnt it. The best part is, he could discriminate between the sequences easily (I did not expect this at all), thus acquiring both techniques to solve the problem.”

Being a field researcher, collecting data on illegal trade and roadkills of birds, especially in an unknown locality often sparked people’s curiosity about my work. They wanted to know who, where, why and what I was doing…!!

“As we entered the campus, we began looking for birds and reached a tree patch at the corner of the boys’ hostel. There I saw the flashing red colour in the cover of the leaves. I was unsure whether it was the bird which I thought it was. I climbed onto a wall for a better view. To my delight, it was indeed what I thought it was….”

“The drive and motivation was so insane, I would go even when it would be pouring in the middle of the infamous Darjeeling monsoon. For me, the birds turned the shut down into a blessing in disguise because my MSc course did not allocate separate time for internship or dissertation, and I might have never gotten the chance to spend time in the field if not for the shut down.”

“It was early morning, and the forest was shrouded in mist. As I carefully walked through the dense undergrowth, I heard its distinctive two-note whistle. My excitement grew as I followed the sound, hoping for a rare sighting. Suddenly, there it was – hopping gracefully among the fallen leaves, its vibrant plumage a striking contrast to the forest floor.”

“It had been many months in the forest but we had not been not able to trap and tag a single Great Hornbill. It was one such morning in the forest of Pakke. We had almost lost all hopes of getting a hornbill trapped. That day, we had put up our trap between two fig trees. While we were waiting in the hide, we suddenly heard the loud flapping sounds of a Great Hornbill approaching…”

My background is in chemistry, and until graduation, I never formally studied biology. However, I’ve always been passionate about wildlife and nature, thanks to my childhood spent along the banks of the Ganga River, surrounded by its rich biodiversity and interactions.