Sometimes nature offers us humour on a plate, and sometimes our brain has to
mix a bit of imagination into the natural act to have a laugh! This story is a combination of both!
Near Kaladhungi, in the peak summer heat of June in 2024, was a cool shaded area in the middle of a forest accessible only by bumpy dirt roads. This was the chosen area for a pair of Long-tailed Broadbills. As I watched their amazing beauty and display in complete awe, I felt they too were playing a small game with me! So here it starts …(and please visualise it)…
“Oh honey here comes another long-lens fella! Should we show him why we are called the Long-tailed Broadbills?” said one Broadbill to another.
“Ah! Not again! But let me leave no doubt in his mind this time about our tails! He will probably go and narrate to his birder friends about the tale of the tail! Ha ha tweet tweet!” the other one replied and then went and sat on a perch right in front of the long-lens one, me!
Then the act began (please watch it clockwise from top left corner):
Photo 1: “Here I start! Watch my tail go horizontal!”
Photo 2: “There let me take it up further a bit! Let me tilt a bit and see how high it is..!”
Photo 3: “You want more? Here let me push hard and there it goes up higher, see?!”
Photo 4: “Oh no, you still want more?! Ok…aaaaahhhhh….aaaahhhhhh…that is the maximum I can go now!”
By the end of the act, I had no doubt in my mind about their claim to being the Broadbills with the Long-tails! For now, they had simply put a “broad” smile on my face for a “long” time!