Wreathed Hornbill Flightscape

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

A male wreathed hornbill (Aceros undulatus / Rhyticeros undulatus), one of Pakke Tiger Reserve's flagship species.

This one was pretty far away. I chose this image with the foreground leaves as I felt it balances the composition by filling out the otherwise 'negative' space. Ideally I would have liked them to be as far away as the hornbill :).

Canon Powershot SX10
SS 1/320
Av 5.7
ISO 100
EC +0.3

Thanks, C&C welcome

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Good that you cud sight this wonderful species Abhishek. wish it was closer.
TFS
Roopak

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Roopak: Did sight these and other hornbills at close quarters on a few other occasions, but the dense foliage and poor light didn't permit good photographs.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice sighting. Including the leaves works well here, as it frames nicely from the right. So you were carrying the powershot also :)? Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Good to see this species. Wish it was closer. The powershot would definitely help in getting a better record of something far off in certain situations. Thanks for sharing.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Thanks everyone.
Mrudul: No long tele lenses yet, so yes, the SX10 goes everywhere with me :).

[Debasis Bose]

Nice in flight shot. Where did you photograph this? The population is suspected to be in decline owing to ongoing habitat destruction and fragmentation and, locally, hunting for food.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Debasis: This was in Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh. Local hunting (at least in that region) has gone down considerably thanks to conservation efforts initiated by the tribals themselves, in partnership with the forest dept.