The sound

[Prajwal J Ullal]

Past weekend I had visited Sanjay Gandhi national park yet again. Was a bit depressed when I couldnt find the regularly spotted Asian paradise flycatcher in its regular spot, so continuing with the search for macro subjects I traversed few areas that I didnt visit regularly. At one such area I heard a very unique sound, tok tok tok, this would be 5-6times at a stretch and 2-3mins of no sound, later another 5-6 sets of the same noise and the same silence. Curious about the sound I tried to locate the area from where it might be coming and it seemed as if it was very close by, but I failed to locate the source of the sound. Few other youngsters also mentioned about the sound and were also curious, but not enough to leave their college buddies. I covered over half a km but still wasnt sure where the sound was coming from, finally I realized it might be from the other side of the dried water bed, which had many palm trees. After cautiously crossing the rocky bed and curiously catching the source of the sound I reached beneath a few palm trees, but still no source of sound. Finally on top of a dried palm tree, among the cover of few other tree's branches, there was a Rufous woodpecker who would bang on the tree for 5-6 times and stay steady, probably surveying its surroundings, and then repeat the same after 2-3mins gap. The sight was amazing and the bird seemed not bothered with my presence around it, though it was too high on the tree. This particular activity/phenomenon continued till 11:45a.m.(first heard it at around 9:15), thats when I decided to call it a day as had few other commitments later for the day. I have recorded a video, not a very good one though as I didnt have tripod with me, and also have this frame. I shall be sharing the video/sound in the coming days.

EXIF:
Canon 550D
Canon 55-250IS
f/5.6
Shutter-speed 1/400
ISO 1250(Auto Shutter priority)
Handheld
Location: Sanjay Gandhi national park

I wasnt aware of the exact id of the bird, had seen photographs of it but wasnt sure, it was a couple on the other side of the river bad who confirmed that its a rufous woodpecker, and the guy mentioned that it was not usual behaviour of this bird to make nest on tree or making such noise. He also mentioned that they had been hearing this sound for over an hour(I had captured this at around 9:50).
But this and a few more experiences made the day for me