Polychromatic Life – Blue - Throated Barbet

Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary ; Assam

Travelling for wildlife is pretty much like any other kind of travel when it comes to expectations. You need a fairly decent idea about what to expect from your trip to save yourself from disappointment cause not knowing much will keep you expecting the amazing which will never happen after a while as per the law of diminishing returns on similar experiences. It’s better to come to terms with the fact that sightings do not stir you up as much as they used to after a certain point cause that’s just how it is. The whole experience is perhaps further enhanced by the camera related technicalities, light and weather predictions when you’ve brought photography into the mix and that aspect of this hobby helps in sustaining the thrill probably for people like me while needing even more expectation management for those variables as well. It’s often frustrating and yet very rewarding because you slowly start understanding things which you should have known anyway being a resident of this planet but didn’t learn cause of circumstance. The unintended learnings from this hobby easily become a part of your second nature and soon you start adjusting for it in your day to day just like your ancestors and every other creature on this planet. Us city dwelling Humans have evolved a lifestyle that continues relatively unhindered by natural changes but our detachment from true reality is perhaps a major negative side effect of our modern lives and it may prove to be a heavy burden in the long run. The weather should be important every day and not just when the floods hit the streets. If it was, the flood wouldn’t hit the streets in the first place, would it?

My hopeful expectations from my recent trip to Pobitora included a kind of bird that had eluded me for a while. Everyone in this game knows that Assam has Barbets but I just hadn’t been lucky enough to share space with these gorgeous birds and I was hoping to change that when I decided on Pobitora for a quick getaway. I told Umesh, my driver in Pobitora about my bad luck and shame with these birds right when we met and he proceeded to nip that at the bud by having me in front of a tree with a Coppersmith Barbet within five minutes and even before we entered the sanctuary. Those photos sadly didn’t work out as well as I wanted but over the next day and a half, we ran into the Blue-Throated Barbet twice in our time inside the reserve. The jinx was lifted but with scope for improvement though cause these guys are as colourful in appearance as they are in their behaviour and I am hoping to visit again to catch better pictures of these guys for sure. A twig added more colour to some of the frames as you can see here. These guys are unique, colourful, fast and jumpy for their size and I am hopeful about catching them in the clear the next time around. The sightings that you want will come back to you if you stay at it is what I say. It’s just a matter of time and effort.

Many people have compared this bird’s appearance to Clowns but I do wonder if this too is because of our limited exposure. If anything, the clown should be called the Barbet cause the bird came first after all no? They are cheerful birds and pretty fast for their size when they want to be. These guys can get as big as Mynas at 23 cm and weigh above 100 gms. Despite the weight and size, they are fidgety and can move pretty much like much lighter birds. Often seen in trees with fruits, their green bodies camouflage very well among the leaves where I pretty much saw them every time on my maiden attempts at em. Of the nine kinds of barbets seen in India, I added pictures of two to my collection on my first try at them and I’ll take that as a huge win from my first safari in Pobitora along the sighting of the sub adult Rhino calf which I wrote about on my previous post, "The Playful Sub Adult". I think I can manage a couple more of the nine if I track them a little in Assam itself but chasing bird species hasn’t really been my thing yet so we will see I guess cause I really do prefer chasing photo possibilities from locations instead. Pobitora is a beautiful location and close so yeah, it’s a shame really that I’ve ignored it for so long.

Barbets in general get their name cause of their whiskers. Derived from the French word “barbe” which means beard, this term refers to the whisker like bristles at the fringe of their bills. The Blue Throated Barbet ranges around the Lower Himalayas, North East India and South East Asia. They are colourful characters who you may find bopping up and down in the canopy. These actions may make them look funny or "clownish" to us but they are not really living up to the reputation of their colours. Their bobbing behaviour can be a part of their courtship displays, territorial behaviour or even actions for visual stabilization during foraging. There's no clowning around when survival's the goal and these guys easily survive in sub-tropical and tropical forests, evergreen forests, deciduous forests, urban gardens, tea gardens and the fringe areas of cities where fruit trees may be present. They feed on fruits, berries, figs and insects like caterpillars, centipedes and crickets. They live in the trees that they seek out for food and are non-migratory. You have to keep your eyes open for these guys for sure cause they prefer the canopy branches and those have a lot of clutter usually. That, along with their fast movements does not make for easy photography but I guess that’s the challenge and fun with em.

These birds are a delight to watch cause of their colours and antics. Perhaps the tag of being the clown might have something to do with that but then their antics do not compare at all to the speed of the smaller birds like magpie robins that we find in the bushes below them. Finding these guys went as planned for me and now I know how to get to them again finally. It’s a chance that intend on taking at the best opportune moment this year for sure and perhaps when the Pied Hornbills make their way down from the mountains in Pobitora again. These guys were one of the motivating factors that took me to Pobitora and well, this “tick” has been ticked off finally and thankfully. Ill be sure to add to the photos of them here when I chance upon them again. Seeing these guys went according to my plan for sure but everything I encountered at this wonderful little forest wasn’t what I expected at all. I found some gorgeous and unexpected strangers in the little time that I spent at Pobitora and I’ll be getting to that on as I sort through my stuff and put it all together for you. This post fits the occasion pretty well cause it’s Bihu here in Assam. The New Year. Happy Bihu Everyone. May the year be bright, colourful and happy like the Blue Throated Barbet.