Something I’d like to share with all of you is this wonderful video by a couple who are good friends, Raghunath Belur and Sugandhi Gadadhar. The audio for this is a percussion “conversation” between two Indian musical instruments that often form a part of a classical Carnatic music concert. Apart from the great visuals, they have very creatively incorporated this percussion passage, which, in my language (Tamizh) we call a “thani Avarthanam”. After the flute,you hear the
MRIDANGAM , a south Indian classical music percussion instrument
alternating with the
TABLA , a north Indian pair of drums used in all forms of music.
They alternate to a diminuendo and then join in and build to a crescendo, after which the flute picks up the melody again and brings the thani Avarthanam to a conclusion that the creatures dance to!
It’s 3’14” long.
Ganeshgudi, in Karnataka, lies in the Western Ghats, with is a World Biodiversity hotspot, and all these birds can be seen in just a day or two.
Here's a detailed list of what you see:
The opening music is that of the Malabar Whistling Thrush, which our foremost birder, Dr. Salim Ali, has dubbed the "Whistling Schoolboy".
Cast in order of appearance:
# Malabar Pied Hornbill in flight
# Malabar Pied Hornbill feeding on fig
# Southern Birdwing butterfly - largest butterfly in Southern India
# Blue-eared Kingfisher
# White-rumped Shama
# White-bellied Blue Flycatcher
# Ruby-throated Bulbul and Oriental White-eye (top left)
# Malabar Trogon
# Cruiser butterfly
# Asian Paradise Flycatcher Male
# Black-naped Monarch
# Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
# Forest Calotes
# Chocolate Pansy butterfly
# Draco (flying lizard)
# Unidentified moth
# Ground Skimmer dragonfly
# Green Bee-eater with dragonfly kill
# Crested Goshawk
# White-bellied Woodpecker
# Blue-capped Rock Thrush
# Yellow-browed Bulbul
# Crested Serpent Eagle
# Grey-headed Fish Eagle
# Grass Funnel Web Spider
# Rat snake
# Cruiser butterfly
# Malabar Barbet
# Oriental Magpie Robin
# Common Emerald Dove
# Unidentified Warbler
# Verditer Flycatcher
# Coppersmith Barbet
# Malabar Pied Hornbill (left: male, right: female)
# Indian Pitta
# Pompadour Green Pigeon
# Malabar Whistling Thrush
# Cruiser butterfly
# White-rumped Shama
# Orange-headed Thrush
# Five-ring butterfly (?)
# Southern Birdwing butterfly
# Blue-capped Rock Thrush
# Coppersmith Barbet
# Blue-capped Rock Thrush (female)
# Tickell's Blue Flycatcher (female)
# Brown-Cheeked Fulvetta
# Blue-capped Rock Thrush
# White-bellied Blue Flycatcher
# Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
# Indian Yellow Tit
# Brown-Cheeked Fulvetta
# White-rumped Shama
# Ruby-throated Bulbul
# Indian Yellow Tit
# Asian Paradise Flycatcher
# Indian Yellow Tit
# Purple Sunbird
# Ruby-throated Bulbul
# Forest Calotes
# White-bellied Blue Flycatcher
# Dark-fronted Babbler
# Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
# Brown-Cheeked Fulvetta
# Blue-capped Rock Thrush
# Tickell's Blue Flycatcher (female)
# Oriental White-eye
# Asian Paradise Flycatcher
# Yellow-browed Bulbul
# Hanuman Langur
# Malabar Giant Squirrel
# Indian Palm Squirrel
# Unidentied ants
# Malabar Trogon with kill
# Thrush (?)
# Ants - Pachycondyla rufipes
# Gladeye Bushbrown butterfly
# Great Hornbill
# Indian Pitta
# Malabar Pied Hornbill
