Coppersmith Barbet

I had written earlier about Two Barbets. I had opportunity to follow same Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala) which was at that time building a nest. I was able to observe their nest at close quarter for over 1.5 months. I saw them raise their two chicks which finally flew off as healthy juveniles. I had use my Canon EF 300mm f/4.0 L IS USM with Canon EF 1.4x II Extender on Canon EOS 7D to take these series of photos as my 300mm f/2.8 was still not available.

The Coppersmith Barbet, Crimson-breasted Barbet or Coppersmith (Megalaima haemacephala), is a bird with crimson forehead and throat which is best known for its metronomic call that has been likened to a coppersmith striking metal with a hammer. It is a resident found in South Asia and parts of Southeast Asia. Like other barbets, they chisel out a hole inside a tree to build their nest. They are mainly fruit eating but will take sometimes insects, especially winged termites.

Emerging out of Nest

This bird belonged one of the nine sub species called Megalaima haemacephala indica (Latham, 1790) which is found in the Indian Subcontinent form northeastern Pakistan and extends into Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

This Coppersmith had built its nest in a small tree hole of a Mango Tree (Mangifera indica) Courtship involves singing, puffing of the throat, bobbing of the head, flicking of the tail, ritual feeding and allopreening. They breed through much of the year with local variation. The breeding season is mainly February to April in India. Both sexes excavate the nest on the underside of a narrow horizontal branch. They may also roost inside the nest holes. Three or four eggs are laid and like in many hole nesting birds the incubation period is not well known but has been estimated to be about 2 weeks. Both sexes incubate. Often two broods are raised in quick succession.

On a Branch

Throughout their wide range they are found in gardens, groves and sparse woodland. Habitats with trees having dead wood suitable for excavation is said to be important. Birds nest and roost in cavities. In the Himalayas it is found mainly in the valleys of the outer Himalayas up to 3000 feet. They are rare in the dry desert zones and the very wet forests.

Keeps solitary, pairs, or small groups; larger parties occasionally on abundantly fruiting Ficus trees. Fond of sunning themselves in the morning on bare top branches of tall trees, often flitting about to sit next to each other. The flight is straight, with rapid flaps.

Inspecting nest hole

They compete with other cavity nesting birds and frugivores. Megalaima asiatica have been noted to evict them from their nest holes, while Red-vented Bulbuls have been seen to indulge in kleptoparasitism, robbing the male of berries brought to the female at the nest. The nest holes are also used for roosting and some birds roost alone in cavities and these often roost during part of the day. Immatures will roost with the parents but often return to roost early so as not to be prevented by the parents from entering the roost cavity.

Fly away

The call is a loud rather metallic tuk…tuk…tuk (or tunk), reminiscent of a copper sheet being beaten, giving the bird its name. Repeated monotonously for long periods, starting with a subdued tuk and building up to an even volume and tempo, the latter varying from 108 to 121 per minute and can continue with as many as 204 notes. They are silent and do not call in winter.

Fly away

Prefers Banyan, Peepul, and other wild figs, various drupes and berries, and the occasional insect, caught in aerial sallies. Petals of flowers may also be included in their diet. They eat nearly 1.5 to nearly 3 times their body weight in berries each day.

Feeding Chicks

After last two appetizers of Mohiniyattam & Kathakali let us come to the main course. Here are the photos of 1000th one-act show of Mantapa Prabhakara Upadhya for which the celebration was held on 2nd April at Alva’s.

It was a grand day of celebration with an array of cultural extravaganza brimming with skills, mastery and punctuality in timing which was only possible under the able leadership of Dr. Mohan Alva.

As mentioned in the beginning of the Mantapa’s performance by his mentor Shatavadhani R. Ganesh who mooted the concept of “solo” Yakshagana, 1000th performance will be no different from the earlier 999, but the significance we give to these numbers that makes 1000th and unique event.

Venu Visarjana was the subject of 1000th performance at Moodu Venu Pura (Sanskrit name for Moodabidri). It was loosely based on Pu.Thi. Narasimhachar’s Gokula Nirgamana which has Krishna’s separation from Radha as its theme and reaches spiritual heights of viraha bhava.

Words are not sufficient to explain this great performance of Mantapa Prabhakara Upadhya. So I will allow my photos to speak for themselves.

My good friend G.N Ashokvardhana has written a detailed article at his blog ಸಾವಿರಕಂಬದ ಊರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾವಿರದ ಸಂಭ್ರಮ on the whole days celebration.

Kathakali

As the second cultural highlight of Mantapa Prabhakara Upadhya’s 1000th Performance of Ekavyakti Yakshagana celebration we were treated with Kathakali performance by Mudrakhya of Palakkad. Mudrakhya is an organisation established to work for the cause of Kathakali & related art forms of Kerala.

Demonstration of Aangica Abhinaya

Before the actual performance Kathakali there was a lecture demonstration on the various abhinaya aspect of Kathakali by manager of Mudrakhya team K. Shashi and Sadanam Krishnadas. This demonstration helped us, who had very little knowledge about this art form to understand gestures of Kathakali.

Narakasura

It was followed by beautiful rendition of Narakasura by K.M Nandakumar Nair who has spent over 50 years practicing Kathakali.

Behind the screen

Nandakumaran born in 1945, hails from the serene village of Desamangalam. Nandkumaran learned the art of Ottanthullal during the 1954-59 under Kalamandalam Divakaran Nair & Malabar Kannan Nair, the senior instructors at the Kerala Kalamandalam, Chruthuruthy, Kerala.

Kathakali

His training in Kathakali commenced in 1963, at the PSV Natyasangham, Kottakkal, under the tutelage of Kottakkal Krishnankutty Nair. After his student days, Nandakumaran served the PSV Natyasangham as a performer and a teacher till 1998. He still continues to be a free lance performer, teacher and resource person of Kathakali.

Kathakali

Distribution of the task of elucidating emotions to the entire body is the observed uniqueness of Kathakali. This very specific technique separates Kathakali from its parallel forms like Koodiyattom & Krishnanattom. This was perfectly elucidated by Nandakumaran in Narakasura

Narakasura

Katha = Story. Kali = play. Even though it is not the rigid meaning related to theatre it is just enacting a story. The text for this purpose is referred to as Aattakkatha meaning a story written to be produced as a Kathakali.

Kathakali

Kathakali as we see today is just more than four centuries old. The popular legend behind Kathakali may be quickly reviewed to establish that there was a great revolutionary and socialistic philosophy that played into the evolution of Kathakali. Zamorin, a local chieftain in the northern Kerala was a patron of Krishnanattom, essentially a dance drama that deals only with the story of Krishna, only within the premises of Krishna-temples.

Kathakali

A local chieftain from Kottarakkara, southern Kerala, invited the Zamorin to present Krishnanattom in Kottarakkara. This was turned down by the Zamorin, with a statement that Krishnanattom is not for the unscholarly audience of southern Kerala. With a vengeance, the royal chieftain of Kottarakkara gave rise to Ramanattom. Ramanattom enacted stories from Ramayana and other epics also. In due course of time, as it began to encompass many stories, Ramanattom evolved into a medium with bigger dimension, to ‘Play any Story’ thus becoming Kathakali.

Closeup

Nanadakumaran was amply assisted in background score by A. M Ravindran and Sadanam Jothish Babu in vocals, Kalamandala jayakrishna and Krishna Praveen Poduval in Chande, Srijith Marar in Maddale.

Jump

Capturing very fine movement and expressions of Kathakali was a great challenge to me. Using two dimensional still medium like photography to depict vibrant art form of Kathakali that too on a stage cluttered with huge distracting writing in the background was really a challenge. Video would show the finer movements but how to get that in Photography. I tried in this photograph by shooting with very low shutter speed (1/25th of a second). You will notice that only the right hand of Narakasura and Chende stick are mobile in the photograph with rest of the picture are still thus conveying a very subtle movement of the artist.

Slow speed photo