The Hornbill Festival of Nagaland

Nagaland is located in the remote area of northeast India. I traveled there by local train (which is another story) to this location to the site of the annual Hornbill Festival.

Nagaland is a mixture of different ethnic groups as is all of northeast India. This is an area where the law is mainly tribal rule. The Indian government allows this to keep the peace in these remote, ethnically mixed areas of India.

The annual Hornbill festival takes place in early December and is sponsored by the local government of Nagaland. It's purpose is to celebrate the cultural heritage of the peoples that make up this land.

I visited the grounds of the festival but not during the festival period. I went in hopes of seeing one of these beautiful and rare to me birds, but I struck out in my endeavor.

It's probably as well I didn't see one because I cannot retrieve my digital pictures of the trip. I would be more frustrated if those pictures contained the Hornbill. But, I did happen upon one in another location.

The Hornbill bird is located throughout Southern Africa as well as India and Southeast Asia. The large bill of this bird is substantial and requires fusing of certain neck vertebrae to support it. The bird is an omnivore, eating small animals and certain tropical fruits.

I happily chanced upon one on a self-drive near the Thai Myanmar border. This is a remote area of the country that is densely rainforest in parts. Driving through a forested region I spotted the bird in a tree branch above the road. Such a lucky sighting!

I'll share with you now:

Can you spot him/her?

This was a great surprise on my drive. I have been to areas of India and Africa within their habitat, but never saw one. I feel very lucky I saw one here.

Yeah, it looks like a toucan, but way cooler!