These are Malabar Pied Hornbills - Anthracoceros coronatus — One of the ten Horn-bill species of the country, captured at Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary, a birdwatchers paradise in Uttara Kannada district, by one of SOM readers Naveen Raja from Vidyashankar Nagar, Mysuru.
Large birds with disproportionately large beaks with a Cascade over the beak, hence the name Hornbill. Horn-bills are fruit eating birds and they are the main seed dispersion agents, to several species fruit-bearing trees.






