Once upon a time.... there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy.
The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated...
- Terry Tempest Williams
Although difficult to sight they reveal their presence with their loud call that can be syllabised as "kok-kok-pokrass". The name koklass and pucrasia have been onomatopoeically derived from this call.
As we drove through the forests of Kedarnath WLS we noticed a female koklass cross the road. Sensing that the male could be close by, I alighted the vehicle and before I could adjust the camera settings there it was in a patch of sunlight on the road - as shocked to see me as I was to see it. I had just a fraction of a second to take the shot and it crossed the road into the cover of the dense forest.
Koklass pheasant
(Pucrasia macrolopha)
Sony A77II
Tamron 150-600
f/5, 1/800s, ISO 800, 200mm
Kedarnath WLS, India
May 2019