Red - whiskered Bulbul@ Eravikulam National Park.

 

Munnar, Kerala, India.

Two Red-whiskered Bulbuls sat close together on a low branch, their scarlet cheek-patches bright against the muted greens of Eravikulam's canopy.

At Eravikulam National Park, a flash of crimson caught the eye.  Two Red-whiskered Bulbuls perched lightly on a shrub,  their dark crests raised like a small flame against the grey mist. 

The hills lay hushed around them, grasslands rolling toward Anamudi's distant peak, and for a moment the little birds  seemed to hold all the quiet of the Western Ghats in their  small, watchful stillness. 

One preened the other's feathers with quiet patience, the mist drifting past them in soft curls, while the hills stretched silent and endless beyond.

 For a moment, the pair seemed to belong entirely to that high, quiet world - two small red whispers, keeping each other company under the pale Munnar sky.

I walked near to it slowly slowly, with silent footsteps, to watch them close, but soon they flew and disappeared among the lush greenery.