Photo Credits: pg 3- anchor
Hi folks. Allow me to introduce myself…I’m a Malabar Pied Hornbill. In Konkani I’m called ‘ and my zoological name is ‘.
The first thing one notices about me is the unique illusion of a “double beak”. The structure on top of my bill is referred to as a “casque”. Its light and hollow construction allows my calls to carry far and penetrate the deep forest. Sort of like a built-in loud speaker system.
I’m handsome, strong and majestic at 65 cm. My plumage is mainly black, with white: under parts, throat patch, wing tips and outer tail feathers. My casque is predominantly black and sits atop a yellow horn-shaped bill.
My girlfriend differs with a distinct white band around her eyes; a casque that’s slightly smaller and missing black colouring at the back end.
Once we tie the knot, my wife and I mate for life. Our breeding season is from March to June. We find a massive hollow tree for our cavity nest. My sweetheart walls herself off within the tree hole using a mixture of mud, droppings and fruit pulp, leaving only a narrow slit to receive food.
Inside she lays 2-4 white eggs and incubates them for 30-40 days. During this time, I’m her sole provider of food, of mainly regurgitated fruit.
For our hatchlings, I hunt for protein-rich foods like eggs, lizards, mice, snakes and other baby birds. They are fed this diet for 2-3 weeks.
My wife remains inside with our hatchlings until there is no longer room. She then breaks the wall, recloses the opening and we resume feeding our chicks together. One leaving the nest, our fledglings will not have a casque until they reach adulthood.
As a family, we are mostly frugivorous, our favourite being figs and palm seeds. This makes us important agents of seed dispersal. As we eat and travel within open forest and among large fruit trees near villages, we excrete fertilized seeds, thus the term Gardener of the Forest. We’re known to migrate locally in response to various fruiting occurrences. Our distribution is limited to the Western Ghats, central India and Sri Lanka at elevations less than 300 meters.
Whether perched or flying, we enjoy making lots of noise. Loud cackling and screaming sounds.
Our conservation status is not too good at ‘Near Threatened’, due to continuing habitat loss. In the wild, we have no major predators. Humans and fire, pose the greatest threats.
We humbly request your assistance to protest against new dam proposals, such as Athirapilly Dam in Kerela. When the dams arrive, trees disappear. Without trees we cannot survive. And without us, there would be no future forests or healthy ecosystems. The world needs us.
Image Credit: Joshua Dsilva and/or Marvelyn Dias
