I was in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, watching a pair of jackals feeding on a carcass when a loud beating of wings broke through the treetops. I looked up to find a male Malabar pied hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus) settled on a fig tree. My heart leapt; it was my first sighting of this magnificent bird. Years later, I remember the wonderful sight vividly. This prehistoric-looking bird, perched on a tree, was regurgitating fruits and leaning forward to push it into a gash in the trunk. Presumably, it was feeding these fruits to its mate, who was sequestered in a cavity nest. During nesting, female hornbills wall themselves into holes in trees to lay their eggs and raise the chicks once they hatch, while the male keeps his mate and offspring fed and healthy. There is something so tender and heartwarming about how these hornbills care for one another.
India has nine species of hornbills, of which the Malabar pied hornbill is spread across parts of Central and Eastern India, in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Bihar, and in the Western Ghats, in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa, and Kerala.
They look similar to their northern cousin, the Oriental pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris), but can be differentiated by a larger body and greater head and casque size. Malabar pied hornbills feed mainly on fruits; figs are a favourite. These hornbills are often found by the margins of rainforests, venturing to plantations and other similar areas with fruiting trees in search of food. They also eat termites, fish, crabs, small reptiles, and even young birds and other small animals. With pristine forest habitats dwindling, most species face the dilemma of adapting to newer, more disturbed habitats — or facing extinction. Malabar pied hornbills appear to be among the more adaptable species.
Malabar pied hornbills inhabit modified landscapes that were once pristine but are now a mosaic of plantations, crop fields, commercial areas, urbanised regions, and fragmented forests. Their ideal habitat is riparian habitats, i.e. areas around rivers and streams, below 700 m elevation. Because humans also tend to occupy and modify lowland landscapes along rivers, the Malabar pied hornbill has had to adapt to new environments. This hornbill was spotted on a water tank in Sindhudurg, Maharashtra. This adaptability is handy for a bird dealing with rapid habitat loss and competing for food resources with other frugivorous birds and bats. Photo: Rohitjahnavi, CC BY-SA 4.0
Cover photo: Dhritiman Mukherjee
Like other hornbills, Malabar pied hornbills play a crucial ecosystem function of seed dispersal. Frugivores, or fruit-eating animals, consume fruits and help disperse the seeds far from the mother tree. With dwindling habitats, this role is even more important. Studies show that the passage of some seeds through the gut of a frugivore contributes to germination, compared to seeds which fall and lie directly from a tree. Hornbills, in particular, fulfil a role that other, smaller frugivores cannot — with their large bills and body size, they can consume and disperse large-sized seeds, such as from this (1) fishtail palm (Caryota urens). Smaller frugivorous birds, like pigeons and barbets, cannot fulfil the same role. Ficus (fig) fruits are a particular favourite for Malabar pied hornbills. Of over a dozen fig (Ficus) species in the Western Ghats, these hornbills feed on around eight or nine. (2) Ficus benghalensis, and (3) Ficus mysorensis are among their favourites. Photos: Rajan Hatiskar, CC BY-SA 4.0 (1), girishacf/Getty Images (2), UdayKiran28, CC BY-SA 4.0 (3)
With regard to roosting and nesting trees, Malabar pied hornbills tend not to have strong preferences like some other hornbill species. They are, however, limited by availability and suitability. Taller, isolated trees where large flocks can gather to roost before the breeding season are preferred. Once the mating period arrives, these large flocks break into pairs to breed. (1) A pair of hornbills arrive at a roosting tree, where dozens of hornbills may gather if a tree is fruiting. (2) They can often be seen in coconut (Cocos nucifera) and palm trees, and fruit trees like mango. (3) Fascinatingly, they also inhabit mangrove species like Carallia brachiata, in Vengurla, Maharashtra. While these mangrove trees bear fruit, it is uncertain if hornbills feed on them. Photos: Dhritiman Mukherjee (1,2), Saurabh Sawant (3)
(1) Females can be recognised by the white rings around the eyes. (2) These rings are absent in males. Males also have red eyes. (3 & 4) Courting hornbills are as romantic a sight as the monogamous sarus crane. Males woo females through “nuptial feeding”, i.e., they feed a potential mate various fruits, especially figs. The female, if willing, accepts the gift and allows the mating. During the nesting period, around March or April, the female locks herself into a cavity in a nesting tree and seals it with a mixture of poop and fruit pulp.
Malabar pied hornbills do not make the cavity in the tree bark themselves. Instead, like Goldilocks, they search for a suitably large tree with just the right-sized cavity to nest in. Unlike Goldilocks, however, they do not fuss over the species of the chosen tree. They may nest in Tetrameles nudiflora and Terminalia bellerica, among other species. Once the right cavity is found, the female lays two to three eggs and remains inside until the chicks are a few weeks old. The dedicated father will bring fruits for his mate and offspring, making several trips a day to keep them fed and healthy. The female emerges from the nest when the oldest chick is a few weeks to a month old and then assists in feeding the young. Photos: Dhritiman Mukherjee
(1) Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka is one of the best places to spot Malabar pied hornbills and other species like the great hornbill. Dandeli and its neighbouring Anshi National Park are composed of dense deciduous & evergreen forests, forming prime wildlife habitats for many birds, mammals, and herpetofauna species, from great hornbills (Buceros bicornis), tigers (Panthera tigris tigris), elephants (Elephas maximus) to king cobras (Ophiophagus hannah). These dense forests of the Western Ghats contain a variety of trees from (2) eucalyptus, teak (Tectona grandis), Terminalia, to (3) Acacia species (Acacia mangium) and others.
Malabar pied hornbills can be found in the forests around the Kali River and its dams. Other places to spot them are Bandipur and Nagarahole in Karnataka and Pench and Satpura in Madhya Pradesh. With the increasing fragmentation of their forest habitats and the loss of many fruiting trees and suitably large nesting trees due to deforestation, these birds find their adaptive capabilities tested. Much like their distant cousin, the great hornbill, the Malabar pied hornbill is designated “Near Threatened” by the IUCN. Halting this habitat destruction will ensure we continue to see these hornbills in our forests for generations to come. Photos: Saurabh Sawant
Photo sources: Sindhudurg, on fishtail palm tree, on Ficus mysorensis tree
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Bhavya Iyer
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