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.

A unique character of the Hornbills is they bond for life. Male and Female remain true to each other lifelong. Another amazing character of these great birds are, when the time to have offspring is right, with abundant fruits around, they select a tree cavity and the male further modifies the cavity nest to suit their needs. Once the eggs are laid by the female, usually two, the male allows the female to be inside the nest cavity and completely seals up the entrance with moist clay and the droppings of the female bird inside, leaving only a slit opening in the sealed nest cavity to fit his beak.

Then it is a Dutiful Husband, an ever-loving Husband, the Concerned Family Man he is, flies far and wide in the forest to bring fruits to his incubating spouse. He feeds her through the slit opening and spends almost all his time in foraging fruits and feeding her, himself loosing a lot of weight. Such is the devotion he has for his beloved.

Once the chicks are hatched, the Dutiful Father and Husband, has an entire family to hand-feed, rather beak-feed. This sacrifice for family needs over self-needs is faithfully carried out until, the offspring are fledged.

Such is the devotion of the marvellous great birds. Their only threat to survival is deforestation, degrading of nesting areas and hunting them for their decorative feathers for vanity wear. Once a species is gone… there is no way to bring them back… act now… it is still not very late…