Hornbills the Grand Creatures of the Forest

The cries and fluttering of wings of a huge bird echo through the expansive forest as if a storm is about to hit – especially when the birds come in droves. The bird in question is the hornbill, king of the rain-forest and the largest bird in tropical forests found only in Africa and Asia. They boast a total of 54 species, of which 12 are found in Thailand.

Black and white of brown and occasionally gray are the general colors of the plumage of these birds. Parts of the bare skin around the neck and eyes are highly colorful, but the outstanding feature of the hornbill is the casque (helmet-like structure) on the upper beak – the very attribute that distinguishes one hornbill species from another.

This particular configuration varies in size from being a large, narrow casque as with the Great Pied Hornbill, to the smaller, curlier variation resembling an elephant jaw and found in the Elephant Jaw Hornbill.

The noise made by a hornbill in flight is caused by the wind resonating through a vacuum at the base of the bird's feathers, as hornbills are featherless below the wings. Each time the bird extends its wings, it creates a noise of a roaring storm.

Hornbill have short legs and like to hop. Their short tongues allow them to feed both on fruits and small animals, placing food at the tip of the beak before tossing it back into the throat. Asian hornbills prefer the fruit of the banyan tree.

When it comes to homemaking, a hornbill will search for natural hollows in tree trunks even hollows abandoned by animals. The familial love and bond within a family of hornbills is profound. The male hornbill is responsible for locating a site for the familial home while his female counterpart gives final approval since it is she who will be “homebound” for months during the brooding period. In general, hornbills will try to use existing hollows that are still in good condition.

Once the right “home”is found, the female hornbill will spruce up and decorate the nesting site in preparation for her brood of chicks. Subsequently, she will move into the new home and seal herself from the outside world.

With the female homebound, the male looks after the family with concern and loyalty. As the expectant mother incubates her eggs, father hornbill feeds her a couple of times a day for five to seven weeks.

When the baby hornbills are born, father hornbill's responsibilities increase; he has to forage for food to feed mother and babies the whole day. Feeding sessions increase up to ten times a day, sometime more, and food becomes more varied.

Father hornbill feeds the hornbill chicks via their mother by chewing, swallowing and later disgorging mouthfuls of food at a time and carefully mouth-feeding mother hornbill. After ten to 15 weeks, food fed to the mother bird is reduced an indication that both mother and babies are ready to leave the nest.

The hornbill chicks by this time are almost capable of flying having practiced fluttering their wings. Five to six months later when a new homemaking season starts, the hornbill chicks will have matured sufficiently to look after themselves without having to rely on their parents.

Given this life cycle, hornbills play an important role in the ecological system of the rain-forest, spreading seeds of plants and sustaining the population of smaller animals. Moreover, they are excellent examples of the fertility of a forest because the existence and livelihood of hornbills depends largely on fertile forests with big trees and hollows for their nesting sites as well as food supplies.

Rainforest's continue to shrink through encroachment and forestland in Thailand is no exception. This directly affects the livelihood of hornbills; a situation further exacerbated because they are hunted by human predators with the result some hornbill species are now extinct and others seriously threatened.

Do not buy wildlife products from anybody, even a harmless looking feather was once the property of a bird.