BACKGROUND
Known for their role as seed dispersers, Hornbills are among the largest birds in Asian tropical forests. The Anaimalai Hills and the Tata Coffee plantations in the Western Ghats are important regions for conservation of hornbills as two species - the endangered Great Hornbill and the endemic Malabar Grey Hornbill, reside here. Hornbills are dependent on a diverse array of fruiting trees for food and large trees for nesting. The loss of primary forests to habitat modification and fragmentation across its distributional range makes survival difficult for Hornbills.
IMPLEMENTATION
The Tata Coffee Hornbill Foundation was formed with a vision to create awareness among all stakeholders and the public about 'The Great Indian Hornbill' and to protect and ensure its safety, habitat and population growth.
In partnership with Nature Conservation Foundation, Karnataka, the NCF Rainforest Research Station, Tamil Nadu and the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, a special study was undertaken to protect the Hornbill species. The study helped assess the impact of habitat modification on breeding biology and nesting behaviour of Great Indian Hornbill. Insights from this study were used to design strategic interventions, which included:
Increasing Food
Plant Diversity
Planting native food plant species under the rainforest restoration programme helped sustain and increase the Hornbill population.
Protecting and restoring pockets of rainforest fragments helped maintain diversity among food plants.
Replanting saplings of fruiting trees in hornbill habitat due to their regular destruction by other herbivores in the region helped restore diversity.
Protecting Trees
For Nesting
and Roosting
Retention and protection of large-sized trees within the estates supported breeding and enhanced the population.
A special drive was undertaken for preservation of reserved hornbill roosting trees such as Ficus, Maesopsis eminii, and Eucalyptus species in the plantations, where often large flock of hornbills (up to 100) are observed.
Restricting
Human Activity
Human activities have been restricted at an important roosting site of hornbills in Anali Estate, where flocks of hornbills gather during September to November.
Tourists and photographers were kept away from breeding pairs at popular study sites, which in turn mitigated the effects of disturbances and changes in the feeding pattern.
IMPACT
The observations of a recently conducted study estimate a population density of 2 to 3 Great Hornbills per square kilometre and about 11 Malabar Grey Hornbills per square kilometre in Tata Coffee estates. These are exceptionally good numbers.
Another observation was that the diversity and abundance of hornbill food plants were lower in the modified habitat as compared to contiguous forests. However, Great Hornbill density was 5.4 times higher in pre-nesting season (49 individuals/ km2) than in post-nesting season (9 individuals/km2). And the overall density of Malabar Grey Hornbill was 3.5 times higher in the post-nesting season (136 individuals/km2) as compared to the pre-nesting season (39 individuals/ km2). These high densities can be attributed to the presence of an ideal ecosystem.
The Great Indian Hornbill habitat at the Tata Coffee Plantation was featured in the 'Our Planet' TV series in an episode broadcasted in 2019.