parenting questions (2)
CONSERVATION
Shared parenting
A programme to adopt hornbill nests in Arunachal Pradesh is
giving these great birds a chance to survive in Pakke,
say Aparajita Datta, Amruta Rane and Tana Tapi.
A brown hornbill male on a feeding visit to the nest in a reserve forest in Miao, eastern
Arunachal Pradesh. This co-operatively breeding species has a restricted distribution in lowland forest
mainly in eastern Arunachal and upper Assam. PHOTO: RAMKI SREENIVASAN/CONSERVATION INDIA
I
t was March 2004 and the forest was hot and
dry, even in the foothill forests of Pakke Tiger
Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh. The majestic
Tetrameles nudiflora (Bhelu) tree was flowering
and leafless.
High up on its main trunk was an oval-shaped
cavity, left behind when a large branch had broken off. Over time, the cavity had been adopted as
a nest by a pair of breeding Wreathed hornbills.
Eight of every ten hornbill nests here are on Bhelu
trees. We had found this nest way back in 1997.
And every year since then, a Wreathed hornbill
pair had used it.
That day in March 2004, things changed; we
88
were out in the forest checking all the hornbill
nests we had discovered, to see whether nesting
had been initiated. Suddenly, we saw a pair of
Great hornbills flying around the Wreathed hornbill nest. They chased the Wreathed hornbill pair
who were cleaning out the cavity to initiate nesting for the year. This strife continued for several
days. The Great hornbill pair did not nest that
year, although they hung around the tree and
called frequently.
The Wreathed hornbill pair could not nest
either, and the cavity remained unused that year.
The following year, it was used for nesting by the
Great hornbill. We had witnessed our first nest
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
A wreathed hornbill.
PHOTO: SANDESH KADUR /WWW.FELIS.IN
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
89
Map showing hornbill nests being monitored inside Pakke TR and outside in the
Reserve Forest in Arunachal Pradesh. MAP CREDIT: R. RAGHUNATH, NCF
takeover. This was our first evidence that suitable
cavities for nesting were limited and that hornbill
pairs competed for them.
Another first happened that year. We found a
pair of Wreathed hornbills nesting on an Ailanthus grandis (Borpat) tree by the roadside. That
tree had a cavity that we had always thought was
suitable for hornbills, but prior to this, we had
never seen it being used. A Tetrameles tree in a sal
plantation close to habitation was also used by
Wreathed hornbills.
On yet another Tetrameles tree with a cavity,
which was partially smothered by a strangler fig,
we watched a pair of Great hornbills inspecting
and cleaning, and finally the female entering and
sealing the cavity to spend the bulk of the nesting
season incarcerated. Again, we had watched this
tree every year thinking it could be a potential nest
tree, but hornbills had never used it earlier.
These observations left us wondering why
hornbills were starting to use ‘sub-optimal' cavities that they did not seem to care for earlier.
Between 1995-2005, there had been massive
90
deforestation in the forests of Sonitpur district in
neighbouring Assam. Over 300 sq. km adjoining
Pakke's forests had been lost. This forest was ideal
habitat for hornbills. Several hornbill nest trees
that we found between 1997 and 2000 were in
these reserve forests in Assam. They were all gone
by 2001. There had also been degradation of the
reserve forests outside Pakke from anthropogenic
activities.
In a study between 1997 and 2000, we had
observed that all three common hornbill species,
the Wreathed, Great and Oriental Pied hornbills
used mainly Bhelu trees for nesting (another species, the endangered Rufous-necked hornbill, occurs mainly in higher elevation areas). But there
were fine-scale differences in the kinds of cavities
selected, with cavity size, location and shape being
different. And we had never seen direct competition for nest cavities among the three hornbill
species.
But things had changed.
Since 2005, we have observed several more
instances of nest takeovers between hornbill spe-
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
Between 1995-2005, there had been massive deforestation
in the forests of Sonitpur district in neighbouring Assam.
Over 300 sq. km adjoining Pakke's forests had been lost.
This forest was ideal habitat for hornbills.
cies, with Wreathed hornbills taking over Oriental Pied hornbill nests and Great hornbills taking
over Wreathed hornbill nests. In two instances,
we found that both Wreathed and Oriental Pied
hornbills used different cavities on the same tree!
It became apparent that due to the shrinking
of their habitat in Assam, hornbills were facing a
shortage of nest cavities and these instances of
direct competition for nests were the outcome.
Hornbills do not make their own nest cavities,
and are ‘secondary cavity-nesters' with a prolonged breeding season when they remain vulnerable to disturbances.
In 2003, the Nature Conservation Foundation
had initiated a long-term nest and roost monitoring programme in Pakke. Most of the nests we
have monitored since 2003 were inside the Pakke
Tiger Reserve and there has been no further loss of
nest trees inside, although, all known nests are not
active every year and active nests are abandoned
occasionally or breeding is unsuccessful for other
reasons. The percentage of successful nesting in
most years is 80-100 per cent of active nests.
Since 2003, we had also monitored 7 nest trees
outside Pakke in the Papum Reserve Forest. Their
success was highly variable and in some years the
breeding pair would abandon the nest trees midway, resulting in unsuccessful nesting, while in
other years, the nests remained inactive. Ultimately, all of them fell to the axe.
Out of the total 62 trees we had monitored
from 1997 to 2010, 12 had got cut down. All were
in the Reserve Forest. Apart from their nesting
trees, countless hornbills must also have fallen to
the gun.
Yet, these Reserve Forests outside cover a large
area (> 1000 sq. km) and are important habitat for
hornbills and need to be protected better. We
tend to consider only Protected Areas as being
important for wildlife, and disregard surrounding
forest habitats as ‘sinks' not worth too much
attention.
The field team in Pakke - young nest watchers, the gaonburras (some of whom are also nest watchers and Ghora-Aabhe
members), the DFO of Pakke, Tana Tapi and NCF’s project co-ordinator Amruta Rane. PHOTO: APARAJITA DATTA
92
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
A Great hornbill male on a feeding visit to the nest in Pakke Tiger Reserve.
We felt the need for finding a way to protect
nests outside the park in the adjoining reserve
forest, include villagers in the conservation effort
and expand the scope and impact of the program
for long-term conservation of all the hornbill species in the area.
Hunting and habitat loss are severe threats to
hornbills in North-east India. Till 2002, there was
frequent hunting of hornbills in Pakke and its
surrounding forests, although the Nyishi had always followed a traditional ban on hunting during
the breeding season which is followed in many
other areas in Arunachal.
As a result of increased awareness among the
local Nyishi community and efforts to substitute
real hornbill beaks with fiberglass beaks (an initiative of the Wildlife Trust of India and the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department), the villagers
around Pakke had publicly banned hunting of
hornbills year-round since 2002.
From 2003 onwards, the Nyishi community
around Pakke has slowly changed its attitudes to
wildlife conservation.
In 2006, wildlife protection efforts further expanded in the area. Among other initiatives, the
PHOTO: SANDESH KADUR /WWW.FELIS.IN
Ghora-Aabhe was formed. This is a council of
village headmen (supported by the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department) who are trying to ensure
compliance of the locally imposed hunting ban on
all wildlife.
This was a remarkable initiative in many ways
– the headmen of 14 villages were convinced to
become conservation partners with the Forest Department in protecting wildlife and helping create
awareness among other villagers.
Over the years, Pakke had gained a reputation
as a haven for hornbills and indeed it remains the
best place in north-east India for four sympatric
hornbill species.
While the threat of hunting declined and the
protection system got strengthened and hornbills
and their nest trees remained relatively safe inside
Pakke, hornbill habitats outside continued to rapidly disappear.
How were we to persuade local people to protect hornbill nests outside Pakke? We needed to
engage at least a section of the community in
protection and monitoring activities in a meaningful way. The model of Pilai Poonswad's pioneering and long-running Hornbill Family
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
93
As a result of increased awareness among the local Nyishi community
and efforts to substitute real hornbill beaks with fiberglass beaks (an
initiative of the Wildlife Trust of India and the Arunachal Pradesh
Forest Department), the villagers around Pakke had publicly
banned hunting of hornbills year-round since 2002.
Adoption Program in Thailand seemed a great
way forward.
The idea was to engage and bring together two
sets of distant people united by the common desire to conserve, local and urban. The local community contributes by searching for, monitoring
and protecting nests in the forests around their
villages while the urban community contributes
by supporting the program financially, assisting as
volunteers and occasionally as visitors.
The idea is simple. Concerned urban individuals adopt a hornbill nest at a cost (Rs. 5,000).
They, in turn, receive information about the status of the nests and what happened to the hornbills that nested in a given year.
The money raised through their generosity is
used for partly employing a few villagers to protect nests and a share of the funds is also provided
to the Ghora-Aabhe at the end of the breeding
season for village welfare and development
activities.
This system results, remarkably, in each hornbill chick ending up having three sets of parents!
Their biological parents who feed and take care of
them, another set of parents belonging to the surrounding villages that watch over their nests and
protect them from harm, and a third far-away set
of parents who help to financially sustain this
program.
In February 2011, we had initial discussions
with the Ghora-Aabhe members to gauge their
interest and willingness to participate. We asked
interested members of the Ghora-Aabhe to start
by locating new nests near their villages in the
breeding season of 2011 (March to July).
By May, Tajek Wage, Pahi Tachang and Budhiram had found nine nests (3 Great hornbill
nests, 4 Wreathed hornbill nests and 3 Oriental
Pied hornbill nests). Tajek Wage in his enthusiasm visited all the nests he found to check on
them all through the breeding season, even
though we had not asked him to monitor the nests
daily. The birds exited from the nests by the 2nd
week of July.
In June, the Nature Conservation Foundation,
Ghora-Aabhe members and the Forest Depart94
ment finalized an agreement to initiate the program fully from the breeding season of 2012. The
three partners have clearly specified roles and the
agreement has been signed for 3 years.
We decided to involve all nine villages along
the southern boundary of Pakke Tiger Reserve in
this effort. This seemed a great way to start, but
we were not sure if it was going to be easy.
However, Takam Nabum (Chairman, GhoraAabhe) took charge and by November had informed all the villages and they had meetings to
select a person from each village who would be the
‘Nest protector'.
An educated Nyishi youth was also selected to
be the local field co-ordinator. On November 28,
2011, all the nest watchers signed a formal confirmation for participation in the program. The nest
watchers are a mix of old, experienced people with
knowledge of the forest (veterans like Tajek Wage
and Pahi Tachang) and of younger men. They
agreed to a salary of Rs. 3000 per month for eight
months (January to August), which encompasses
the entire breeding season.
Hornbills usually come out of the nest by JulyAugust. The nest watchers also came forward to
volunteer during the non-breeding season to find
and monitor hornbill roost sites.
Following this, we again met in December
2011 for a discussion about job responsibilities
and related issues. They were to work in groups of
two (with the experienced people helping the
younger ones), and start searching for nests from
January onwards.
Hornbills in the area start nesting from midMarch (female entry into nest cavity), however it
is important to look for nests from January as
pairs are seen flying around inspecting and cleaning potential cavities and engaging in courtship
behaviour.
In January 2012, a training session was organized on how to look for nests and the data that
the nest watchers need to record near the nest
trees. From this year onwards, nest watchers will
monitor the nests throughout the breeding season
visiting each nest at least 1-2 times a week taking
care not to disturb the birds, carefully record the
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
The emergent tree Tetrameles nudiflora (Bhelu), the hornbill’s favourite
nesting tree in Pakke and its surrounding forests. PHOTO: APARAJITA DATTA
96
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
The Rufous-necked hornbill is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, and some
higher elevation forests in Arunachal Pradesh are among the few places globally
to have relatively good populations. PHOTO: RAMKI SREENIVASAN/CONSERVATION INDIA
nest exit and entry dates and determine whether
nesting was successful. They have been provided
with equipment and other essentials for their
work.
In March the enthusiastic nest watchers had
already located 26 potential nests of hornbills outside in the Papum Reserve Forest and 17 of these
sites are showing signs of activity with hornbills
inspecting and cleaning the cavities. In some, the
females have entered and have sealed the cavities.
We have already faced some challenges and
anticipate more along the way. But we find
enough inspiration in our collective vision of
abundant Bhelu trees, a thriving population of
hornbills, busy males providing for their partners
and the mothers in turn taking care of their chicks
under the watchful eyes of Nyishi protectors. And
this novel relationship between the Nyishi and
hornbills is supported through the generosity of a
growing bunch of concerned citizens. With three
sets of parents caring for them, Pakke's hornbills
have a promising future.
Aparajita Datta and Amruta Rane are with Nature
Conservation Foundation, Mysore. Tana Tapi is DFO,
Pakke Wildlife Division, Arunachal Pradesh.
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
ENSY-07
97
Shared parenting
A programme to adopt hornbill nests in Arunachal Pradesh is
giving these great birds a chance to survive in Pakke,
say Aparajita Datta, Amruta Rane and Tana Tapi.
A brown hornbill male on a feeding visit to the nest in a reserve forest in Miao, eastern
Arunachal Pradesh. This co-operatively breeding species has a restricted distribution in lowland forest
mainly in eastern Arunachal and upper Assam. PHOTO: RAMKI SREENIVASAN/CONSERVATION INDIA
I
t was March 2004 and the forest was hot and
dry, even in the foothill forests of Pakke Tiger
Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh. The majestic
Tetrameles nudiflora (Bhelu) tree was flowering
and leafless.
High up on its main trunk was an oval-shaped
cavity, left behind when a large branch had broken off. Over time, the cavity had been adopted as
a nest by a pair of breeding Wreathed hornbills.
Eight of every ten hornbill nests here are on Bhelu
trees. We had found this nest way back in 1997.
And every year since then, a Wreathed hornbill
pair had used it.
That day in March 2004, things changed; we
88
were out in the forest checking all the hornbill
nests we had discovered, to see whether nesting
had been initiated. Suddenly, we saw a pair of
Great hornbills flying around the Wreathed hornbill nest. They chased the Wreathed hornbill pair
who were cleaning out the cavity to initiate nesting for the year. This strife continued for several
days. The Great hornbill pair did not nest that
year, although they hung around the tree and
called frequently.
The Wreathed hornbill pair could not nest
either, and the cavity remained unused that year.
The following year, it was used for nesting by the
Great hornbill. We had witnessed our first nest
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
A wreathed hornbill.
PHOTO: SANDESH KADUR /WWW.FELIS.IN
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
89
Map showing hornbill nests being monitored inside Pakke TR and outside in the
Reserve Forest in Arunachal Pradesh. MAP CREDIT: R. RAGHUNATH, NCF
takeover. This was our first evidence that suitable
cavities for nesting were limited and that hornbill
pairs competed for them.
Another first happened that year. We found a
pair of Wreathed hornbills nesting on an Ailanthus grandis (Borpat) tree by the roadside. That
tree had a cavity that we had always thought was
suitable for hornbills, but prior to this, we had
never seen it being used. A Tetrameles tree in a sal
plantation close to habitation was also used by
Wreathed hornbills.
On yet another Tetrameles tree with a cavity,
which was partially smothered by a strangler fig,
we watched a pair of Great hornbills inspecting
and cleaning, and finally the female entering and
sealing the cavity to spend the bulk of the nesting
season incarcerated. Again, we had watched this
tree every year thinking it could be a potential nest
tree, but hornbills had never used it earlier.
These observations left us wondering why
hornbills were starting to use ‘sub-optimal' cavities that they did not seem to care for earlier.
Between 1995-2005, there had been massive
90
deforestation in the forests of Sonitpur district in
neighbouring Assam. Over 300 sq. km adjoining
Pakke's forests had been lost. This forest was ideal
habitat for hornbills. Several hornbill nest trees
that we found between 1997 and 2000 were in
these reserve forests in Assam. They were all gone
by 2001. There had also been degradation of the
reserve forests outside Pakke from anthropogenic
activities.
In a study between 1997 and 2000, we had
observed that all three common hornbill species,
the Wreathed, Great and Oriental Pied hornbills
used mainly Bhelu trees for nesting (another species, the endangered Rufous-necked hornbill, occurs mainly in higher elevation areas). But there
were fine-scale differences in the kinds of cavities
selected, with cavity size, location and shape being
different. And we had never seen direct competition for nest cavities among the three hornbill
species.
But things had changed.
Since 2005, we have observed several more
instances of nest takeovers between hornbill spe-
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
Between 1995-2005, there had been massive deforestation
in the forests of Sonitpur district in neighbouring Assam.
Over 300 sq. km adjoining Pakke's forests had been lost.
This forest was ideal habitat for hornbills.
cies, with Wreathed hornbills taking over Oriental Pied hornbill nests and Great hornbills taking
over Wreathed hornbill nests. In two instances,
we found that both Wreathed and Oriental Pied
hornbills used different cavities on the same tree!
It became apparent that due to the shrinking
of their habitat in Assam, hornbills were facing a
shortage of nest cavities and these instances of
direct competition for nests were the outcome.
Hornbills do not make their own nest cavities,
and are ‘secondary cavity-nesters' with a prolonged breeding season when they remain vulnerable to disturbances.
In 2003, the Nature Conservation Foundation
had initiated a long-term nest and roost monitoring programme in Pakke. Most of the nests we
have monitored since 2003 were inside the Pakke
Tiger Reserve and there has been no further loss of
nest trees inside, although, all known nests are not
active every year and active nests are abandoned
occasionally or breeding is unsuccessful for other
reasons. The percentage of successful nesting in
most years is 80-100 per cent of active nests.
Since 2003, we had also monitored 7 nest trees
outside Pakke in the Papum Reserve Forest. Their
success was highly variable and in some years the
breeding pair would abandon the nest trees midway, resulting in unsuccessful nesting, while in
other years, the nests remained inactive. Ultimately, all of them fell to the axe.
Out of the total 62 trees we had monitored
from 1997 to 2010, 12 had got cut down. All were
in the Reserve Forest. Apart from their nesting
trees, countless hornbills must also have fallen to
the gun.
Yet, these Reserve Forests outside cover a large
area (> 1000 sq. km) and are important habitat for
hornbills and need to be protected better. We
tend to consider only Protected Areas as being
important for wildlife, and disregard surrounding
forest habitats as ‘sinks' not worth too much
attention.
The field team in Pakke - young nest watchers, the gaonburras (some of whom are also nest watchers and Ghora-Aabhe
members), the DFO of Pakke, Tana Tapi and NCF’s project co-ordinator Amruta Rane. PHOTO: APARAJITA DATTA
92
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
A Great hornbill male on a feeding visit to the nest in Pakke Tiger Reserve.
We felt the need for finding a way to protect
nests outside the park in the adjoining reserve
forest, include villagers in the conservation effort
and expand the scope and impact of the program
for long-term conservation of all the hornbill species in the area.
Hunting and habitat loss are severe threats to
hornbills in North-east India. Till 2002, there was
frequent hunting of hornbills in Pakke and its
surrounding forests, although the Nyishi had always followed a traditional ban on hunting during
the breeding season which is followed in many
other areas in Arunachal.
As a result of increased awareness among the
local Nyishi community and efforts to substitute
real hornbill beaks with fiberglass beaks (an initiative of the Wildlife Trust of India and the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department), the villagers
around Pakke had publicly banned hunting of
hornbills year-round since 2002.
From 2003 onwards, the Nyishi community
around Pakke has slowly changed its attitudes to
wildlife conservation.
In 2006, wildlife protection efforts further expanded in the area. Among other initiatives, the
PHOTO: SANDESH KADUR /WWW.FELIS.IN
Ghora-Aabhe was formed. This is a council of
village headmen (supported by the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department) who are trying to ensure
compliance of the locally imposed hunting ban on
all wildlife.
This was a remarkable initiative in many ways
– the headmen of 14 villages were convinced to
become conservation partners with the Forest Department in protecting wildlife and helping create
awareness among other villagers.
Over the years, Pakke had gained a reputation
as a haven for hornbills and indeed it remains the
best place in north-east India for four sympatric
hornbill species.
While the threat of hunting declined and the
protection system got strengthened and hornbills
and their nest trees remained relatively safe inside
Pakke, hornbill habitats outside continued to rapidly disappear.
How were we to persuade local people to protect hornbill nests outside Pakke? We needed to
engage at least a section of the community in
protection and monitoring activities in a meaningful way. The model of Pilai Poonswad's pioneering and long-running Hornbill Family
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
93
As a result of increased awareness among the local Nyishi community
and efforts to substitute real hornbill beaks with fiberglass beaks (an
initiative of the Wildlife Trust of India and the Arunachal Pradesh
Forest Department), the villagers around Pakke had publicly
banned hunting of hornbills year-round since 2002.
Adoption Program in Thailand seemed a great
way forward.
The idea was to engage and bring together two
sets of distant people united by the common desire to conserve, local and urban. The local community contributes by searching for, monitoring
and protecting nests in the forests around their
villages while the urban community contributes
by supporting the program financially, assisting as
volunteers and occasionally as visitors.
The idea is simple. Concerned urban individuals adopt a hornbill nest at a cost (Rs. 5,000).
They, in turn, receive information about the status of the nests and what happened to the hornbills that nested in a given year.
The money raised through their generosity is
used for partly employing a few villagers to protect nests and a share of the funds is also provided
to the Ghora-Aabhe at the end of the breeding
season for village welfare and development
activities.
This system results, remarkably, in each hornbill chick ending up having three sets of parents!
Their biological parents who feed and take care of
them, another set of parents belonging to the surrounding villages that watch over their nests and
protect them from harm, and a third far-away set
of parents who help to financially sustain this
program.
In February 2011, we had initial discussions
with the Ghora-Aabhe members to gauge their
interest and willingness to participate. We asked
interested members of the Ghora-Aabhe to start
by locating new nests near their villages in the
breeding season of 2011 (March to July).
By May, Tajek Wage, Pahi Tachang and Budhiram had found nine nests (3 Great hornbill
nests, 4 Wreathed hornbill nests and 3 Oriental
Pied hornbill nests). Tajek Wage in his enthusiasm visited all the nests he found to check on
them all through the breeding season, even
though we had not asked him to monitor the nests
daily. The birds exited from the nests by the 2nd
week of July.
In June, the Nature Conservation Foundation,
Ghora-Aabhe members and the Forest Depart94
ment finalized an agreement to initiate the program fully from the breeding season of 2012. The
three partners have clearly specified roles and the
agreement has been signed for 3 years.
We decided to involve all nine villages along
the southern boundary of Pakke Tiger Reserve in
this effort. This seemed a great way to start, but
we were not sure if it was going to be easy.
However, Takam Nabum (Chairman, GhoraAabhe) took charge and by November had informed all the villages and they had meetings to
select a person from each village who would be the
‘Nest protector'.
An educated Nyishi youth was also selected to
be the local field co-ordinator. On November 28,
2011, all the nest watchers signed a formal confirmation for participation in the program. The nest
watchers are a mix of old, experienced people with
knowledge of the forest (veterans like Tajek Wage
and Pahi Tachang) and of younger men. They
agreed to a salary of Rs. 3000 per month for eight
months (January to August), which encompasses
the entire breeding season.
Hornbills usually come out of the nest by JulyAugust. The nest watchers also came forward to
volunteer during the non-breeding season to find
and monitor hornbill roost sites.
Following this, we again met in December
2011 for a discussion about job responsibilities
and related issues. They were to work in groups of
two (with the experienced people helping the
younger ones), and start searching for nests from
January onwards.
Hornbills in the area start nesting from midMarch (female entry into nest cavity), however it
is important to look for nests from January as
pairs are seen flying around inspecting and cleaning potential cavities and engaging in courtship
behaviour.
In January 2012, a training session was organized on how to look for nests and the data that
the nest watchers need to record near the nest
trees. From this year onwards, nest watchers will
monitor the nests throughout the breeding season
visiting each nest at least 1-2 times a week taking
care not to disturb the birds, carefully record the
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
The emergent tree Tetrameles nudiflora (Bhelu), the hornbill’s favourite
nesting tree in Pakke and its surrounding forests. PHOTO: APARAJITA DATTA
96
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
The Rufous-necked hornbill is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, and some
higher elevation forests in Arunachal Pradesh are among the few places globally
to have relatively good populations. PHOTO: RAMKI SREENIVASAN/CONSERVATION INDIA
nest exit and entry dates and determine whether
nesting was successful. They have been provided
with equipment and other essentials for their
work.
In March the enthusiastic nest watchers had
already located 26 potential nests of hornbills outside in the Papum Reserve Forest and 17 of these
sites are showing signs of activity with hornbills
inspecting and cleaning the cavities. In some, the
females have entered and have sealed the cavities.
We have already faced some challenges and
anticipate more along the way. But we find
enough inspiration in our collective vision of
abundant Bhelu trees, a thriving population of
hornbills, busy males providing for their partners
and the mothers in turn taking care of their chicks
under the watchful eyes of Nyishi protectors. And
this novel relationship between the Nyishi and
hornbills is supported through the generosity of a
growing bunch of concerned citizens. With three
sets of parents caring for them, Pakke's hornbills
have a promising future.
Aparajita Datta and Amruta Rane are with Nature
Conservation Foundation, Mysore. Tana Tapi is DFO,
Pakke Wildlife Division, Arunachal Pradesh.
THE HINDU SURVEY OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2012
ENSY-07
97