Malabar Pied Hornbill(Anthracoceros coronatus)
They are also known as Lesser Pied hornbill. The Malabar Pied hornbill is a large hornbill, at 65 cm in length. It has mainly a black plumage, apart from its white belly, throat patch, tail sides and trailing edge to the wings. The bill is yellow with a large, mainly black casque. Females have white orbital skin, which the males lack. Juveniles have no casque. It might sometimes be confused with the Oriental Pied hornbill.
Habitat
The Malabar pied hornbill is a common resident breeder in India and Sri Lanka. Its habitat is evergreen and moist deciduous forests, often near human settlements. It is restricted to central and southern India (common in a few areas, but declining and confined to land under 300 m) and Sri Lanka (local and moderately plentiful, but now restricted to more secluded forest of the dry lowlands).
Diet
This species is omnivorous, taking fruits, small mammals, birds, small reptiles, insects etc. Prey is killed and swallowed whole. Figs are an important food, contributing 60% of their diet from May to February, the non-breeding season; during breeding, in March and April, up to 75% of the fruits delivered at the nest were figs. They also feed on other fruits, including those of the Strychnos nux-vomica, which are toxic to many vertebrates.
Breeding
During incubation, the female lays two or three white eggs in a tree hole, which is blocked off with a cement made of mud, droppings and fruit pulp. There is only one narrow aperture, just big enough for the male to transfer food to the mother and chicks. When the chicks have grown too large for the mother to fit in the nest with them, she breaks out and rebuilds the wall, after which both parents feed the chicks.
Population
According to the IUCN Red List, they are classed as Near Threatened(NT). The population size of this species has not been quantified; it is considered rare to common throughout its range. Data on trends are lacking, but a slow to moderate decline is suspected to be occurring, in line with habitat loss throughout the species's range.
Threats
Forest in Sri Lanka have suffered rapid degradation and fragmentation in the past decades through excessive gathering of fuelwood, clearance for permanent agriculture, shifting cultivation, fire, urbanisation and logging. Closed-canopy forest is estimated to have declined from 29,000 km2 (44% of the island's area) in 1956 to 12,260 km2 in 1983, and similar losses are occurring in mainland India. It is reportedly collected for medicinal purposes in Orissa. The proposed Athirapilly Dam poses a threat to the species in India's Western Ghats.
Conservation
Conservation Actions Underway
CITES Appendix II. Important populations exist in Mollem, Madei and Dandeli wildlife sanctuaries .
Conservation Actions Proposed
Monitor populations across its range to determine the magnitude of declines and rates of range contraction. Improve knowledge of its distribution. Investigate the potential threat from hunting. Grant protection to areas of suitable habitat to safeguard against clearance and degradation. Raise awareness of the species and its status in any areas in which it is found to be hunted.