Hornbills at Changi: Looking for a nesting cavity
Posted by BESG on 21 February 07, Wednesday
Contributed by - see article -
As early as November 2006 Angie Ng reported a pair of Oriental Pied Hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris) checking out a cavity in an old, 22 m high damar hitam gajah (Shorea gibbosa) tree in Changi (left). This cavity probably resulted from faulty pruning of a side branch many years ago. The cut surface was healing but apparently not fast enough. The exposed wood rotted, resulting in this cavity high up on the side of the main trunk, about 3 m from the top.
On the evening of 7th February, Meng and Melinda Chan saw the male bird trying unsuccessfully to entice the female to the cavity by placing some food inside. When the female refused to fly over, the male retrieved the food and flew off to join his mate.
KC Tsang was over at Changi the following day when he saw the female trying to enter the cavity with difficulty. She was enlarging the cavity, doing most of the work (below left). But the male, who was bigger, did also contribute to the labour (below right). Most of the time he was flying off, collecting lumps of mud and bringing them back for the female who was beginning to seal herself up, a little inside the circular opening of the cavity.
This continued for the next two day. The male was still very active bringing mud to the female, sometimes swallowing the mud and then regurgitating it to the female. The female can sometimes be very fussy and rejected the mud by throwing it out of the nest. The mud that was regurgitated by the male seemed to be a bit on the wet side, maybe that was how he made the mud pieces softer. The mud was collected from the near by field (above).
Throughout this period the male was flying to and fro bringing food and lumps of mud for the female (left top). His arrival varied from once every 10-15 minutes to 20 minutes. All this time the female continued enlarging the cavity and at the same time continued sealing herself in. She was observed throwing out pieces of debris. And the male continued to bring materials for her to seal herself in.
Finally, the female was sealed in (left bottom).
Images by Chan Yoke Meng, KC Tsang, Chan Yoke Meng, Allan Teo and Chan Yoke Meng.
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Categories: Hornbills
Comment by Veery
Made Wednesday, 21 of February , 2007 at 9:09 am
Your photos are fantastic as always. Hornbills are truly an amazing species. I am much impressed by your work.
Pingback by Bird Ecology Study Group » Hornbills at Changi:Why does the male presents a snail shell to the female?
Made Wednesday, 28 of February , 2007 at 7:05 pm
[...] male Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) was bringing to the female who was actively walling herself up inside the nest cavity. The bird brought the usual pieces of mud, insects and lizards [...]
Pingback by Bird Ecology Study Group » Hornbills at Changi: Sealing herself in
Made Tuesday, 13 of March , 2007 at 10:51 pm
[...] 8th February 2007 the female Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) found the cavity in the Shorea [...]
Pingback by Bird Ecology Study Group » Mating of Red-breasted Parakeets
Made Saturday, 17 of March , 2007 at 7:37 am
[...] and Melinda Chan were at Changi looking for the Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) (1, 2, 3), they chanced upon a small group of Red-breasted Parakeets (Psittacula alexandri) perching [...]
Pingback by Bird Ecology Study Group » Yellow-vented Bulbul feeding snails to chick
Made Thursday, 10 of May , 2007 at 8:00 am
[...] (Anthracoceros albirostris) bringing to the female sealed inside her nesting cavity pieces of snail shells. This is not unusual as such behaviour in hornbills has also been reported in [...]
