h Oriental Pied Hornbill at Tg Aru by SINGH HSS, Amar - Borneo Bird Images

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BUCEROTIDAE Hornbills > Oriental Pied Hornbill

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image 8124 of Oriental Pied Hornbill

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Oriental Pied Hornbill

Latin Name : Anthracoceros albirostris

Site Name : Tg Aru

Photographer : SINGH HSS, Amar

Date : 2017-03-27

Notes : 1. Was this co-operative breeding? Co-operative breeding is known to occur in some species of Hornbills. Kinnaird ‎& O'Brien (2007) provide a list of hornbills known to practice co-operative breeding. For my region only the Bushy-crested Hornbill (Anorrhinus galeritus) and the White-crowned Hornbill (Berenicornis comatus) have been documented to practice co-operative breeding. It has yet to be described in Oriental Pied Hornbills. It is possible that what I observed was co-operative breeding as Oriental Pied Hornbills are fairly social and I have often seen them in flocks or feeding together.

2. Has the young not fledged? A second possibility is that this adult female has recently left the nesting hole and a young (or more) had not yet fledged for some reason? The sealing on the nest was partially broken. It is possible that young are due to fledge and the adult female has left first? Or that the young cannot fledge due to injury or disease.

3. Is this some form of courtship behaviour? A third option was that this is a courtship behaviour; some ritual that encourages mating or showing a desire to start another round of nesting? I did see the male allopreening the female briefly and making soft calls. So could the regurgitation of feeds and visit to nesting hole be a courtship behaviour that cements a bond between the pair?

Having watched birds for more than 40 years I am certain that we are just scratching the surface of our understanding and knowledge of bird behaviour. Appreciate any opinions or ideas from experience or literature.

Some References: 1. Margaret F. Kinnaird, ‎Timothy G. O'Brien. The Ecology and Conservation of Asian Hornbills: Farmers of the Forest. University of Chicago Press, 2007.

2. Ng Bee Choo. Hornbills-Thailand: Status and distribution of hornbills in Thailand. Oriental Bird Club Bulletin 28, November 1998. http://orientalbirdclub.org/hornbills-thailand/ (Brown, Bushy-crested and White-crowned Hornbills employ a co-operative breeding strategy. This means they have nest helpers, usually yearlings of the same family, to assist with the feeding of the female and the chicks.)

3. Alan Kemp. The Hornbills: Bucerotiformes (Bird Families of the World). Oxford University Press, USA, 1995.

4. Kemp, A.C. & Boesman, P. (2017). Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/55904 on 22 April 2017).

--Amar--