At the Horn-bill festival in Nagaland, the official unveiling of the logo for India's forthcoming G20 presidency took place recently. The art, culture, and food of Nagaland are celebrated at this well-known event. It also draws attention to a group of some of our nation's largest and most gorgeous birds.
The Western Ghats, the Northeast, and the foothills of the Himalayas are home to the Great Horn bill. It serves as both Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh's national bird. Its five-foot wingspan makes for an amazing (and loud) spectacle as it lands on a perch. Only found in Northeast India, the wreathed horn bill, brown horn bill, and rufous-necked horn bill are slightly smaller. An excellent location to see the oriental pied horn bill is the Rajah National Park, Uttarakhand. The Western Ghats are filled with the loud "laugh" of the Malabar gray horn bill. The Indian gray horn bill, the smallest member of the group, is widespread (except from the Thar Desert) and is frequently seen in unusual places, such the gardens of the Theosophical Society in Chennai.
Due to some restrictions caused by their enormous, hefty beaks, the first two vertebrae are united for balance. Horn bills can move their heads to indicate "yes," but they find it difficult to express "no." Due to the fact that these birds share the same feeding environment, toucans from Central and South America also have large beaks, which is an illustration of convergent evolution.
Hunting inclination:-
Unfortunately, large trees are the primary targets of illegal logging, and as shown by bird counts, there has been a steady drop in horn bill populations. Slowly, as these birds live a long time (up to 40 years). Due to their enormous size,
making them prey for hunters. The red ivory found on the helmeted horn bill of Sumatra and Borneo, which resembles a helmet and protrudes over the bird's skull, is a highly sought-after commodity, placing the species in grave danger. Luckily, carving is not permitted on the Great Horn bill's basque. Although nests are occasionally built in non-native silver oak trees, data from the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, shows that forest plantations are not as suitable for horn bill populations as natural-growth rain forests. Horn bill populations appear to be doing better in South India.
Horn bills' ability to adapt is further demonstrated by the fact that they eat the fruits of the African Umbrella tree, which has been planted in our coffee estates as a shade tree.
Horn bills prefer tall trees for their nests, hence tall trees are ideal (breast height being 1.5 meters or more). These birds and the trees where they nest have a mutualistic relationship. Horn bills, which are huge fruit-eating birds, are essential in spreading the seeds of
80 or so tropical trees. When horn bill populations diminish, some plants, like the cup-calyx white cedar, have a 90% decrease in seed distribution beyond the parent tree, which has a deleterious effect on the bio-diversity of forests.
Southeast Asia's enormous Tulane tree is so deeply ingrained in mythology that cutting it down is frowned upon. The helmeted horn bill prefers to live there. The time when fruit is in season is also when birds are laying their eggs.
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