A very strange bird

Press, 12 May 1981, Page 14

A very strange bird

The ancient hornbill, of the warm rainforests in Africa, India and South East Asia, is a strange bird. The mother bird lays her eggs in a tree cavity, sealed from the outside, with only a neat hole to fit her bill, and the devoted father passes in the food.

It may be anything from six weeks to three months before she sees daylight again. It depends on the number of chicks and how hungry they are. But it is no picnic for the anxious father outside. As the young grow, they need more and more food, and he is' hard-pressed to satisfy their appetities. Finally the busy-mother has to break out of the prison to help with food-gathering.

She has also moulted her feathers while incubating the eggs. Out she romps, her new dress unruffled by the effort, but alas — she has become flabby and stiff during the term of imprisonment, and her wings are not as good as they used to be. She has to practise flying for a while. The young are again sealed inside the tree hole and fed from without by both parents through the hole in the wall until such time as they are strong enough to chip their way out into daylight. Unable to fly, the young hornbills spend "several" days hopping around the trees and exercising their wings before they take off on their own.