In a sad turn of events, a Great Hornbill chick that was being raised by the mother bird, after its pair died of stress in the aftermath of a botched rescue effort by local people and the Forest Department staff, was found dead in the nest at Kallar near here on Saturday.
Sources in the know of the development said the carcass of the chick was in a decomposing stage. Forest staff checked the cavity nest of the hornbill in a tall tree at the State horticulture farm in Kallar near Mettupalayam, finding no movement of the chick and the mother bird.
The chick, which was expected to spread its wings in some days, had been peeping out its beak to receive food. However, the movement stopped after which the staff inspected the nest on Saturday.
A senior official with the Forest Department said the chick is suspected to have died in the impact of heavy rains that Kallar region at the Nilgiris foothills received in the past few days. The department suspects that rain water got stagnated in the cavity, leading to its death. The carcass of the chick was autopsied on Saturday evening.
“Its stomach was full of ficus fruits”, said the official, hinting that the chick was not starved.
The mother bird started feeding the chick single-handedly after its pair’s death on April 28. In the morning of April 28, the male bird was found in distress at Thuri Palam, around two km from the nest, after allegedly being cornered by macaques near a ficus tree.
The male hornbill was initially rescued by local people before being handed over to the Forest Department. Videos of the rescue by locals showed the hornbill, which is very sensitive to human presence, screaming in distress. Its beak and legs were tied up. Though the bird was released on the same day evening after being examined and treated by a government veterinarian, it died.
“Due to a botched rescue, two hornbills have lost their lives. Had the male been alive, the chick would have received double the amount of feed and it could have fledged earlier. The department should sensitise its own staff and locals in hornbill habitat areas on how to handle them in case of a rescue, causing minimum stress,” said a conservationist who is working closely with the department.
