With all the excitement of flowing rivers and fresh greenery as far as the eye can see, there is the added excitement of a new Southern Ground Hornbill chick that has hatched in the nest on Argyle!
The same family of four Southern Ground Hornbills has once again used the natural nest on Argyle and a tiny chick was discovered in the nest on the 19th of January, to the extreme excitement of us and the APNR Ground Hornbill Project. This conservation organisation has been working in the area for almost 25 years and provides one of the most valuable sources of information on Southern Ground Hornbills, and particularly their breeding success.
With a limited distribution in South Africa, and facing threats from habitat destruction, climate change and poaching, the Southern Ground Hornbill population has been in decline for many years. The APNR Ground Hornbill Project focuses their efforts on researching breeding success in relation to changing climates and has introduced artificial nest boxes for the birds to use, as most natural nesting sites are no longer available due to habitat loss. This is why the artificial nest boxes are so important!
The team is well-equipped on sensitivity to these amazing birds, and we are privileged to be part of their ongoing research. This is especially important considering the nest on Argyle is one of only a small handful of natural nests used by Ground Hornbills in the entire project! Most other families use the artificial nests that have been installed in the area.
Southern Ground Hornbills are notoriously fierce when protecting their chicks, and the family on Argyle is no different. To account for everyone’s safety and comfort (ours included!), the process of monitoring the chick involves patiently waiting at the nest before dawn, once a week, until the mother leaves the nest for her morning territorial calls with the rest of the flock. In the short time frame that she is gone, which is roughly 20 minutes, the team from the APNR Ground Hornbill Project takes the opportunity to safely and carefully remove the chick from the nest, weigh it, measure it, and put it back before the mother returns. This process will get easier as the chick grows and is left unattended more frequently. Monitoring and measuring of the chick will continue for another two months or so until the chick fledges the nest, by which time it will hopefully have been ringed for easy identification and monitoring in the future.
The chick has grown from 70g to roughly 340g by eight days old, and we will keep you updated on the chick’s further progress. We are also incredibly grateful for the generous donations to the APNR Ground Hornbill Project of one artificial nest for installation at Ingwelala, and three camera traps for the project’s ongoing research in the area. Thank you to the various Members, who chose to remain anonymous, for their contributions - they are greatly appreciated!
Words by Tess Woollgar. Images courtesy of Ingrid Passier, APNR Ground Hornbill Project’s Carrie Hickman, and Tessa Woollgar