A Small Detour for the Great Hornbill
A roadside tea stop, two or three bends and an old tree revealed a pair preparing to use a nesting cavity in Raigad.
We were not travelling through Raigad only to look for Great Hornbills.
It was January 2022, and my brother Amol, my friend Mayuresh and I were driving from Kelshi back to Pune. After Mhapral, we reached a T-junction where our usual route would have taken us right towards Goregaon. Instead, we turned left onto the road towards Harihareshwar.
We had heard about a pair of Great Hornbills using a large roadside tree somewhere along this stretch. The detour was only about ten kilometres, so we decided to try our luck before continuing home.
We drove up the short ghat section by car, looking towards the larger trees beside the road. After a while, we stopped at a small tea stall.
A truck driver had stopped there too. Our cameras and long lenses must have made our purpose obvious. He looked at us and asked whether we were searching for “the big bird”.
When we said yes, he pointed farther up the road. He often saw people standing with cameras at one particular bend, he told us, all looking towards the same tree. It was only two or three turns ahead.
We finished our tea, got back into the car and continued up the road.
Waiting Beside an Empty Tree
We recognised the tree because we had seen photographs of it before. Its large trunk and the shape of the cavity matched what we remembered.
But there was no hornbill.
For a few minutes, the tree remained still. We watched the cavity and searched the surrounding branches, wondering whether the birds had already moved elsewhere for the day.
Then the pair arrived.
The female moved towards the cavity and went inside. She emerged again, remained near the opening and then entered once more. During the time we watched, she repeated this several times, moving in and out rather than staying within the cavity.
The male spent most of the next twenty minutes perched on the same tree. Every now and then, he moved closer to the female and fed her. One berry disappeared into her bill, and then, almost magically, another appeared, followed by another. Great Hornbills can carry several fruits in the throat and regurgitate them one by one while feeding their mate.
We stayed for no more than twenty to thirty minutes. By the end of that brief watch, both hornbills had flown away and the tree was quiet again.
Before the Nest Is Sealed
Great Hornbills depend on natural cavities in large trees. The female’s repeated visits suggested that the pair was still at an early stage, before she remained inside and the entrance was sealed.
Later, only a narrow slit remains open. Through it, the male passes food to the female and, eventually, to the growing chick or chicks. For weeks, the nesting attempt depends on the cavity, the surrounding fruiting trees and the male’s regular return.
The Tree After Our Visit
In later years, I continued to see photographs of Great Hornbills at what appeared to be the same tree. They suggested that the cavity remained important to the birds, although I did not monitor the nest and cannot confirm the outcome of those breeding attempts.
Our own visit lasted less than half an hour. It began with a ten-kilometre detour, a tea stop and a truck driver asking about “the big bird”. Two or three bends later, we were watching a quiet roadside tree become the centre of a hornbill pair’s breeding season.
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