8 thoughts on “Malabar Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus)”
Though some trends are available nationally as well as sub-nationally from India, none of them is conclusive except one. There is an annual decline of at least 1.24% (26% decline in 3 generations, 23 years) from the state of Maharashtra. https://stateofindiasbirds.in/species/mh-maphor1/ In India, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka carries most of its species range (see range map). Hence, if the trend from of its largest strongholds is declining, at a rate that would meet Near Threatened (20-29%), it might seem justified to retain Near Threatened as a precautionary principle, until at least more regional trends become clearer.
There are repeated mentions of a local extinction from Thattekkad WLS, quoting a 2011 communication. However, that is no longer true as there are a number of records from Thattekkad landscape (see eBird) in recent years, and in fact within the IBA itself.
Or this can be checked by browsing in eBird maps for Thattekkad and checking dates of individual records.
A custom boundary and data range can also be used with MYNA to include the larger landscape around the IBA https://myna.stateofindiasbirds.in/
Hence,
1. There are enough records to treat those squares around Thattekkad as occupied under the Area of Occupancy of IUCN.
2. Thattekad cannot be treated as an example of local extinction, of this species, from the recent past.
Regarding the above comment
The opinion of Praveen is true; the species appeared in recent bird surveys in Thatteekad Bird Sanctuary after a period of 30-40 years, which is attributed to the community-based conservation in the nearby nesting habitat and low-elevation forests in the Vazhachal-Edmalayar region. However, there are no recent nesting records from Thattekkad, and we still need to address the issue of the loss of old growth trees with cavities suitable for the Malabar pied hornbill.
The quality of Habitat and Threat
Due to its preference for low-elevation forests (30–600 m), the MPH primarily distributes itself in low-elevation moist forests, particularly along riparian forests, for nesting purposes. 72% of observations in India are from or near riparian forests, and 88% of nesting is also in riparian forests (Bachan, 2006; Bachan et al., 2011; Sneha and Davidar, 2011; Girikaran et al., 2019; Vagh et al., 2015; Devika and Bachan, 2023). The majority of the nesting tree species are riparian or riparian-associated trees (Devika and Bachan, 2023).
Studies have revealed a critical loss of about 83% of riparian vegetation in the past 100 years in the Kerala part of the Western Ghats, factors being the construction of dams, forest plantations, and reservoir operations coupled with climate change-induced flooding (Bachan et al., 2022).
The community-based conservation program (Bachan et al., 2011, Sahji, 2019) has led to an increase in the Malabar pied population in the low elevation forests of Vazhachal (400 km2) , Kerala, from 15 individuals and 3 nests (Prabhu et al., 2005; Bachan, 2006) to 15 nests and 75-100 individuals. However, the plantation operations and the nesting habitat outside PAs continue to pose a threat to the species (Muringatheri, 2022). The factors such as climate change influenced floods also threatened the species with the loss of nesting trees and suitable old growth trees with cavities (Bachan et al., 2019; Devika and Bachan, 2023).
Conservation and species recovery
The Malabar pied population was significantly low in the Kerala-Vazhachal-Edamalayar-Thattekkad region and was not present in surveys conducted in the Edamalayar-Tattekkad region since the 1980s. The nesting was observed only along low-elevation riparian forests of the Chalakkudy River, especially in the Vazhachal Region (Prabhu et al., 2005). The nesting was observed in 5-7 trees, and among the few were traditionally consumed by tribal people (Bachan, 2006). The Kadar indigenous community-based conservation and monitoring of nests and nesting habitat helped to improve the population (Bachan, 2006; Bachan et al., 2011; Shaji, 2019; Devika and Bachan, 2023) and this could be the reason for the recent appearance of the species in Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary.
The increase in Malabar pied population in the low elevation forests of Vazhachal, Kerala, from 5 individuals and 3 nesting (Prabhu et al., 2005; Bachan, 2006) to 7–15 nests and 75–100 individuals is attributed to the community-based conservation program (Bachan et al., 2011; Sahji, 2019).
The AOO
The AOO estimated (Geocat) for the species is 1420 (Devika and Bachan, 2023) including scrutinized GBIF records and which cannot exceed or near 2000. Also, our study indicate that most of the locations are along the river Kerala (Bachan et al., 2011, Devika and Bachan, 2023), Tamil Nadu (Girikaran et al., 2019), Karnataka (Sneha and Davidar, 2011), Maharashtra (Vagh et al., 2015), and Sri Lanka (Iresha et al., 2024). Hence the AOO will be less if we apply the definition of ‘location’. It is evident from the flood 2019 impact (Bachan et al., 2019) and loss of the nesting trees of the Malabar pied hornbill nest along the Chalakkudy River in Vazhachal.
An analysis of systematic sampling in a 500 sq km area of forests in the Vazhachal region indicates very low frequency (20%) for the species compared to the Great Hornbill (60%) and Malabar Grey Hornbill (80%), even though abundance is medium. The species has a clustered occurrence in a few locations in the low-elevation riparian areas.
We suggest to keep the species as NT category based on its dependence on the threatened low elevation, riparian or streamside old growth cavity for nesting. The majority of the populations are outside or fringes of PAs, near to urbanized areas and are susceptible to habitat loss.
In India the estimated population decline more than 30%
The above are based on a paper under writing (Bachan and Devika), and the population details and nesting habitat preference can be shared if necessary.
MPH is an endemic species to the Indian sub-continent (India and Sri Lanka only) also in the NT status (NT-Nearly Threatened) species (IUCN, 2019) and some studies in India (Sarkar and Talukdar, 2023) predict the distribution range will reduce by 50 % shortly. Our recent study of hornbill distribution within Sri Lanka (Wijerathne et al., 2024) also predicts the reduction of this species within Sri Lanka in the future, specifically concentrated to the patches of dry zone. Hopefully most of the IUCN species categorization is based on historic data records (to create AOO and EOO), but specifically based on our observations we assume the species have internal migration (not proved yet, but observations) from one location to adjacent depending on the foraging capacity. During the fruiting season of certain areas large counts of these species are present but until the end of season only then appear such counts in separate other areas. So there will be no constant population and numbers will fluctuate. These location data might lead to demarcate large areas of falsified presence records for AOO and EOO.
While there is no direct threat from human to these two species in Sri Lanka such as poaching and illegal trade (Collar, 2015; McEvoy et al., 2022) which is a prominent threat for hornbills in other parts of the world, future challenges may arise due to forest clearance and the impact of climate change, which could diminish their chances of survival.
Conservation management actions may be required for these species, although they are currently not required and considered as non-threatened species. Population increase and resultant reduction in forest cover with mature trees would be a major challenge for survival of these species. Nesting in these species is rare in Sri Lanka. No nests were recorded (Kotagama et al., 2008) previously but according to our observations very few nest locations were found only in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Unlike other species MPH requires comparably large size cavities for breeding. We have conducted surveys in some dry zone areas and specifically Manilkara hexandra was found as dominant tree species for nesting, considering the cavity forming ability, strengthening wood and the durability. Unfortunately, the mature tree population of Manilkara hexandra is declining and would also cause a lack of nest cavities for MPH.
Though there’s no records of poaching or hunting these species, farmers in the dry zone of Sri Lanka do not have pleasant experiences with these species. There are some complaints regarding the crop damage from MPH that would be a reason for harm to these species, especially if considered non conservation species.
Considering the above mentioned reasons we kindly request to pause down listing the threatened status of the Malabar Pied hornbill.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 28 October 2024. We will now analyse and interpret the information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 28 October 2024, when discussions will re-open.
Based on available information, our preliminary proposal for the 2025 Red List would be to list Malabar Pied Hornbill as Near Threatened, approaching thresholds under Criteria A2cd+3cd+4cd.
A high proportion of the population occurs in Maharashtra, where the conversion or degradation of forest is extensive and likely to continue. The species is highly susceptible to these impacts as less than 1% of preferred habitat is currently within protected areas, and research has been highlighted that demonstrates reduced densities when moist, evergreen forest is cleared or degraded. As such, suspected declines of 10-25% over the past and future three generations are considered a reasonable scenario.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 10 November 2024, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments. We will analyse and interpret the information, and a final decision on this species’ Red List category will be posted on this page on 18 November 2024.
Recommended categorisation to be put forward to IUCN
The final categorisation for this species has not changed. Malabar Pied Hornbill is recommended to be listed as Near Threatened, approaching thresholds under Criteria A2cd+3cd+4cd; C1.
A revised population estimate based on feedback regarding the species’ Area of Occupancy results in a suspected minimum population size <10,000 mature individuals. As such, the species additionally qualifies for Near Threatened under Criterion C1.
Many thanks for everyone who contributed to the 2025.1 GTB Forum process. The final Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in 2025, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
Though some trends are available nationally as well as sub-nationally from India, none of them is conclusive except one. There is an annual decline of at least 1.24% (26% decline in 3 generations, 23 years) from the state of Maharashtra. https://stateofindiasbirds.in/species/mh-maphor1/ In India, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka carries most of its species range (see range map). Hence, if the trend from of its largest strongholds is declining, at a rate that would meet Near Threatened (20-29%), it might seem justified to retain Near Threatened as a precautionary principle, until at least more regional trends become clearer.
There are repeated mentions of a local extinction from Thattekkad WLS, quoting a 2011 communication. However, that is no longer true as there are a number of records from Thattekkad landscape (see eBird) in recent years, and in fact within the IBA itself.
This is fairly straightforward to check as the IBA boundaries are integrated into the eBird platform (see bar charts)
https://ebird.org/region/BIRDLIFE_18258/illustrated-checklist
Or this can be checked by browsing in eBird maps for Thattekkad and checking dates of individual records.
A custom boundary and data range can also be used with MYNA to include the larger landscape around the IBA
https://myna.stateofindiasbirds.in/
Hence,
1. There are enough records to treat those squares around Thattekkad as occupied under the Area of Occupancy of IUCN.
2. Thattekad cannot be treated as an example of local extinction, of this species, from the recent past.
Regarding the above comment
The opinion of Praveen is true; the species appeared in recent bird surveys in Thatteekad Bird Sanctuary after a period of 30-40 years, which is attributed to the community-based conservation in the nearby nesting habitat and low-elevation forests in the Vazhachal-Edmalayar region. However, there are no recent nesting records from Thattekkad, and we still need to address the issue of the loss of old growth trees with cavities suitable for the Malabar pied hornbill.
The quality of Habitat and Threat
Due to its preference for low-elevation forests (30–600 m), the MPH primarily distributes itself in low-elevation moist forests, particularly along riparian forests, for nesting purposes. 72% of observations in India are from or near riparian forests, and 88% of nesting is also in riparian forests (Bachan, 2006; Bachan et al., 2011; Sneha and Davidar, 2011; Girikaran et al., 2019; Vagh et al., 2015; Devika and Bachan, 2023). The majority of the nesting tree species are riparian or riparian-associated trees (Devika and Bachan, 2023).
Studies have revealed a critical loss of about 83% of riparian vegetation in the past 100 years in the Kerala part of the Western Ghats, factors being the construction of dams, forest plantations, and reservoir operations coupled with climate change-induced flooding (Bachan et al., 2022).
The community-based conservation program (Bachan et al., 2011, Sahji, 2019) has led to an increase in the Malabar pied population in the low elevation forests of Vazhachal (400 km2) , Kerala, from 15 individuals and 3 nests (Prabhu et al., 2005; Bachan, 2006) to 15 nests and 75-100 individuals. However, the plantation operations and the nesting habitat outside PAs continue to pose a threat to the species (Muringatheri, 2022). The factors such as climate change influenced floods also threatened the species with the loss of nesting trees and suitable old growth trees with cavities (Bachan et al., 2019; Devika and Bachan, 2023).
Conservation and species recovery
The Malabar pied population was significantly low in the Kerala-Vazhachal-Edamalayar-Thattekkad region and was not present in surveys conducted in the Edamalayar-Tattekkad region since the 1980s. The nesting was observed only along low-elevation riparian forests of the Chalakkudy River, especially in the Vazhachal Region (Prabhu et al., 2005). The nesting was observed in 5-7 trees, and among the few were traditionally consumed by tribal people (Bachan, 2006). The Kadar indigenous community-based conservation and monitoring of nests and nesting habitat helped to improve the population (Bachan, 2006; Bachan et al., 2011; Shaji, 2019; Devika and Bachan, 2023) and this could be the reason for the recent appearance of the species in Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary.
The increase in Malabar pied population in the low elevation forests of Vazhachal, Kerala, from 5 individuals and 3 nesting (Prabhu et al., 2005; Bachan, 2006) to 7–15 nests and 75–100 individuals is attributed to the community-based conservation program (Bachan et al., 2011; Sahji, 2019).
The AOO
The AOO estimated (Geocat) for the species is 1420 (Devika and Bachan, 2023) including scrutinized GBIF records and which cannot exceed or near 2000. Also, our study indicate that most of the locations are along the river Kerala (Bachan et al., 2011, Devika and Bachan, 2023), Tamil Nadu (Girikaran et al., 2019), Karnataka (Sneha and Davidar, 2011), Maharashtra (Vagh et al., 2015), and Sri Lanka (Iresha et al., 2024). Hence the AOO will be less if we apply the definition of ‘location’. It is evident from the flood 2019 impact (Bachan et al., 2019) and loss of the nesting trees of the Malabar pied hornbill nest along the Chalakkudy River in Vazhachal.
An analysis of systematic sampling in a 500 sq km area of forests in the Vazhachal region indicates very low frequency (20%) for the species compared to the Great Hornbill (60%) and Malabar Grey Hornbill (80%), even though abundance is medium. The species has a clustered occurrence in a few locations in the low-elevation riparian areas.
We suggest to keep the species as NT category based on its dependence on the threatened low elevation, riparian or streamside old growth cavity for nesting. The majority of the populations are outside or fringes of PAs, near to urbanized areas and are susceptible to habitat loss.
In India the estimated population decline more than 30%
The above are based on a paper under writing (Bachan and Devika), and the population details and nesting habitat preference can be shared if necessary.
MPH is an endemic species to the Indian sub-continent (India and Sri Lanka only) also in the NT status (NT-Nearly Threatened) species (IUCN, 2019) and some studies in India (Sarkar and Talukdar, 2023) predict the distribution range will reduce by 50 % shortly. Our recent study of hornbill distribution within Sri Lanka (Wijerathne et al., 2024) also predicts the reduction of this species within Sri Lanka in the future, specifically concentrated to the patches of dry zone. Hopefully most of the IUCN species categorization is based on historic data records (to create AOO and EOO), but specifically based on our observations we assume the species have internal migration (not proved yet, but observations) from one location to adjacent depending on the foraging capacity. During the fruiting season of certain areas large counts of these species are present but until the end of season only then appear such counts in separate other areas. So there will be no constant population and numbers will fluctuate. These location data might lead to demarcate large areas of falsified presence records for AOO and EOO.
While there is no direct threat from human to these two species in Sri Lanka such as poaching and illegal trade (Collar, 2015; McEvoy et al., 2022) which is a prominent threat for hornbills in other parts of the world, future challenges may arise due to forest clearance and the impact of climate change, which could diminish their chances of survival.
Conservation management actions may be required for these species, although they are currently not required and considered as non-threatened species. Population increase and resultant reduction in forest cover with mature trees would be a major challenge for survival of these species. Nesting in these species is rare in Sri Lanka. No nests were recorded (Kotagama et al., 2008) previously but according to our observations very few nest locations were found only in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Unlike other species MPH requires comparably large size cavities for breeding. We have conducted surveys in some dry zone areas and specifically Manilkara hexandra was found as dominant tree species for nesting, considering the cavity forming ability, strengthening wood and the durability. Unfortunately, the mature tree population of Manilkara hexandra is declining and would also cause a lack of nest cavities for MPH.
Though there’s no records of poaching or hunting these species, farmers in the dry zone of Sri Lanka do not have pleasant experiences with these species. There are some complaints regarding the crop damage from MPH that would be a reason for harm to these species, especially if considered non conservation species.
Considering the above mentioned reasons we kindly request to pause down listing the threatened status of the Malabar Pied hornbill.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 28 October 2024. We will now analyse and interpret the information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 28 October 2024, when discussions will re-open.
Preliminary proposal
Based on available information, our preliminary proposal for the 2025 Red List would be to list Malabar Pied Hornbill as Near Threatened, approaching thresholds under Criteria A2cd+3cd+4cd.
A high proportion of the population occurs in Maharashtra, where the conversion or degradation of forest is extensive and likely to continue. The species is highly susceptible to these impacts as less than 1% of preferred habitat is currently within protected areas, and research has been highlighted that demonstrates reduced densities when moist, evergreen forest is cleared or degraded. As such, suspected declines of 10-25% over the past and future three generations are considered a reasonable scenario.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 10 November 2024, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments. We will analyse and interpret the information, and a final decision on this species’ Red List category will be posted on this page on 18 November 2024.
Recommended categorisation to be put forward to IUCN
The final categorisation for this species has not changed. Malabar Pied Hornbill is recommended to be listed as Near Threatened, approaching thresholds under Criteria A2cd+3cd+4cd; C1.
A revised population estimate based on feedback regarding the species’ Area of Occupancy results in a suspected minimum population size <10,000 mature individuals. As such, the species additionally qualifies for Near Threatened under Criterion C1.
Many thanks for everyone who contributed to the 2025.1 GTB Forum process. The final Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in 2025, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.