Once Hunters, Now Protectors: How Arunachal’s Villagers Helped 238 Hornbill Chicks Take Flight

Set foot into Arunachal Pradesh’s Pakke Tiger Reserve and you’ll come face to face with nature’s very own soap opera. A pleasant cacophony will greet you, as four different species of hornbills endemic to the region — the great hornbill, wreathed hornbill, oriental pied hornbill and rufous-necked hornbill — compete for your attention with their high-pitched goks, grunts, and cackles. It’s almost as if the birds time their chorus with visitor arrivals. 

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The birdsong is a salute to the quiet resolve of a team of conservationists spearheading the Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme. 

What started as a joint initiative by NGO Ghora-Aabhe Society, the Nature Conservation Foundation and the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department, to protect hornbills and their habitats, while also empowering local communities, soon saw the participation of other like-minded groups such as the Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival Committee and the Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya Alumni Association (VKVAA), Pakke Kessang district, Arunachal Pradesh. 

They were united by a common goal: to save the hornbills that were teetering on the brink of disappearance. 

All hornbills are listed under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Hunting them is outlawed.

It’s a beautiful irony that the hornbill’s call fills the air in a landscape that once smothered its existence — a reference to the hunting practices of Arunachal’s Nyishi community, which has now turned into custodians of the birds. 

When hornbill predators turn protectors  

Prem Tok of Arunachal Pradesh’s Nyishi tribe once identified as a hunter. His new designation is ‘nest protector’. Prem had a change of heart after he was recruited by the Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme. “I have hunted and eaten many hornbills,” he admits, but adds that now, everything pales in comparison to watching the birds. 

Village headman, Budhiram Tai, mirrors the same sentiment. He grazes his fingers along the casque of the great hornbill as he recalls his tribe’s obsession with the headgear. “Whoever would wear the casque was seen as a hero. In fact, we used to hunt the great hornbills only for the headgear,” he tells The Better India. 

Sadness now substitutes for the pride in his voice. But the weight of the blame cannot solely fall upon the Nyishis; time and habitat changes also eclipsed the trees which the hornbills once called home. 

Deforestation in the forests of Assam’s Sonitpur district between 1994-2001 had ramifications on hornbill nests. The deforestation destroyed the hornbill habitat, leaving the birds feeling alienated.   

How a struggle for space inspired change

Wildlife ecologist and Whitley Award-winner (2013) Aparajita Datta, who is also Co-chair (Asia) of the IUCN SSC Hornbill Specialist Group and a scientist at the Nature Conservation Foundation, recalls the first instance she stumbled upon a ‘nest takeover’. It was on a trip into the Pakke forest in March 2004. High up in the Tetrameles nudiflora tree, there was an oval-shaped cavity which, at the time, was home to a pair of breeding wreathed hornbills. “We had found this nest way back in 1997, and every year since then, a wreathed hornbill pair had used it,” she shares. 

But that particular day, she and the team spotted a pair of great hornbills flying around the nest. “They chased the wreathed hornbill pair, who were cleaning out the cavity to initiate nesting for the year. This strife continued for several days,” she shares. While neither species ended up nesting in the cavity that year, the next year, the pair of great hornbills called dibs on it. The whole saga she’d just witnessed revealed how suitable nesting cavities were becoming scarce — so much so that hornbill pairs were forced to compete. 

This is where the Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme comes in. Their work has had resonance in the Reserved Forest; 238 hornbill chicks of three species — the great hornbill, the wreathed hornbill, and the oriental pied hornbill — have successfully fledged since the programme’s inception in 2012 to 2025. 

Karishma Pradhan, project manager of the Nature Conservation Foundation’s Eastern Himalaya programme, attributes the success of their conservation programme to the collective effort of many stakeholders, especially the local communities. 

“The village council partnered with the initiative right from the beginning. The programme has been on for 13 years now, and people have really embraced it. There’s a sense of ownership towards the programme, and that has helped us sustain for so long,” she shares. 

The movement bringing hornbills back home 

The team also established a native species nursery in 2014 to raise tropical native trees to restore degraded habitat. The team has grown approximately 6,000 to 10,000 tree saplings annually. Along with this, the community is engaged in protecting and monitoring nests to reduce poaching and disturbances to the birds. 

Another part of the programme focuses on trying to repair hornbill nests that become inactive due to the narrowing or widening of the cavity entrance or if the cavity floor sinks. Some of the nest protectors have been trained in canopy climbing and carrying out nest repairs where possible. However, not all damaged nests can be repaired.

Overall average nesting success (all three hornbill species together) in the reserved forests is around 84 percent, which is similar to that in the park. However, there are more active nests of the oriental-pied hornbill and very few active nests currently of the larger-bodied great and wreathed hornbills in the reserved forest compared to the park, the team says. 

As for the nest adoption programme, think of it as a co-parenting situation, they encourage. Every nest has three parents: the hornbills, the local nest protectors and a third set of parents (citizens) who help to financially sustain this programme. 

You could be the third by adopting a hornbill nest for Rs 6,000. You will receive information about the nests and the hornbills. The funds generated are used to employ nest protectors (locals) — members of the Nyishi tribe. 

Changing their mindset was challenging, but with support, the team soon managed to facilitate a healthy dialogue. Former Divisional Forest Officer of Pakke Tiger Reserve, Tana Tapi, acknowledges the hunting of hornbills practised by the tribe. He was instrumental in forming the Ghora-Aabhe Society, comprising Nyishi village chiefs who volunteered to become conservation partners with the Forest Department, to protect wildlife. Over time, the tribe gained increased awareness. 

In a further step to protect the hornbills, a campaign by the Wildlife Trust of India and the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department advocated for fibreglass beaks as a substitute for real hornbill beaks since 2002.

Saving the birds saves the forest, Aparajita underscores, as she points out, “Hornbills carry seeds far from the parent fruiting tree. Our research has shown that they disperse more than 100 tree species. Hornbills are also known as farmers of the forest.” By reviving their populations, she hopes the birds — and in turn the forest — can be given a new lease on life. 

Adopt a hornbill nest, here.

Sources 

'Hornbills and Himalayan Forests', Published in Whitley Fund for Nature. 

'Assessment of large-scale deforestation in Sonitpur district of Assam', Published in Current Science in June 2002.