THE DEFRA/FFI FLAGSHIP SPECIES FUND SMALL GRANTS

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THE DEFRA/FFI FLAGSHIP SPECIES FUND SMALLGRANTS PROGRAMMEInterim Progress ReportName of the organization: Applied Environmental Research Foundation.Name of the project: The Great Hornbill- Flagship species of the WesternGhats.Project Initiation month: August 2007Report month: March 2008Prepared by: Khrishma Mandalia, Archana Godbole, Sameer Punde, JayantSarnaik, and Ketaki Gokhale.Introduction:The Applied EnvironmentalResearch Foundation has beenFoundation (AERF) has beenpartaking in participatorybiodiversity conservation forlast 13 years in India. A majorsection of AERF’s work hasbeen on the participatoryconservationandecorestoration of degraded SacredGroves- traditionally protectedbiodiversityrichforestfragments – in the NorthernWestern Ghats. This region ofthe Northern section of theWestern Ghats, locally knownas Konkan, contributes to oneof the 34 Global BiodiversityHotspots.A Rare Sight – A Great Pied and Malabar PiedHornbill sat next to each other on a Ficusbenghalensis within our study area. AERF 2008.Over the years there has been extensive research conducted on both flora andfauna of the Western Ghats, however majority of this has be focused on theSouthern Section, where the traditional protected area network plays asignificant role in maintaining a rich and varied biodiversity regime. TheKonkan area, in contrast, houses only on average a 2% coverage of protectedarea land within it constituency, and thus the Sacred Grove, network play anincreasing important role in maintaining small patches of biodiversity in anotherwise quickly degrading landscape matrix.1

Though the landwhichholdtheA Sacred Grove amongst another wiseSacred Groves belongdegraded landscape. AERF 2008.totherevenuedepartment,thelocals view them aretheir own. This isdue to the premisethatthesacredgroves house thevillage temple andthe forest around itis sanctified. Thelandscapesaroundthegrovesthemselveshaveseen the adverse effects of amplified human pressures from increasinghousing, agriculture and grazing needs. There are few mega flora species inareas outside the villages themselves or the groves. Thus these groves makeup a patchwork quilt effect with differing levels of land degradation. AERF’slong-standing efforts in the conservation of Sacred Groves and forestbiodiversity, had lead to their understanding of the importance of Hornbillsas seed disperser of endemic medicinal and important climax tree species ofthis region. Thus through the current project, the flagship species – GreatPied Hornbill (Bucerous bicornis) and Malabar Pied Hornbill (Anthracocerouscoronatus) will also be used as important tool to promote conservation ofimportant plant areas such as Sacred Groves as well as rare and endemictree species such as Antiaris toxicaria besides assessing their conservationstatus and role in forest regeneration within the project area.Study Area:Since the start of the project our study area has been narrowed down fromcovering all three blocks that make up the Konkan region to primarilyfocusing on the Ratnagiri district between the Western Ghats to the east andthe coast to the west within the Maharashtra state. The forest types rangefrom dry deciduous to evergreen forests in this region. Chiefly this is due totime and logistical constraints, but also to the fact that there are no protectedareas within the Ratnagiri district and as little as 0.8% of land under isgovernment protection and there is a reasonable population of hornbillspresent. However, surveys and awareness generation efforts have also beenconducted in Sindhudurg district to the South and the Raigad district to theNorth.2

Objectives completed to date:AERF submitted theirfirst progress reportback in November (seeattachment)detailingeffortsentailedinachieving our first twoobjectives: 1) Performinga detailed literaturesurveyandexpertconsultations; and 2)ConductinganA Great Pied Hornbill caught in flight. AERF 2008‘awareness generationprogramme’asacommunication strategy for conservation action. A brief over-view of theseactions has seen stakeholders and other NGO’s being targeted in over 50villages and 15 schools, thus allowing a network of ‘watchers’ to develop overthe area, that have in the following months been AERF’s ‘eyes and ears’ forthe presence of Hornbills within their own communities. However, we havealso collected GPS point counts of Hornbills when ever we have spotted themin the study area noting the number, sex, activity and the direction of arrivaland departure. We assimilated all the information from these activates toestablish the areas where nesting sites where most likely in the initial phase.The major objectives that AERF has been working on since the feedingbehavior/preferences; and 4) Capacity building. Though at first theseobjectives remained separate, it has come to light that these have nowcombined, due to the constant involvement of local communities in developingour understanding of Hornbills and their role in forest conservation.Capacity building is the verycrucial component of theproject from the perspective oflong term conservation ofHornbill.Awarenessgeneration programs coupledwith capacity building has animportant role to play forspreading the message ofimportance of hornbills inregionalbiodiversityconservation and consequentlysurvival of Hornbills.3

Framing a Hypothesis:The months of December and January saw work being conducted on locatingand tracking hornbills, through the point count method in order to establishpossible nesting trees for both species, whilst conducting an intensive searchfor suitable cavities that may be utilized by Hornbills in and around scaredgroves (see appendix 1). Once a possible cavity was located the teamestablished various height measurements of the cavity and the tree structure,such as height of canopy, tree and cavity, the orientation of cavity, and thenearest branch to the cavity. An intense ground search was conductedaround the cavity tree to look for any un-germinated seeds and regenerationof saplings of from species which we thought that the Hornbills might beexploiting, such as Ficus sp., and Antiaris toxicaria, from the previous year.Efforts where also taken to survey areas not just within the sacred groves oraround villages where sightings could be quickly established, but in privateforests/lands where disturbance levels are lowest.However, whilstconducting these searches we quickly established that there is major lack ofmature trees with suitable cavities and a low presence of Hornbills withinthese areas. Thus our hypotheseswas formulated to be: The lack of oldsizeable trees with naturally formedcavitiesinprivateownedforests/lands (99.8% in main studydistrict) is leading to adaptation inHornbills, in the Konkan region, tonest in areas of high disturbance inand around sacred groves andhuman habitation.Establishing Nest Sites andCapacity Building:During the first week of January wealso located what looked like apossible Great Pied Hornbill nestingsite, though it was initially deem asimprobable due to it location. Thelocal community repeatedly insistedthat the site had been active for atleast the last three years.Theimprobability of site was due itGreat Pied Hornbill pair onTerminalia Bellerica prior to start ofnesting. AERF 20084

location, some 18 meters of a national highway with a pedestrian/livestockpath running directly under it. The site is a large Terminalia bellerica andthree ficus species complex. Efforts were undertaken to monitor the sitedaily, and we quickly established that in fact, the site was indeed a nestingarea for this species, with a pair of Great Pied Hornbills repeatedly visitingthe tree and the female making preparations to a cavity. Thus our one andonly Great Pied nest site, to-date, was established, with the female enteringthe nesting cavity between the 7-9th January.We repeatedly spoke to the local villagers about employing a local youth asour ‘nest-watcher’ to undertake our data collection, whilst protecting the sitefor major disturbance. The term ‘nest-watcher’ has been phrased with theemphasis to capacity build within the local community, who has been trainedby the field team with a payment allowance. Some resistance was at firstseen, as locals, not only in this village but other villages where nests werelater found, due to there lack of understanding in the importance of theHornbills. Educating the village and our constant appearance every few dayswas the first step in capacity building. We eventually established andtrained a youth ‘nest-watcher’ to collect data for a detailed ethogram (anactivity budget) to allow data to be collected on behavior and foragingpreference of the Hornbill pair (see appendix 2). ‘Nest-Watchers’ have beenprovided with binoculars,acompass,datacollection note books, adiary, and pens.Training ‘nest-watcher’ Akshey at our Great PiedHornbill site – Medhe - on the use of binoculars. AERF 2008.The ethogram was twofold and aim to collectdata on the behavior ofthe male that wasfeeding the female withinthe cavity whilst theforaging preference wasaimed at that of thefemale within the cavity.As the current primaryresearcher on the projectdoes not speak or readthe local language theaid of the local assistantwas invaluable, allowingthe data collected to betranslated to English ona regular base in order to5

ensure that collection was accurate. The ‘nest-watcher’ also collected anydropped fruits from below the cavity, to later confirm the foraging fruits tolater dried and weighed.Since then further intense searchers have been undertaken to locate moreGreat Pied Hornbill nesting sites. We have established sightings in 4villages, however with several man-hours spent on trying to track thesesighted birds we have failed to locate anymore active nests for these species.This is due to the distance that these birds can fly in one go, and the highlyundulating terrain of the ghats landscape. One of our major sightings wasduring the month of February, when a flock of 9 Great Pied Hornbills wasseen foraging on Strychnos nux-vomica at the Sacred Grove of Bowdhe.There were at least 3 adult males and 2 sub-adult females in this flock thatwe could identify before they left the site. The same site has also seen 2 pairsof Malabar Pied Hornbills, and one Common Grey Hornbill foraging on thesame day.We later established that within the village – Medhe, adjacent to the GreatPied Hornbill nesting sites also houses a Malabar Pied Hornbill nesting site.A ‘nest-watcher’ has also been established at this site, thus allowing us togather not only information onforeging preference for each of theHornbill species nesting within akilometer radius, but will alsoenableustolookingatcompetition patterns for the sameforeging matter.This methodology of trackinghornbills and locating ommunities, has enabled us toestablish 1 Great Pied Hornbilland 13 Malabar Pied Hornbillnesting trees. All sites to-date arein and around villages withinshort distance from a SacredGrove.All the nesting treespecies are either Terminaliabellerica or Alphonso Mangotrees. The AERF teams has nowtrained and enlisted a ‘nest-water’at the Great Pied Hornbill and 5‘Nest-Watcher’ Shella at Malabar Nest Site inMedhe village, following the movement of theMale after feeding female in the cavity(marked by an arrow). AERF 20086

Malabar Pied Hornbillnest sites. The ‘nestwatcher’ team consistsof 3 males and 3females ranging fromthe age of 17 – 30,thus allowing a variedscope of built capacityandunderstandingwithinthelocalpopulation.5 of the 13 sitesMalabar Nesting siteshave been chosen forA Malabar Pied Hornbill cavity. The female’smonitoring during thisdirty bill can be seen as she prepares to seal theyear’sproject.cavity entrance. AERF 2008.Monitoring sites havebeen chosen on thestrength of varyingdisturbance levels directly around the nesting tree, and only site is within asmall Scared Grove, in a village, that is completely undisturbed within thisparameter. Thus, AERF will be able to establish if the adaptation ofHornbills to nests within human localities it truly successful, or if this isdisturbance may have a detrimental effect of breeding success of thesespecies.Along with the detailed ethogram that each ‘nest-watcher’ iscollecting, we have also asked them to collect information on disturbancesuch as if the male is coming to feed the female, does he fly off before feedingif a human is in the vicinity of the tree, and how long and how manyattempts it takes him to feed the female if there are other humandisturbances in the locality. This was not done as an experiment our part butto show how the real situation of high disturbance within the village mightaffect the feeding attempts and thus energy levels of the male.Results to date:Nest-watcher roles have been further developed to encompass a protectionalrole of both the nesting site and of foreging fruit trees within the area. Theirpersonal understanding on the importance of Hornbills as seed disperses hascome from their own data collection observations. This has been used to helpspread information within their communities. Personal initiative shown byone ‘nest-watcher’ lead us to conduct a 2hour interactive presentation anddiscussion at his high school, with our 200 youth and teachers present. These7

direct interactions lead us to confirming another Malabar Pied Hornbill nestsite.We have established that the Great Pied Hornbill is utilizing over 15different species of fruit for foraging other then ficus sp. As there is no othersite that we have been able to monitor for this species we can not compare itwith another nesting pair directly. Instead the Malabar Pied Hornbill pairnesting in the vicinity is showing a great overlap in foraging preference,though its diet is not as varied.AERF’s team is finding that micro-climaticvariations are playing a major role in fruiting times of many trees, thusthough the general abundance of a particular fruit may not be present, theremight be one specifictree that is fruiting,which both speciesare heavily utilizing.Within the MalabarPied Hornbill sites wehave noted a greatvariationindietpreference for thisspecies.Thisvariation is due to theavailability of fruitingAn example of droppedmaterial present infruits and disgustedthe proximity of eachseeds collected by a nestwatchernest site. One site inparticular is heavilydependent on human crop fruits such as guava, cashew and beans, incomparison to other species. The AERF team is finding that thoughHornbills have adapted to utilizing trees within proximity of humanhabitation, they do not seem to have adapted to the levels of disturbance thatis present at the sites. Results are showing that male hornbill can make asmany as 10-15 attempts to approach the cavity entrance with food materialfor the female and/or nestlings. It has been seen on at least occasions thatthe male will eat the fruit or animal forage himself if repeated attempts areunsuccessful. The affects of added energy needs for the male, and the longperiods of waiting for food for the female and nestlings are not yet known.Future work:Once the breeding session at each site is completed we hope to establish thestatus of breeding density and success within the Konkan region of Ratnagiri.Data collected through the ethogram will provide us with a comprehensive8

list of fruiting species exploited by Hornbills. Radiating belt line transectsfrom each nest tree in combination with the fruiting preference list will beused to collect data to foraging fruit trees around a 2 km radius of each site(see appendix 3). A combination of mapping and ethogram data will help usestablish which areas the males are likely to be visiting at different timeframes of the breeding cycle. GPS point of specific trees will help us mapthese locations, which we can then monitor for exact fruiting times in theframe-work of a follow-up project.TheAERF’steam aims to setup at least onenest box at theendofthisbreedingsession, in lightof the fact thatonly one GreatPiedHornbillnest has beenestablishtodate,thoughThe Great Pied Hornbill male at cavity wherethere have beenfemale and nestlings are present. AERF 2008severalsightingsofindividuals. The lack of previous knowledge of active sites meant that thesecould not be implemented prior to this year’s breeding session. The team feltthat adopting a standard ‘post-box’ style nest box was inappropriate withoutformer understanding of habitat preference and behavior of the male duringbreeding session. We aim to take measurements of the current active GreatPied Nest site and make a natural style next box by carving out or enlargingan existing cavity within a section of cut or naturally fallen tree. The nestbox well then be secured into a branch folk of a tree complex where thesurrounding habitat is deemed most favorable with the least disturbance. A‘nest-watcher’ will be employed to keep an eye on the cavity and report anyHornbills attending the tree or the nest-box.Achievements of the Hornbill Flagship Project:AERF recently held a research team training session for their entire projectbase, which was luckily conducted at the field office for this current project.15 members of AERF’s staff gathered over four days during which one daysaw complete attention to the feedback of current projects all over India.This gave the Hornbill Flagship team the great opportunity to invite all the9

‘nest-watchers’ tothat session, sothat they couldnot only meeteach other for thefirst time, butinteract amongstthemselvesandotherAERFproject teams.Each of AERF’sproject team wasasking to make asmallverbalpresentationofabout 40 minutesto educate othermembers of their research. However, the Hornbill Flagship project took overthe session and last the full morning. Each ‘nest-watcher’ was given theopportunity to voice their individual findings and understanding of theproject to the entire AERF staff. The impact that this generated withinAERF staff was outstanding, as we could demonstrate that within the spaceof 6 months and with such a small budget, we can establish a real workingunderstanding within different sections of the community on how Hornbillsplay an important role in forest conservation. Thus, our overall aim inestablishing Hornbills as flagship species for conservation of forests in theNorthern Western Ghats came in to its own force. We hope to further utilizethis nest-watcher group for future meetings with local stakeholders,communities, and further conservation work in the Konkan region.Five nest watchers attend AERF staff teamtraining session, the lady in the blue isexplaining impacts of human disturbanceat her nest site. (The star above each headindicates a ‘nest-watcher’)AcknowledgmentsWe are thankful to DEFRA and FFI for providing us with the opportunity tobroaden the conservation of forests and Hornbills with a truly communitybased approach. We are also thankful to RSPB who donated two pairs ofbinoculars and a spotting scope, which has beyond doubt aided our efforts atidentifying fruits that are being utilized at nest cavities. Most of all ouracknowledgment go to the AERF ‘Nest-Watchers’ who are learning much aswe are on the importance of Hornbills in forest conservation, and withoutthem the on-the-ground use of Hornbills as a Flagship may not havematerialized.10

Bibliography:1. Balasubramanian, P., Saravanan, R., & Maheswaran, B. 2004. Fruitpreferences of Malabar Pied Hornbill (Anthracocerous coronatus) inWestern Ghats, India. Bird Conservation International. 14:S69-S79.2. Canterbury, G. E., & Martin, T. E. et al. 2000. Bird communities andhabitat as ecological indicators of forest condition in regionalmonitoring. Conservation Biology. Vol 14: No2; 544-558.3. Datta, A. 1998. Hornbill abundance in unlogged forest, selectivelylogged forest and a plantation in western Arunachal Pradesh. Oryx 32:285-294.

Western Ghats. This region of the Northern section of the Western Ghats, locally known as Konkan, contributes to one of the 34 Global Biodiversity Hotspots. Over the years there has been extensive research conducted on both flora and fauna

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