IPOH: The Taiping Zoo and Night Safari staff members came together to save a hornbill’s nest by temporarily providing a perching platform after a 140-year-old raintree fell at the Taiping Lake Gardens.
Zoo director Dr Muhammad Ridhwan Affendi said he was informed about the Oriental Pied hornbill’s nest on the uprooted tree by bird enthusiasts late Friday (Feb 14) evening.
He said the male hornbill was in distress because food could not be provided to the female hornbill and a baby chick after the tree fell, and that the male bird could not perch due to the branch leaning downwards.
“We could not do much as I was only informed in the late evening about the incident. But this morning, we placed a temporary wood for the hornbill to perch and provide food to the female.
“Hornbills are cavity nesters where these birds use existing holes in tree trunks. We were worried if we did not do something fast, the male hornbill would abandon the nest,” he said when contacted today.
Dr Muhammad Ridhwan thinks there might be more baby chicks, but only one is visible. The sound of the female hornbill can be heard, though the cavity is deep.
“The site of the fallen tree will be supervised by my staff, the Taiping Municipal Council and the birding community to ensure that the hornbills are safe, and not stolen.
‘It will take at least about one-and-the-half months for the babies to fully fledge, and until then we need to safeguard them.
“So before the council takes the next step they will need to inform us as well due to the nest,” he added.
Taiping Heritage Society president Liew Suet Fun said the raintrees are a treasure for Taiping, and that it had been raining heavily, with violent thunderstorms yesterday.
“When I visited the place, I saw the Zoo director, and he told me about the hornbill nest, and the challenges the male bird was facing.
“It was excellent to see everyone coming together to save the nest, and provide the male hornbill with a platform to provide food to the female.
“Once that was done, not long after that the male hornbill started to come with food to provide to the female bird,” she added.
