Saving the Malabar Hornbill in the hills of Tamil Nadu
Farming practices encouraged by existing forest policies have drastically reduced the sources of food for the Malabar Grey Hornbill, once abundant in the Palni Hills of Tamil Nadu. Madhu Ramnath explains what endangers the species and how they can be saved.
There have been several reports which talk about hornbills and how they are threatened in different parts of India. (Read: Growing threat to Great Indian Hornbills) Most often however, news that we come across is about the Malabar Pied Hornbill and the Great Pied Hornbill, the larger of the birds in south India, and seldom about the smaller and less conspicuous Indian Grey Hornbill and Malabar Grey Hornbill.
Though listed in the ‘Least Concern’ category by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Indian Grey Hornbill, which once inhabited most of the Indian peninsula, has now been wiped out from large parts of its original habitat. For instance, in central India, it is no longer to be seen.
The Malabar Grey Hornbill (MGH) is found in the moist-deciduous evergreen forests of the Western Ghats of India. 
Unlike the Indian Grey Hornbill, its bill lacks the casque and it is less striking except for its large size and the laboured flight that makes it stand out from other birds.
In the Palni hills, the hornbill’s range of habitat more or less coincides with the coffee estates at middle elevation, where one can see well-wooded country land interspersed with cultivated patches and coffee estates. The hornbills may be sighted from the Kumbakarai Falls in the lower elevations, to Adukkam and Thadiyankudusai in the middle hills and almost up to Siruvattukadu Kombai. Much of the tract falls under the recently declared Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary, which was already notified in 2013.
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