Conservation workers have recorded a successful hornbill breeding season in Hornbill Valley in Yingjiang County of southwest China's Yunnan Province, with 37 chicks fledging from monitored nests this year.
On Tuesday, a juvenile wreathed hornbill left its nest cavity, marking the final fledging among the 25 hornbill nests monitored locally this season. Observers said the chick's mother sealed herself into the nest on March 19, while the breeding and chick-rearing period lasted 132 days until the young bird emerged.
"Before leaving the nest, the hornbill chick very cautiously poked its head out of the cavity to observe its surroundings. In the footage we got, we captured a very precious and touching scene -- when the baby bird hesitated over and over, too afraid to fly out of the nest, the male bird flew down to the entrance of the nest to encourage his chick to be brave and fly with them into the rainforest," said Zhu Bianyong, an eco-photographer.
China is home to five hornbill species, all listed as first level of nationally protected wildlife. Yingjiang's Hornbill Valley is considered one of the few areas in the country where multiple hornbill species breed stably.
This year, local monitoring covered 25 nests across three species, the oriental pied hornbill, the wreathed hornbill and the great hornbill, and all nests were reported to have hatched successfully, producing a total of 37 fledglings.
37 hornbill chicks fledge in Yunnan after successful breeding season
