How the female hornbill is imprisoned while she hatches the eggs

               

Hornbill
 (Image courtesy: wikimedia commons)

                   Like the toucan, the hornbill has an extremely large beak. The beak is different because it continues above the bird's head to form a sort of knob that looks like a helmet. There are forty five different species of hornbills, with loud, croaking voices and flapping wings. Their strong beaks can break the shells of the hardest nuts, but they will also eat fruits, insects and small animals.

                  Most hornbills build their nests in a hollow tree. The male bird imprisons the female inside her nest by walling her in with dried mud while she hatches the eggs and cares for the young until they can fly. He leaves a small slit in the mud wall and through this he feeds his mate during the whole period she is sitting on the eggs (the female of small species lay up to six eggs and incubates them for 25 days). Female hornbills remain trapped inside the nest for three to five months.