Long-term monitoring of breeding successes of Great Hornbill ( Buceros bicornis ) and Rhinoceros Hornbill ( Buceros rhinoceros ) using artificial nest boxes in Budo-Su-Ngai Padi National Park, Thailand

Abstract

Nest boxes are a conservation tool for increasing the availability of nests. The efficacy of nest boxes can be assessed by examining the breeding parameters of birds in nest boxes to see whether data are comparable with tree cavities. The hornbill artificial nest research was conducted in Budo-Su-Ngai Padi National Park, Thailand since 2003. This project aims to increase the breeding propensity of two large species of hornbills; the Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis) and the Rhinoceros Hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros) that coexist in the study area, by utilizing nest boxes. The nest boxes were constructed from fiber-reinforced plastic. There were two designs; small nest box: 50 x 49 cm at base and 95 cm height, and large: 65 x 70 cm at base and 95 cm height. Twenty nest boxes were installed between 2004 and 2006. These nest boxes were monitored from 2004 to 2021. The study results indicated that the proportion of nest occupancy of Great Hornbill breeding in natural nests was higher than nest boxes: 48.9% and 31.4%, respectively (the two binomial proportions test gives: Zc= 4.01, P < 0.0006 < α = 0.05). The results also showed that the Great Hornbill prefers to select a large nest box than a small one: 37.3% and 17.3%, respectively (the two binomial proportions test gives: Zc = 3.4, P < 0.00068 < α = 0.05). Eight nest boxes so far have been utilized by hornbills: six by Great Hornbill with 58 nesting successes and two by Rhinoceros Hornbill with 1 nesting success. The average life cycle of the fiberglass nest box is about 11.38±4.23 SD years. The study results suggest that reproduction parameters of hornbills in nest boxes are different from natural cavities in many aspects. Our two target species do not equally benefit from nest boxes.Suivi de longue date du succès de reproduction du Calao bicorne (Buceros bicornis) et du Calao rhinocéros (Buceros rhinoceros) à l'aide de nichoirs artificiels dans le parc national de Budo-Su-Ngai Padi, en Thaïlande RÉSUMÉ. Les nichoirs sont un outil de conservation permettant d'augmenter la disponibilité des nids. L'efficacité des nichoirs peut être évaluée en examinant les paramètres de reproduction des oiseaux dans les nichoirs pour déterminer si les données sont comparables à celles des cavités d'arbres. Cette recherche sur les nids artificiels de calaos a été menée dans le parc national de Budo-Su-Ngai Padi, en Thaïlande, depuis 2003. Ce projet vise à augmenter la propension à la nidification de deux grandes espèces de calaos, le Calao bicorne (Buceros bicornis) et le Calao rhinocéros (Buceros rhinoceros) qui coexistent dans la zone d'étude, au moyen de nichoirs. Les nichoirs ont été construits en plastique renforcé de fibres. Il y avait deux modèles : un petit nichoir mesurant 50 x 49 cm à la base et 95 cm de hauteur, et un grand nichoir : 65 x 70 cm à la base et 95 cm de hauteur. Vingt nichoirs ont été installés entre 2004 et 2006. Ces nichoirs ont été suivis de 2004 à 2021. Les résultats de l'étude ont indiqué que la proportion d'occupation des nids par le Calao bicorne se repr...

The Use of Nest Boxes in Malaysia: Design and the Potential for Research and In-situ Conservation of Birds

“…To either achieve the goal of population expansion or improve the research of these birds, nest boxes have been used to act as artificial nest cavities to attract these birds (Lambrechts et al, 2012). These secondary cavity-nesting birds may range from certain passerines (Cooper & Bonter, 2008;Gelter & Tegelström, 1992;Hanmer et al, 2017;Hudin et al, 2017;Miller, 2002;Riyahi et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2021) and non-passerines especially raptors (Calabrese et al, 2020;Geduhn et al, 2016;Liébana & Sarasola, 2013;Raid, 2012;Rejt, 2001;Richards et al, 2004;Zárybnická et al, 2016), parrots (Olah et al, 2014;Ortiz-Catedral & Brunton, 2009;Wimberger et al, 2017), hornbills (Cremades et al, 2011;Pasuwan et al, 2011), and waterfowls (Davis et al, 2007;Gong et al, 2018).…”

“…Additionally, some studies retrieved nestlings, breeding pairs, or even nest materials from nest boxes to assess the presence of ectoparasites (Hanmer et al, 2017;Proudfoot et al, 2006;Soltész et al, 2018) and the effect of rodenticide exposure (Richards et al, 2004;Geduhn et al, 2016), as well as for population genetic studies (Gelter & Tegelström, 1992;Riyahi et al, 2022). Otherwise, nest boxes may be solely deployed for conservation purposes to increase local bird populations (Calabrese et al, 2020;Cremades & Ng, 2012;Pasuwan et al, 2011).…”

“…Nest boxes are often carefully designed to facilitate access to the nest cavities and their contents (Lambrechts et al, 2012;Olah et al, 2014). For a particular species, those designs and methods may differ across habitats and countries as well (Lambrechts et al, 2010) with attempts to control the biotic (Davis et al, 2007) and abiotic factors (Arct et al, 2022;Pasuwan et al, 2011) that serve as explanatory variables of species ecology. A few studies have supplemented details on nest box dimensions (Arct et al, 2022;Cooper & Bonter, 2008;Maziarz et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2021) and illustrations (Olah et al, 2014;Pasuwan et al, 2011;Stanback, 2020;Wimberger et al, 2017) as reference for future studies of species.…”

“…For a particular species, those designs and methods may differ across habitats and countries as well (Lambrechts et al, 2010) with attempts to control the biotic (Davis et al, 2007) and abiotic factors (Arct et al, 2022;Pasuwan et al, 2011) that serve as explanatory variables of species ecology. A few studies have supplemented details on nest box dimensions (Arct et al, 2022;Cooper & Bonter, 2008;Maziarz et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2021) and illustrations (Olah et al, 2014;Pasuwan et al, 2011;Stanback, 2020;Wimberger et al, 2017) as reference for future studies of species. While most nest boxes were built with a single chamber, some studies may include additional chambers apart from the nest chamber to place monitoring equipment [e.g., camera surveillance system or camera traps; see Surmacki and Podkowa (2022) and Zárybnická et al (2016)].…”

“…While many studies may not report the orientation of the nest boxes, some studies from the temperate and subtropical regions have highlighted the preferred position of the entrance facing the east to the southeast direction (Miller, 2002;Zhang et al, 2021). The height at which the nest boxes were placed is different across species from those that can easily be accessed (Arct et al, 2022;Lambrechts et al, 2010;Miller, 2002;Ortiz-Catedral & Brunton, 2009;Palko et al, 2011) otherwise higher into the canopy (Pasuwan et al, 2011).…”