The Nagaland Community Conserved Areas Forum (NCCAF) has launched a public appeal seeking the support of communities, village councils, conservation groups, birdwatchers, students, researchers and citizens in identifying and documenting hornbill nesting sites, regular sightings and important hornbill habitats across Nagaland.
The initiative seeks to build a comprehensive understanding of the distribution and breeding habitats of hornbills in the State, where forests support several species of the ecologically important birds. As major seed dispersers, hornbills play a crucial role in forest regeneration and maintaining healthy forest ecosystems.
NCCAF said much of the existing information on hornbills in Nagaland remains scattered across local knowledge, individual observations and isolated records. It is therefore working with the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) as a knowledge partner to strengthen community-led documentation and conservation efforts.
The NCF brings experience from its Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme in Arunachal Pradesh, where local communities identify, monitor and protect hornbill nest trees on community land. The programme has helped more than 200 hornbill chicks successfully fledge through community-based protection of nesting sites.
NCF has also developed Hornbill Watch, a citizen-science initiative that allows people to report hornbill sightings and photographs, helping build knowledge on hornbill distribution, behaviour and important habitats beyond formally protected areas.
NCCAF said it hopes to draw on these experiences while developing an approach suited to Nagaland’s community-conserved landscapes, customary institutions and local knowledge systems.
The Forum is particularly seeking information on active or previously used hornbill nests, nesting trees, places where hornbills are regularly seen or heard, feeding and roosting areas, repeated sightings of pairs or family groups, photographs or videos showing nesting behaviour, and local or traditional knowledge about hornbill habitats.
Citizens have been encouraged to share records even if they are uncertain about the species or whether a particular tree is being used for nesting. Photographs, videos and location information, including GPS coordinates, Google Maps pins, village names or approximate locations, are considered particularly valuable.
NCCAF said old photographs and recollections of nesting sites used several years ago may also provide useful information for documenting the species’ distribution and habitat.
The information collected would help NCCAF and NCF identify locations for field verification and potentially develop long-term community-based conservation initiatives. These may include protecting important nesting trees, monitoring breeding sites, documenting local knowledge, identifying threats to feeding and nesting areas and strengthening habitat protection.
The organisations are also exploring the potential use of artificial nest structures in suitable locations where appropriate natural nesting cavities are scarce. However, NCCAF stressed that such interventions would require careful assessment of habitat and species requirements, technical guidance and the full participation and consent of the concerned communities.
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The Forum has urged the public not to disturb suspected hornbill nests. People are advised not to climb nesting trees, approach cavities closely or otherwise disturb the birds, particularly during the breeding season. NCCAF said a photograph or GPS location is far more valuable than disturbing a nest to obtain a closer look.
It also assured communities that precise locations of sensitive active nests would not be made public. Such information would be kept confidential and shared only when necessary with the concerned landowning community and NCF for legitimate conservation, research and monitoring purposes.
NCCAF further clarified that the initiative is not an enquiry into hunting, stating that information submitted would not be used to initiate action against individuals, families or villages on the basis of past hunting or other information disclosed through a hornbill record.
The Forum also assured that no survey, monitoring exercise or field visit would be undertaken on community, clan or privately held land without prior consultation and approval from the appropriate village institution and concerned landowning clan, family or customary authority.
Contributors whose records make a meaningful contribution to documenting hornbill distribution, nesting or habitat may, with their consent, be acknowledged along with their village or community. Records may also contribute to future technical reports, conservation assessments or scientific studies, while maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive locations.
Members of the public can submit hornbill sightings, photographs, videos or information on nesting sites to the Nagaland Community Conserved Areas Forum (NCCAF) via WhatsApp at +91 9862000975 or email at nagalandccaforum@gmail.com / nccaf@outlook.com.
NCCAF has appealed to citizens to provide, wherever possible, the location, date and time of observation, photographs or videos, details of the sighting or nest, species identification if known, and the contributor’s name, village or community and contact details.
The Forum said the initiative aims to work with the people who know Nagaland’s forests best to identify the landscapes that continue to sustain hornbills and determine where conservation efforts can make the greatest difference.
