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Bev Field, a house executive, captured this sighting of the birds during during her visit. They were just north of Satara in the Kruger National Park when they came across the ground hornbills foraging.
Southern Ground Hornbills are the biggest kind of hornbills in the world, and although they make their nests high in trees and rocky cliffs, they often forage for food on the ground.
This one probably considered itself lucky to have found a snake so large for it to eat. Even better, it didn’t have to compete for it, as Bev noted that the other hornbills with the juvenile “showed no interest in feeding on the large snake.”
A Tasty Snack
Clearly not one to waste any time, this young bird got to work devouring the snake. A hornbill’s diet is primarily made up of insects and other small animals like fish, reptiles and amphibians.
A snake of this size would be a treat to a juvenile bird, but perhaps the older hornbills were avoiding it for a reason. Although dead, this snake was large enough that it still demanded caution this youth didn’t have.
It was about to find out the reason the snake was being avoided the hard way.
A Moment Of Regret
It appeared almost comical for a moment when the hornbill realized that it had made a mistake, but it was a short lived humor as the young bird got the snake so firmly lodged in its throat that it couldn’t get it out.
Bev noticed that “the adults kept foraging and didn’t show any distress for the struggling juvenile.” Young hornbills are dependent on their parents and helpers for the first two years of their lives which makes it strange they ignored its cries for help.
Perhaps they underestimated how much the younger bird was struggling, or maybe they were too focused on their own foraging. Whatever the reason, Bev said it “was very hard to watch the bird struggle” as it tried desperately to clear its throat.
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Bitten Off More Than It Could Chew
As the hornbill’s efforts to clear it throat continued to fail, it was clear that it was getting more exhausted from dragging the weight of the snake. There was still no help from the adult birds as its predicament became more serious.
The Southern Ground Hornbill is endangered in South Africa, and due to their slow breeding cycle the loss of a single one would be a blow to their population.
These birds can only breed every third year, and their population is declining across the continent as they lose their habitats and face persecution due cultural beliefs.
If At First You Don’t Succeed…
Thankfully this story doesn’t have so sad an ending, as the juvenile hornbill was eventually able to clear its throat by itself. Unfortunately, it hadn’t quite learnt the lesson yet.
Mere moments after it managed to spit out the snake, the bird was pecking at it again, and preparing for a second try at eating it. Whether the dead snake got revenge against the bird a second time is not known.
To learn more about what efforts are being made to help the Southern Ground Hornbill population in South Africa, check out the APNR’s website!