Mitigate

Learn how the Mabula Ground Hornbill Project's conservation efforts are mitigating threats to ground hornbills in the wild, ensuring the survival of this iconic species for future generations.

Poisoning

Lead

Currently, the biggest threat to the Southern Ground-hornbill is lead poisoning. When game animals are shot with lead bullets during hunting excursions, the lead fragments disperse throughout the carcass and remain in the tissue and the offal that is discarded. As scavengers, Southern Ground-hornbills will eat offal left behind and consume the lead shot by accident. They are particularly susceptible to lead, and will show ill effects with as low a blood content as 10μg/dl- in comparison, for vultures who scavenge and consume lead the same way, ill effects begin at 45μg/dl1. It has been speculated that the ground-hornbill’s particularly acidic intestine leads to an increased absorption of lead during digestion.

Find out more about the Lead Task Team

Second-hand Poisoning

It is also not uncommon for Southern Ground-hornbills to consume pesticides and rodenticides. Whole groups can be killed when they scavenge off carcasses deliberately laced with poison to target other carnivore species. Widespread declines are also attributed to control projects in range states where poison is used to kill off large colonies of the crop-raiding bird species, Red-Billed Quelea (Quelea quelea). Southern ground-hornbills are one of the non-targeted predatory species that are negatively affected when they consume intoxicated Quelea carcasses.

Persecution

The most prevalent form of human-wildlife conflict is that of Southern Ground-hornbills breaking windows. Due to their territorial nature, the birds attack instances of their own reflections. Their powerful beaks are very capable of shattering glass and mirrors, and those who live in the SGH range may have to contend with the same family group returning to the windows’ location again and again. Most often reported pre-breeding and as being done by the alpha female, we facilitate peaceful solutions, making site visits, providing Contravision when needed, and advising those affected on the many options available for removing their reflection from the breakable surface.

Here are some things you can do to minimise ground-hornbill damage to your windows:

Paint, Ash and Mud

A basic low-tech solution employed by those in far rural areas is to cover the window in paint, ash, or mud. The birds will stay away from human activity, but if people leave for a time (such as a school on vacation) this method has been used as a quick and easily removable way to prevent breakage.

Shades

Covering the window in an exterior cloth such as shade cloth or canvas is another accessible, simple solution many people have employed. At our MGHP office, we use canvas mounted on a metal frame, hung on exterior hooks above the windows.

Contravision

A common and effective solution is employing contravision, a perforated film that is applied like a sticker on the exterior side, removing any reflection from the window and still providing an external view from the inside. We have been able to provide a number of homeowners and schools with contravision to give long-term protection to their windows

Safety Glass

The most costly solution, some lodges prefer a window entirely unobstructed and opt for Perspex or a similar safety glass that may withstand the birds’ efforts.

Other Human-Wildlife Conflict

Southern Ground-hornbills are attracted to mowed lawns and open areas due to the ease of finding prey. They often walk and forage along roads, and are therefore at risk of collisions with passing vehicles. Please drive safely!

Mabula Ground Hornbill Baobab bird in nest scaled

Loss of Natural Nesting Sites

Once ranging across much of Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu-Natal, the change in the land over the years has led to a population withdrawal to only the eastern ranges of those provinces, and remnants along the Eastern Cape. Seventy percent of open savannas and grasslands, a SGH’s preferred habitat, have been transformed due to human expansion, and a large portion of the population occurs in fragmented patches of suitable habitat. Only 20% of this is formally protected. Overgrazing and increased carbon dioxide levels have resulted in extensive bush encroachment.

Electrocution on Infrastructure

There has been an unfortunate recurrence of Southern Ground-hornbills landing on transformer boxes and getting electrocuted. There has been ongoing communication with ESKOM, the country’s electrical supplier, in the hopes of insulating exposed wires on the boxes. Until that can be implemented, we have developed a more immediate solution with rubber “eyelashes”, harmless blunt rods mounted on the transformer boxes, to deter the birds from landing on them in the first place. These “eyelashes” have been installed in areas of local reintroduction to monitor their efficacy.