The Unconditional Love of a “papa” Hornbill

The affection of a father towards his family is immeasurable. Fathers are soldiers who protect their families from all the obstacles at any cost. One such story is of the hornbill that lived in the Athirapally- Vazachal reserve in Thrissur district of Kerala. Hornbills are family of birds found in the tropical and the subtropical Africa, Asia, and Melanesia.

Human beings have civilized a lot more than what they should over the years. Their power to conquer anything they wish had made them arrogant and selfish. Humans are busy in their attempts to make life possible on Mars. However, is it possible to replicate the greenery we have in the earth to Mars? There may not be an answer for this at the moment. But, the possibilities of making this into a reality are very high as the path of destruction shall not be limited to the earth, it should spread across planets.

This is the story of one such sinful act of man towards a poor hornbill and his family. Kerala is famous for its alluring views. The great hornbill is considered as the state bird of Kerela. The incident took place on the Athirpally-Vazachal reserve in Thrissur. A papa hornbill was flying to the nest after collecting berries for his hungry little ones, but he got hit by a vehicle. Generally, the female hornbill sheds their feathers and rests for four months after giving birth to the little ones. Therefore, for four months it is the responsibility of the father to take care of the newborns. The misfortune took place when the papa hornbill was on his way to the nest, in order to feed the young ones.

It was two environment enthusiasts Baiju and Rahul who found the carcasses of the bird. The scene trembled the humanity of the two young men.  Baiju and Rahul saw that the papa bird had his beaks closed tight as he didn’t want the berries to fall. Not to mention, the papa hornbill had full faith he would make it to the nest and feed his babies.

What will Happen to the Newborns?

“Will the newborns survive?” might be the question that would have stricken in everyone’s mind? Well, Baiju and Rahul couldn’t let it go like what other would have done. As a matter of fact, the two gentlemen set their journey to find the nest in the forest. After hours of search, they found the nest of the hornbill on a tree. The joy was beyond expressing. The gentlemen decided to feed the little ones with whatever they could find with. The hungry little ones ate the berries the two men provided them, with their small beaks. Baiju and Rahul continued their good deed by climbing the tree to save humanity and set an example to our civilized men who are ignorant towards the victims of road accidents.

Everyone tries to take a long breath before their souls retire from their body. The love of the papa hornbill towards his family was deep and pure. He didn’t open his beak, to take a good long breath, and realize that this was the end. Even at the brink of death,  he hoped to see his babies so as to feed them. Maybe he hoped to continue his duty of father even in his afterlife.

The story of papa hornbill has left mankind with a powerful message of love. The love we need to possess towards our family, towards the society. But most importantly towards nature. The human beings need to pause, introspect about their atrocious acts, as well as regret them in order to adorn the nature in all possible ways.