Like the Baltimore Oriole and the Whooping Crane, the native American Ivory Tainer has been driven from its habitat by waves of invasive species. Where the Ivory Tainer was common in both rural and urban settings for at least a century, in recent years it has been displaced by generations of invaders.
In the Ivory Tainer's case, the invaders were the Hornbills: The Creamy Pink Hornbill, the Foamy Hornbill, and Purell's Gelatinous Hornbill.
Known for its gritty, diffuse droppings, and circular (though flightless) wing motion, the Ivory Tainer is now common only isolated estuaries and eBays.
Once the dominant species in Hospital and Elementary School wetlands, a nesting pair was recently spotted in the church basement bathrooms of St. Camillus Parish, Arlington, Massachusetts, an isolated, pristine habitat untouched in the last 60 years.
Once the dominant species in Hospital and Elementary School wetlands, a nesting pair was recently spotted in the church basement bathrooms of St. Camillus Parish, Arlington, Massachusetts, an isolated, pristine habitat untouched in the last 60 years.
Hornbills
All members of the Hornbill (Bucerotinae, literally "cow horn") family are cavity-nesting birds, and mostly occupy habitat originally dominated by Tainers.
When the female Bucerotinae is ready to lay her eggs, she enters the nest through a hole just barely just large enough for her. This opening is then walled up, primarily with her own dried droppings, leaving only a small hole, through which the incubating hen can receive the male’s regurgitated food deliveries and out of which, in turn, the female projectile-excretes her droppings.
All Hornbill nests also contain a small clear window through which the contents of the nest can be observed.
Creamy Pink Hornbill
The Pink Hornbill is known for the accumulation of dried pink droppings around its nest, both at the excretion hole, on vertical surfaces, and often in pools of pink excrement beneath the nest.
Conservationists targeted the Pink Hornbill for its wastefulness and habitat destruction. Pink Hornbills would rapidly deplete a local area and then leave their nest empty and unusable by others. Soon every nest in a habitat would be empty.A program of eradication in the early 2010s resulted in the Creamy Pink Hornbill being displaced by populations of Foamy and Purell's Hornbills, though the empty, unused Pink Hornbill nests often remain in place.
Foamy Hornbill
The Foamy Hornbill was introduced to the United States in 2011, hidden in a shipping crate arriving from China. It has proved to be fast-spreading.
Purell's Gelatinous Hornbill
Introduced by well-meaning scientists during the H5N2 Avian Flu outbreak of 2015, Purell's Gelatinous Hornbill quickly spread to habitats far beyond the traditional wetland habitat of the Pink Creamy and Foamy Hornbill.
Purell's Gelatinous Hornbill, while widely seen in medical settings is also seen in unexpected habitats like the vestibules of public libraries, grocery stores, and any place geriatric humans congregate.Purell's Hornbill is identified by its white body, blue crest, and nearly-transparent excrement.
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