Oriental Pied Hornbill

Timid, elusive, wary... all words not to be associated with the entertaining oriental pied hornbill found on Pangkor Laut.

I'd fond memories of this species from my first trip to Malaysia in 2001 - time then was spent on Langkawi and oriental pied hornbill, though present on the hotel grounds,were rather less approachable.

Spending most of the time in the jungle areas of the island there was a definate mid afternoon peak of numbers around the pool area of the resort ~ it didn't take me too long to discover that the bar staff were feeding these delightful birds, and were quite brave with inquisitive holiday-makers. It was tricky not to get an image with a bird eating "hornbill standard fare" - onion rings etc (can't say that the Robson guide mentions that in their dietry info!).

 

For me, the most amusing thing was their quiet "pondering" of their surroundings - maybe it's accentuated by their huge bill, or maybe it's their staring eyes (complete with huge eyelashes!)... but their ability to crane and arch their necks into weird positions was highly amusing...

Oriental pied hornbill were the most confident of the two species found on the island, their larger relatives kept to the high trees. More on them in another posting.

Click the images for sharper presentation.

Pangkor Laut

A quick update from our current residence - Pangkor Laut, a 300 acre island on the West coast of Malaysia - a true heaven on earth. The accommodation is wonderful and the staff are very attentive. Knowing that I was a birder, they've even supplied a field guidebook this morning - albeit from 1950! (The birds of the Malay Peninsula by A.G Glenister)

It's beautiful here, though quiet bird wise.

Keeping me entertained are bold oriental pied hornbill - very tame as they get fed outside the bar! Less tame but mighty impressive are great hornbill - absolutely huge (book states a body length bill - tail of 120cm!). Amazing how they can hide themselves in the tall trees. In flight you can hear their wings - described in a book that the hotel has given me as sounding like a steam train! I'm looking forward to working on some of the hornbill photographs upon our return to the UK.

There are a minimum of 5 white-bellied sea eagle in out bay and at least 4 brahminy kite. Black-naped tern feed off-shore.

I'm still seeing new birds which is good, highlight yesterday was a male asian fairy bluebird in the dense jungle.

In the bay there are otter and monitor lizard, while very cheeky long tailed macaque monkey try their best to open the villa doors to steal fresh fruit!

No watches, no mobile phone to carrry - life is good here...