I am not a birder. Birding takes patience, binoculars and the ability to stare skyward for hours looking for unidentified flying birds. But sometimes, you just cannot help it. Two places I have found birds particularly easy to see, even if I am not looking straight up, was Brazil’s Pantanal region and Borneo’s Kinabatangan River.
The Kinabatangan River region of Borneo contains 8 species of Hornbills: Rhinoceros, Papuan, Oriental Pied, Wreathed, Wrinkled, Black, White-crowned and Bushy Crested. I think. You recall earlier – I am not a birder. I have been lucky enough to visit this region a number of times and have seen at least 7 species of Hornbill there including 5 species on one trip. My favorite is the White-crowned but the most impressive is the Rhino Hornbill whose wingbeats you can hear coming out of the forest far before you can see them.
Rhinoceros Hornbill photo credit Paul Swen
The Rhinoceros Hornbill is one of the largest, weighing in at up to 6lbs with a 40-50inch wingspan. The ultimate resource to everything we want to know (Wikipedia) tells us that the courtship and bonding of these birds are critical, as the female must trust the male to provide her with everything when she is incubating and raising chicks. These Hornbills lay their eggs inside tree trunks, the females stay inside with the eggs, while the male will bring her and the young food. After the eggs are laid the male collects mud, and the male and female pack that mud, food, and feces to ‘mud-up’ the tree cavity entrance. This creates a very small hole, only large enough for the male to feed the female (and later chicks) and for the female to defecate out the hole. Once the babies are old enough (fully feathered) to leave the nest the female and male chip away the dry mud so the babies can get out.
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They’re so beautiful!