Birding in Malaysia: hornbills!
Hornbills are birds belonging to the Bucerotidae family, and this is one of my favourite bird families, given the strange shape of the beak of some of the family members: some birds have a casque above the beak, giving the appearance of a horn (buceros actually means cow horn in greek)!
There are around 60 different species of hornbills, and around 10 in Malaysia, where I was lucky enough to spot my first (and only) sightings. Actually, the rhinoceros hornbill is Malaysia's national bird! I didn't got a chance to spot it. But I had my first sighting even before I arrived at one of the locations where I was hoping to see them, Taman Negara National Park.
I was waiting for the boat to get us to the park, about a 2 hour ride up river, when a huge black flew to a near tree... and there it was, my first hornbill! The casque is not apparent in the photo, but it was the best one I could get of him.
I had no luck in the National Park, where I spent two days. No luck regarding hornbills, that is, because the park was an amazing experience and the number of different species of birds, insects and mammals that I was able to see was just amazing.
At the last days of vacations, in Langkawi, an island perfect for some lazy beach time, I was blessed again. Sometimes you get to see some species when you least expect it! I was returning to the hostel where I was staying, and I had read the day before something about a hornbill that used to visit the hostel to feed on a nearby tree, but didn't gave it much credit. Yet, that day...
A different species was perching right in front of the hostel! Another male, this time an Oriental Pied Hornbill. And now you can see the funny casque really well. It's yellow, although because of the light it seems almost white on the photo. I tried to make a few more good shots, where we can see the actual colour better.
As I was preparing to take more photos, one of the heaviest rains I caught in Malaysia started, but still managed to get a couple ones more.
I will travel to Asia soon again, maybe I am lucky enough to spot a few more. And how's your experience with the hornbills? :)
Photos taken with Canon SX50 HS
It's a good experience, you will get allot of followers.
No, no followers! Big groups scare all the birds and I love birdwatching! ;)
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