Search

Oriental Pied Hornbills visit HDB heartland

on 15th November 2018
Video grab.

Albert Cheah’s video clip shows a family of three Oriental Pied Hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris) visiting the Housing Development Board’s heartland. Residents were visibly excited to see such large birds landing on the railing of their high-rise apartment building. Visit the All Singapore Stuff Facebook and read the many comments made.

Many were unfamiliar with the hornbills, thinking they were escapees from the Jurong Birdpark or foreign birds “visiting” Singapore. Others found the birds endearing while yet others were visibly hostile.

The visiting hornbills ate chillies (Capsicum annuum) from plants grown along the corridor before flying off.

Oriental Pied Hornbllls nest in natural cavities like rotting cavities in trees. However, there is always a demand for such cavities by birds like barbets, dollarbirds, parakeets, kingfishers, etc. LINK and mammals like the Common Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) LINK.

The introduction of special nesting boxes for Oriental Ped Hornbills some years ago helped solved this “housing” problem that in turn led to a sudden increase in Singapore’s hornbill population LINK.

This is one of the few times that these iconic birds visited the Housing Development Board heartland. Previously they mainly visited private condominiums LINK 1 and LINK 2, suburban housing areas LINK as well as home gardens LINK.

Albert Cheah
Singapore
11th November 2018

If you like this post please tap on the Like button at the left bottom of page. Any views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors/contributors, and are not endorsed by the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM, NUS) or its affiliated institutions. Readers are encouraged to use their discretion before making any decisions or judgements based on the information presented.

YC Wee

Dr Wee played a significant role as a green advocate in Singapore through his extensive involvement in various organizations and committees: as Secretary and Chairman for the Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch), and with the Nature Society (Singapore) as founding President (1978-1995). He has also served in the Nature Reserve Board (1987-1989), Nature Reserves Committee (1990-1996), National Council on the Environment/Singapore Environment Council (1992-1996), Work-Group on Nature Conservation (1992) and Inter-Varsity Council on the Environment (1995-1997). He is Patron of the Singapore Gardening Society and was appointed Honorary Museum Associate of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) in 2012. In 2005, Dr Wee started the Bird Ecology Study Group. With more than 6,000 entries, the website has become a valuable resource consulted by students, birdwatchers and researchers locally and internationally. The views and opinions expressed in this article are his own, and do not represent those of LKCNHM, the National University of Singapore or its affiliated institutions.

Other posts by YC Wee

2 Responses

  1. This is the second report of hornbills attacking caged birds. If this goes on, people will call for their culling… So what shall we do?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories
Archives

Overall visits (since 2005)

Live visitors
1146
9981
Visitors Today
51724869
Total
Visitors

Clustrmaps (since 2016)