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being on the tropical island of Borneo and drifting quietly down a steam in a dug-out canoe. The giant trees of the rainforest rise on each bank like cathedral spires, and the creepers which festoon them form cloisters that conceal the dark damp interior. Raindrops pattering on the foliage and distant rumble of a retreating thunderstorm form a backdrop of sound, though which penetrates a single mournful hoot. More hoots follow at intervals, accelerating in tempo until they break suddenly into peals of maniacal laughter. Two huge birds then burst across the dome of the sky, their naked red heads extended and metre-long tail feathers trailing behind.
You can spot the hornbill everywhere in Malaysia, if you try, good places to spot hornbills elsewhere in Malaysia are Taman Negara, Fraser's Hill, Langkawi, Gunung Mulu National Park, Kinabatangan, Sabah's Danum Valley and Mount Kinabalu National Park. Many species of hornbill (8 - 9) are found in Malaysia.
Some of them endangered or only present in small, isolated populations.
The iban hunted hornbills for the tail feathers, which they use to decorate ceremonial headdresses. A single group of dancers may use as many as 400 feathers on their headdresses, for which they would have to kill about 40 birds. But that's over now.
The hornbills nestle in a hole high up in an old tree. It's the largest birds in the forest. |
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