Tag: hornbill

A regurgitating Writhed Hornbill [HD]

This is a video of a male Writhed Hornbill regurgitating a fig fruit in the slopes of Mt. Apo Natural Park. The Writhed Hornbill is a Mindanao endemic and prefers lowland forests up to 1200 meters. Just like most hornbills, they nest in the cavities of tall trees, enclosing the female hornbill in using mud, while the male hornbill delivers food both to the female and the chicks, cleans the nest, and does other chores. Regurgitation is the major strategy of the male hornbill when feeding a nesting female and chicks enclosed in its nest. This Writhed Hornbill, plus the majestic Rufous Hornbill and the smaller Mindanao Taricitc Hornbill completes the Mindanao hornbill trio. Writhed Hornbill, Aceros leucocephalus March 2014, Mt. Apo Natural Park, Davao, Mindanao, Philippines Video by Nicky Icarangal, JR. Digiscoped with a Swarovski 95 STX HD, Panasonic GH3, Swarovski APO-TLS Writhed Hornbill

Rufous Hornbill

This is the most majestic and biggest of all Philippine Hornbills - the Great Rufous Hornbill, Buceros hydrocorax. Hornbills are the best, cheapest and the most natural way to re-grow our forests: They are "Farmers of the Forests" as hornbills distribute the seeds of the fruits they fed on. Hornbills are characterized by the huge and often colourful bills and they have this fascinating breeding behaviour of sealing the female inside holes of giant trees, while the male gathers food for the female and the chicks. Sadly, hornbill populations are declining due to habitat loss resulting to unavailability of huge nesting trees, poaching for the pet trade and hunting for food. In this video, you can see an adult male Rufous Hornbill at the beginning and at the end of the video while an immature one can be seen hopping about at around 0:46. Rufous Hornbill, Buceros hydrocorax PICOP, Surigao del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines Rufous Hornbill

Mindanao Tarictic Hornbill [HD]

This is a Mindanao Tarictic Hornbill, one of the 10 endemic hornbills of the Philippines. It favors forest and forest edge up to 1500 meters and is usually found in pairs or small family groups. Hornbills are amazing creatures - Tarictics are known to lay 3 eggs in tree cavities with the female individual completely enclosed in the cavity during incubation. So when a male Tarictic dies during the breeding season, the whole family is in danger since it is the male who will bring food for the female and its chicks. They are also efficient re-foresters of the mountains. They are excellent seed-dispersal agents: they are known to gather several fruits and store them in their crop and can transport them over cleared forest areas or plantations, from one forest patch to another, in the process spreading seeds more efficiently than rodents and primates. You want to save our forests? - Save our hornbills! They are our allies in keeping our rainforests healthy and diverse. Mindanao Tarictic Hornbill, Penelopides affinis September 2010, Mt. Kitanglad Range, Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines