![]() ![]() Scar face with its green snake catch gliding down in pursue of its mate in the valley below As the Team observed the pair in anticipation the team saw Scar Face hunting for other types of delicacies for his mate such as spiders, flying geckos, flying squirrels, birds’ eggs, a young lizard, but to no avail. She seemed to have made up her mind and flew to the nest, perched close to Scar Face and then moved to the nest cavity to have a look inside, then she came back close to Scar Face, perhaps to send a secret signal before gliding down into the valley below immediately followed by her mate with his bill still holding on to his catch. The Hornbill Team watched as Scar Face started going through the yearly ritual of enticing his mate to enter the nest by showing its prowess by catching a green tuk-kae snake, a favorite delicacy of hers. In the early days of the 2016 mating season the same Hornbill pair came to inspect nest cavity number 29 again. Scar face with its catch, a green Tuk-kae snake, as an enticement to his mate as part of the courtship ritual during the mating season. But then in 2015 a poacher climbed up the kalor tree and stole the chick from the nest cavity to sell it in the black market. ![]() It has been more than ten years since our Hornbill Team has been watching Scar Face and his mate use this tree cavity as their nest and produce ten offsprings. Nest number 29 seemed to be the favorite nest cavity of a Rhinoceros Hornbill pair with the male having been given the name of “ Scar Face ” because of a gash visible on his yellow casque.Īccess to the nest takes half an hour from the nearest road, after wading through a shallow creek and climbing across an enclosure to keep out cows. The species may have been saved by a joint project started twenty years ago between the Thailand Hornbill Project of Madhidol University and volunteers from the 13 villages surrounding the Budo mountain range, in which former village poachers were convinced to help look after these birds so that their children and descendants would be able to grow up alongside these majestic birds.Īmong the several Hornbill nest cavities being looked after by the joint research team is nest number 29 high up on a “ kalor ” tree (Shorea sp.) on top of “Fish Hill” located at an elevation of 100 meters above sea level and inside a forested area made up of rubber plantations and fruit orchards belonging to villagers. The Rhinoceros Hornbill features as one of the Hornbills found in the Budo mountain range of Southern Thailand, but not long ago the Rhinoceros Hornbill became almost extinct from those mountains due to widespread poaching. Scar Face, the owner of the kalor tree following the law of the Jungle. ![]() The Rhinoceros Hornbill is one of the most colorful of the 13 species of Hornbills endemic to Thailand with a distinctive feature that never fails to capture the imagination of viewers who see it for the first time. The female on the other hand does not have a black streak and the diaphragm around the eyes is white. The male Rhinoceros Hornbill is distinguished by a vertical black streak on its yellow casque as well as a red diaphragm around its eyes. But unlike the Great the Rhinoceros has a majestic upward curved casque that resembles the curved horn of Rhinocerous mammals. The Rhinoceros rivals in size with the Great Hornbill (Commonly referred to as “ Kahang ” by Thai villagers) and both birds emit a similar “ kok kok ” cry as well. In the Yhaweh language of southern Thailand the Rhinoceros Hornbill (Buceros rhicoceros) is called “ barong balong ” barong meaning bird, balong meaning rhinoceros. Story and Photographs by Preeda Thiensongrasamee ![]()
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