Bushy-crested Hornbill

Description:

A flock of Bushy-crested Hornbills were looking for some ripe fruits on this Spiky Fig tree. There are 8 species of hornbills in Borneo and this species is the only one that live in a flock. Hornbills are large enough to swallow the spiky fig whole but before they do that, they have to carefully mash the fruit until it is inside out so the spikes are buried into the flesh and it would be smoother to swallow.

Habitat:

Found feeding on the Spiky Fig (Ficus cucurbitina) in a regrown logged forest. Epiphytic fig like this spiky fig depends on canopy birds like these to disperse its seeds onto another host tree. Wild figs are a very important food source to hornbills. More about the Spiky Fig tree: https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/37...

Notes:

This is recorded during our few days observation to document the ecological value of this fig species as an important species for our reforestation projects.