Showing posts with label Penelopides exarhatus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Penelopides exarhatus. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Hornbill Love


Mated Pair of Sulawesi Hornbills, Penelopides exarhatus. I started off looking for toucans and soon enough realized that toucans don't have that telltale casque on top of the bill while Hornbills do! Heaven forbid if it was a more mundane looking bird... Our Sulawesi Hornbill friends are found in the tropical lowland, swamps and primary forests of Sulawesi, from sea-level to 1,100 m. They enjoy fruits, figs and insects and the female seals herself into a tree hole/nest to lay eggs and raise the young while the male feeds her. That being said, there was a large nest of twiggs and feathers on a nearby branch. Could be I had the wrong nest or the wrong birds or, perhaps, there were no convenient holes in a tree and a nest was second best. I suppose I'll never know for sure.