Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Singapore Hornbill Project

I visited Singapore Botanic Gardens on 16-Jan for the Singapore Hornbill Project documentary screening. The documentary was really interesting and had captivated my attention, it is about the hornbill conservation project to re-introduce the native Oriental Pied Hornbill back to the forest of Singapore, especially the Pulau Ubin and forest reserves. 

The documentary has shown that the researchers, passionate citizen scientists, bird lovers and sponsors have done a marvelous accomplishment to bring back these fascinating birds to Singapore's forest.

Here is the description of the project and the documentary:
"Singapore Hornbill Project - Return of the King" is about the endeavour of a team of dedicated researchers, passionate citizen scientists, bird lovers and like-minded sponsors who spent more than 6 years studying the ecology and breeding behaviour of the Oriental Pied Hornbill. This hornbill was thought to be extinct in Singapore as it had not been seen for more than 150 years but it was rediscovered in 1994. From a single individual, the population of the Oriental Pied Hornbill in Singapore has now increased to more than 50, mainly due to the research team's efforts in providing suitable artificial nest boxes and improving the habitats for the birds to breed. This 40-minute documentary feature is a work of passion, which highlights the trials and tribulations of past years of research work to bring the King of the forest back to Singapore."

You can watch the introductory video in Youtube about this hornbill project here:


Besides the Oriental Pied Hornbill, there were three other hornbill species formerly recorded in Singapore, the Rhinoceros HornbillHelmeted Hornbill and Wrinkled Hornbill. I wish one day all these species will return to the forests of Singapore. Check out this LINK to find out more about the Singapore Hornbill Project.





Oriental Pied Hornbill, at the Gazebo in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.


Click on this LINK to learn more about the Hornbills in the Peninsular Malaysia, by Malaysian Nature Society. Last but not least, a must watch documentary about Saving the Hornbill by Pilai Poonswad from Thailand:

6 comments:

  1. Excellent that their project is now on video for the world to see. Hope this inspires other countries with hornbills to do more for these threatened birds.

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  2. Those are sensational efforts by our neighbour, Thailand and Singapore, in bringing back the "King".
    Buddy, any documentary video by Malaysian or the hornbill couple we know?
    Thanks for sharing. Hope i have the chance to meet Pilai Poonswad. Please help to find out her location and we go there this year. Seems more interesting than our annual trip to Temengor. :)

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  3. Hi Aerden, we have to understand our own problem, Pilai's project and Singapore hornbill project are the effort of dedicated researchers from university and national park, passionate citizen scientist, bird lovers, volunteers and sponsors.

    We have many passionate and dedicated MNS members in the Belum-Temengor Hornbill Program, and this ia an initiative by MNS, but unfortunately the support from the authority, university and private are very poor. So, sadly to know that.

    why we do not have a dedicated researcher/expertise from the university or government agency, I'm not willing to comment here, you should know as a Malaysian.

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  4. we should read the latest January issue of National Geographic Magazine about the wildlife trafficking in Malaysia, you will know how corrupted the gomen department (hope you understand what is gomen).

    Our forest is rich with many fauna and flora, and they are not well protected and being abused, many forest have been cleared and replaced by oil palm and valuable wood. what can we do, I have no idea, feel hopeless? what we can maybe is to support the "Stop, Protect, Manage and Reduce".

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  5. BIRDS NEED HELP TOO !

    Here in MitcHELL County, Kansas almost no one seems to care if our songbirds are frightened and fly away whenever a vehicle with a noisy muffler or boombox speeds by. As soon as the noisy lowlifes can be heard approaching while blocks away, I tell my neighbor that we're hearing the mating calls of the (unfortunately not endangered) MitcHELL County "horny birds"! But it really isn't funny and we've noticed that it's basically the ugliest kids who are the noisiest - the only way they can attract flighty females. Let's hear no more talk about "Kansas values"! Would love to hear some reactions to this. Almost desperate, Karl (in Karl's Kastle)

    [Above web bit was lately seen by me]

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  6. Very informative post!! Thanks for sharing. It's always a pleasure to walk the gardens. New ideas, new attractions. Ever changing but nothing like the old gardens. gazebo singapore

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