Save Temengor Forest, Save the Hornbills.

Watch this video before you continue:

SAVE TEMENGOR FOREST, SAVE THE HORNBILLS. 

This is my personal experience and true story about the Temengor Forest and its bird life:

I was in Temengor for the MNS Hornbill Volunteer Program in 2008 and 2009.

In 2009, the species of hornbills that I spotted were only the Plain-pouched Hornbills and Oriental Pied Hornbills, plus the call of the Black Horbill. The count for the Plain-pouched Hornbills in 2009 was drastically dropped to less than 50.

In 2008, I spotted six species of hornbills, namely the Rhinoceros, Great, Oriental Pied, Black and Bushy Crested, and thousand over of Plain-pouched Hornbills.

Why the hornbill count has drastically dropped in 2009? could it be the climate changed? disturbed by human activities? or roosting habitat was disturbed by logging activities? Nobody knows the answer, I guess.

Howeveer, I noticed that the logging ferries were actively transporting logs out from the forest during the Merdeka (Independent) holiday last year (see picture below). I wonder why there was no holiday for logging workers? Patriotic!

Today, the logging activities in Temengor are still active, or maybe worst.


Nevertheless, the active logging activities in Temengor are obviously affecting the ecology and the water source in the Temengor lake, where the beautiful river has turned into a muddy river, see the picture below which was taken from the Orang Asli viallage at Kampung Tebang in 2009. Eventually, the active logging activities will then affect the life of the Orang Asli and the prestine environment as well.


Mou Ngan Tai lah.. translated to English is No Eyes To See.

Here are the pictures of hormbills and raptors which I digiscoped and bird calls that I recorded during my 2009 hornbill volunteer program in Temengor, hope you like it and appreciate the beauty of Temengor Forest:

Plain-pouched Hornbills (Aceros subbruficolis) :

Let's listen to the call of the Plain-pouched Hornbill :



Oriental Pied Hornbills (Antharacoceros albirostris) :

A pair of Oriental Pied Hornbills, male (left) and female (right):

Hornbills' food sources, figs:

Mayfly, one of thier food sources:
Besides the hornbills, I also encountered four elegant species of raptors in Temengor, namely the Black-thighed Falconet, Lesser Fish-eagle, Grey-headed Fish-eagle, and White-bellied Sea-eagle.

My old friend, which perched on the same tree as in 2008 and 2009 at the Orang Asli kampung. The Black-thighed Falconet (Microhierax fringillarius), the smallest raptor on earth.


Lesser Fish-eagle (Ichthyophaga humilis), "Near Threatened" species :

Grey-headed Fish-eagle (Ichthyophaga ichthyaetus), "Near Threatened" species. Digiscoped from the boat :

White-bellied Sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster):

Great Slaty Woodpecker in Temengor Forest Reserve:

and its recorded call:

Thus, will the wild birds survive or will their calls still be heard if the logging activities are still active in Temengor Forest?   if you strongly believe they will not, or if you think they should be protected and the forest should be reserved, then please CLICK HERE and sign your petition.


Visit these links for more story about Temengor:
Pictures of Orang Asli in Temengor, photographed by me
Temengor, the Land of Hornbill