Hornbills in Sepilok, Sabah.

There are eight species of hornbills in Sabah, but I only spotted four species in Sepilok, they are the Rhinoceros, Oriental Pied, Black and Bushy-crested. The Oriental Pied and Black Hornbills are the most common in Sepilok, you can even see it at the Sepilok B&B.

The Oriental Pied Hornbill is the most common hornbill in South-east Asia, you can find it in Borneo, Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand. Singapore has successfully re-introduced the Oriental Pied Hornbills, check out HERE to find out more.

The male Oriental Pied Hornbill

A juvenile Oriental Pied Hornbill

The juvenile Oriental Pied Hornbill with its parents

The Black Hornbill, is also one of the common hornbills in Sepilok, it is very easy to distinguish them by their call, its call is very similar to the motorbike engine sound. Black Hornbill is very interesting hornbill, it has two variants, with and without the white strip over the eyes to nape.

The male Black Hornbill without white strip over the eyes to nape:

The male variant, with white strip over the eyes to nape:

The female Black Hornbill without white strip over the eyes to nape:

The female variant, with white strip over the eyes to nape:

Bushy Crested Hornbill is not so common in Sepilok. I saw it once, there were three of them foraging food on the canopy. They are the only hornbill with no white in plumage.

The male Bushy Crested Hornbill

The female Bushy Crested Hornbill

The last species of hornbill I spotted was the male Rhinoceros Hornbill. This species of hornbill is always by itself, and is a shy hornbill. Here is the picture of the hornbill:

Rhinoceros Hornbill

Click HERE if you would like to go back to the main blog of Birding in Sandakan, Sabah.