oriental pied-hornbills @ SBWR

It was about 5pm when an oriental pied-hornbill flew to a tree near the SBWR main bridge with something in its mouth. The snack looked like a small tree climbing crab. The bird flew across to a perch on a dead tree at the far side of the main bridge where it seemed to be looking into a hollow in the tree as if it wanted to store the crab in the hollow. The hornbill was soon joined by another smaller hornbill. This one had a reddish spot on both sides of the lower corner of its bill closer to its mouth and the front of its horn was noticeably darker than that of the larger bird. The smaller bird immediately took the crab from the bill of the larger bird and eyed it for a microsecond before giving it back to the larger bird which re-positioned the crab in its bill before passing it back to the smaller bird. However, the smaller bird did not want it and returned it to the larger bird which seemed to finally swallow the crab.

The two birds then hacked way at the wood on the dead tree chipping up bits off and swallowing some of it. The birds flew off after a while but came back to different but adjacent trees. The smaller bird continued to chip way at the dead tree eating bits of the decaying wood. Perhaps the wood helps digestion by absorbing harmful substances in their guts to be passed out later.

Read more about the oriental pied-hornbill here :
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/birds/albirostris.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_Pied_Hornbill
http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2009/01/intelligent-nests-for-pied-hornbills-in.html
http://besgroup.talfrynature.com/index.php?s=Anthracoceros+albirostris
http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/ecolodge/58/oph/nesting.html
http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.com/2011/05/oriental-pied-hornbills-sbwr-30apr2011_04.html
http://sgbeachbum.blogspot.com/2011/07/oriental-pied-hornbill-chek-jawa.html