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World renowned hornbill expert from Thailand, Professor Dr Pilai
Poonswad of Mahidol University and the Hornbill Research Foundation
(HRF), has expressed her concern for the lack of information on the
breeding cycles of hornbills in Sabah.
“I have visited Sabah before briefly for the Borneo Bird Festival
last year but after visiting the Lower Kinabatangan to do a rapid
assessment of hornbills, I am now concerned in particular with the lack
of information on breeding cycles for the whole state and the lack of
suitable nesting trees in this area in particular,” shared Poonswad.
Poonswad and her team of three researchers spent a week with
local counterparts at field sites of the Lower Kinabatangan with the
Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), HUTAN — Kinabatangan Orang-utan
Conservation Programme (HUTAN-KOCP) and the Danau Girang Field Centre
(DGFC).
“The first thing that needs to be done is to establish when are
the different species of hornbills breeding,” stated Poonswad who has
spent the past 33 years studying and carrying out community based
conservation of hornbills in Thailand.
During the teams’ rapid assessment in the Lower Kinabatangan,
another issue that has caused concern for Poonswad and her researchers
is the lack of suitable nesting trees.
“I understand that the Lower Kinabatangan is a forest that has
previously been extensively logged and I can clearly see it is also now
part of the oil palm landscape. This means that big trees which are
usually preferred by hornbills are missing from this area,” explained
Poonswad.
For example, in a similar site in Southern Thailand, Rhinoceros
Hornbills (Buceros rhinoceros) on average makes its nest in trees that
have a diameter of about 148 centimetres but in the Lower Kinabatangan,
Poonswad estimated that trees that might be suitable were mostly between
40 to 60 centimetres in diameter.
“Talking to our counterparts, we know that the Rhinoceros
Hornbills are seen along the Lower Kinabatangan, even in flocks but this
doesn’t mean they are nesting here. They could be seen during
non-breeding cycles, which is why it is important to establish the basic
information of breeding cycles,” said Poonswad.
As part of their work, HRF also ensures that there are adequate
nesting sites before the breeding cycle that varies between the
different species of hornbills.
“We will repair natural nesting sites when needed and put up
artificial sites where they are no natural options to nest,” said
Poonswad.
While her team had not planned to do either during their rapid
assessment, they scrambled materials to repair one nesting site in DGFC
and to build another outside their homestay in Sukau because of their
concern for a pair of Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris)
they saw daily.
“The dedication and passion of the HRF is extraordinary and I am
grateful that they made the time to come down to the Lower Kinabatangan
to do this much needed rapid assessment even though it clashed with the
beginning of the hornbill season in Thailand,” said Dr Marc Ancrenaz,
scientific director of HUTAN-KOCP.
HUTAN — KOCP has been investigating the hornbill situation in the
Lower Kinabatangan with survey interviews of local communities from
2009 to 2010 before presenting their findings last year.
“Through interview surveys, the local community also specified
that the loss of big trees over the past generation as the cause of
decline of hornbill nesting sites and this is an issue we have to
address if we want to see all eight species in the Lower Kinabatangan in
the long term,” said Ancrenaz.
