Rhinoceros Hornbill - Buceros rhinoceros
Big birds need big trees and often very big nesting holes which is why you won't find a bird like this in a local park. These birds require "extensive areas of primary green rainforest". Weighing in at up to 3 kg for a female with a body length of 90 cm this has to rank as one of the most fabulous birds I have ever seen. My unicorn from the trip. "Trip" seems a bit of a weak word. This was a journey. We will leave the trips for the seaside.
So I spent an hour or so after dinner sitting and chatting with my guide, Matte. The plan for the next day was to meet at 7 am and to take a short boat trip up river to be dropped at the head of a jungle trail. The plan was then to spend 3 or 4 hours in the forest and to get "tuned" in and see what was about. Go on foot, carry my kit in and set up and get some first bird shots. I couldn't wait. Overexcited I had a Moth "Partee" - more on Moth "Partees" in another post. Nightime madness.
It was humid, foggy, and worse still I was having real issues with my camera - I began worrying that the the camera body had somehow become filled with condensation. There was a slight blur on the edge of everything. I discovered later after switching camera bodies that I had knocked a focus button. The numbers of times I have got into situations in the "bush" and then faced some technical issue. Buttons knocked, cards dropped, batteries flat. I was also packing some extra equipment - a directed flash and had been fussing about that half the night ! Everything I have read had taught me that taking shots in the rainforest was more like taking a picture of your dog in your kitchen at 5 am. with the roller blind closed. Flashes use a lot of battery power - the camera kit had expanded to industrial quantities of rechargeable, rechargers etc. It is now taking an hour to pack and checklist to pop out for a little "trip".
So on the boat chugged with me fussing over buttons and wiping lenses and generally getting worked up about seeing a Pitta and not being able to get the shot. I needn't have worried on the pitta front. They don't exist for me.
We were dropped on the banks of the river and then climbed up some dodgy log steps to enter into the forest- we soon swallowed up by the canopy and I can only describe it as another world. Towering trees, a path about a meter wide, wet, soil consisting of rotten leaves, thick steaming air and bouncing around at indiscriminate distances, heights, ranges and levels of clarity the birds. `You could not see horizontally more than say 3-5 yards at times due to the dense foliage. It was gloomy, it was hot - but it was a cacophony at birds at times. Other times eerily silent. Western man cannot survive in the rainforest. It is designed to wipe him out... for me in one morning.
We trudged around that jungle trail for a long morning. I climbed over tree buttresses, got caught on spiky rattan, sweated, cursed fiddled and faffed with my camera. Strained my eyes into the gloom - what was better ? My steamed up glasses or my short sighted naked eyes. I discovered the joys of spiced coconut oil as an insect repellant and coolant. I missed seeing the deer that Matte spotted. I caught sight of the odd bird like shape but pretty much that was it. I learned a lot though - about my complete unfitness for trekking in the rainforest. My shirt was utterly drenched, underwear a giant sponge, the seat of my trousers covered in mud and sweat from slipping. My monopod started to bite into my shoulder. I could not to seem to find my footing, any technique of comfort for walking or carrying my gear - I couldn't find even a rhythm for breathing let alone operate my camera. "Working" in the rainforest with just a simple rig and lenses, flash and so on - nearly impossible. I had absolutely bitten off more than I could chew. I applied my common sense, brute strength, what was left of my intelligence, reason, even tried to charm and talk to the jungle - it was having none of it. It just beat me and my kit into submission.
The fact that Matte was hacking at times let me know that we were on a little trodden path. It was a good trail apparently for birds as since a cave had closed due to a ceiling collapse earlier in the year there was no point to it for the ordinary trekker.
In 4 hours the net result of my labors that isn't blurred, rubbish and actually contains something that is discernible as a bird is below - I haven't even dared to try to identify this yet - almost a year later. In case I cannot and the net result of that 4 hours of pain, sweat and oh so English reassurances to Matte that "I'm fine, just a minute and then I will catch my breadth" was a blank. It wasn't in the end - we had a great little trip back on the boat that turned up a gem.
The net result of the 4 hour schlep was that I saw 1 bird properly in 4 hours on foot followed by 10 minutes on a boat back (they call them in by mobile phone) where I then saw perhaps 30 birds. It was clear that a change of tactics was required. I decided that I wasn't cut out for the deep jungle and that I would literally kit myself up with a whole boat crew and cruise up and down the tributaries doing what Matte called "float downs" and using the boat as a photographic hide.
Before you lose faith in me it had been explained that I was in advance of the fig fruiting season so finding birds and getting decent shots in the jungle itself would prove pretty tough. There were plenty of easier trails to walk around closer to the camp and for the deeper jungle I could use the rivers and just focus on the photography rather than hauling myself through the bush. It turned out to be a good decision. Life changed after lunch ! A lovely lunch I might add as I became aware of the various boil like bites I had picked up that morning.
I would be giving up on the chance of seeing birds like e.g. Great Argus and Gurneys Pitta but I had heard the former a long way off and could not imagine how you would get to a Pitta even if it was just 30 yards off the trail ? I have read a book the Jewel Hunter on Pittas also by Chris Goodie which had been my inspiration for visiting Taman and he would merrily speak about "going in". Going off the trail and then just setting up in a bush surrounded by snakes and creepy crawlies and staking out calling birds. No way ! Not yet - not without a lot more rainforest birding under my belt. I was going to throw an engine and a whole dug out log at the issue - chuck cash at the problem as I always do. I was crewing up.
So in the afternoon after a delicious lunch (food I think another time) we started our new tactic of "drifting down".
The technique was to cruise up a tributary to the main river and then turn the boat around and turn its engine off and literally just drift down. It is the most peaceful and fantastic way to see the rainforest. "Margins" of habitat are always good places for birds. They provide a road for easy flight, opportunities to project song and for feeding - and you just see more. The bulk of my rainforest birds resulted from "drifting". I got some superb shots that will form the backbone of my posts from Taman Negarra. I felt like a fraud at first but then I thought "No" - actually you tried it - the jungle schlepping with all the kit and it didn't work. You can soldier on or you can change tactic and get what you came for - not heat exhaustion and a broken limb when you fall down a slope but photos for the task. The other point I failed to mention is that the jungle is hilly ! Plus I was kitted out in leech socks and it was permanently wet. I fear leeches - I had been lucky so far. My fear of the jungle overtook over lunch. It was time for a nice comfy boat with a crew of 3 and a supply of biscuits and cool drinks. Thats more like it.
So off we drifted - I will show some more shots of the river scenery in a different post. Lets focus on the prizes.
My middle aged wisdom soon paid off. A pair of calling Rhinoceros Hornbills. This is the female.
Soon joined by the male. You can see the greater recurve on the casque above the bill - nobody knows what the casque is for. The orange and red color is from a preen gland - it must be the result of mutual preening - the birds rubbing each others bills - let me help you with your rouge.
Finally I got a shot of them together. Absolutely stunning.
I have written about hornbills in my past postings, how they raise their young, habitat needs, and so on. If you want to dive into the world of hornbills and marvel at some diversity the original Daily Bird pre-techno crash has some good postings on the Malabar Pied , Indian Grey, Southern Ground, Von Der Decken's, African Grey , Red-billed , and Crowned. This is the thing I love most about the Task. Three continents and five different journeys to capture photographs of 8 Hornbill Species. There are 62 species of Bucerotidae. I have a hornbill collection in my heart which stretches from Ruaha across the Serengetti the Western Ghat mountains in India and down through Sri Lanka and then out and across the ocean to Peninsula Malaysia. All mine.
This is is the first time I have really seen a pair together and certainly the longest I have travelled on my own to get a shot. I can still remember the elation - I have a short film which I will need to edit down in order to post up. Love these shots. A top moment.
Rhinoceros Hornbill, Buceros rhinoceros
Taman Negara National Park, Peninsula Malaysia
June 2016
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