Oriental Pied-hornbill at Changi Village

Changi Village is one of the easily accessible places that we can see the Oriental Pied-hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) in Singapore. Recently, I was there to place an order for chocolate cake (yummy...), and saw a few of them.


I was crossing the road when I spotted this Oriental Pied-hornbill flying towards a rain tree and eventually landed on a branch.


Soon, others joined it, and I counted at least 4 of them - they were flying and hoping around, and it was a little difficult to count properly. I suspect there were about 5 or 6 actually.


One of the females had a rather fluffy "hair-style" - not sure if it was a juvenile or what. The females lack the protruding "horn" on top of their beaks which the males possess.


Here's a male Oriental Pied-hornbill with the protruding "horn".


The Oriental Pied-hornbill were believed to have gone extinct in the early 1900s in Singapore, and were thought to have flown over from Johor to settle down on Pulau Ubin in the 1990s. Breeding was first recorded in 1997 on Pulau Ubin, and since then, several of them have flown over to settle down in Changi.