Mark of the Oriental Pied Hornbill on the papaya fruit
Posted by BESG on 7 November 08, Friday
Contributed by Tan Teo Seng & YC
Tan Teo Seng recently sent me a few papaya (Carica papays) fruits from his farm in Kota Tinggi in Johor, Malaysia. He observed the Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) at various times trying to eat them. However, as the fruits were just beginning to ripen and not soft enough for the bill to penetrate, the bird simply left its mark on the skin.
The image above shows a characteristic, incomplete “teardrop” mark on the fruit. The bird must have returned days later but would find the fruit gone, sent to Singapore for consumption.
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Categories: Feeding strategy, Feeding-plants, Hornbills
Pingback by Bird Ecology Study Group » Oriental Pied Hornbill eating soursop fruit
Made Wednesday, 11 of March , 2009 at 10:27 am
[...] hornbills to the papaya (Carica papaya). The birds always visit the about-to-ripe fruits and make marks on the skin but when the papaya ripens, Teo Seng always beat them to it. . [...]
Pingback by Bird Ecology Study Group » Oriental Pied Hornbill and papaya
Made Friday, 25 of December , 2009 at 12:29 pm
[...] with the sharp points of their massive mandibles. In the process the birds leave characteristic markings on the yet-to-ripen fruit surface (below [...]
