Recently, hornbills have been seen wandering near people’s homes, sometimes even making themselves at home.
On Sunday (4 Apr), a man shared a video of a hungry hornbill in Facebook group Singapore Wildlife Sightings, depicting the predator helping itself to a resident’s pet bird.
The hornbill had jumped onto one of the cages and dragged a bird out before feasting on it.
This incident appears to have happened at an HDB estate.
The roughly 1.5-min footage starts off with the hornbill leaping off another bird cage.
It then lands on the ledge, looking curiously around as if pondering its next move.
At least 4 bird cages were seen hanging outside what appears to be a HDB flat, surrounding the hornbill.
Then, the bird in the leftmost cage seems to have caught its eye.
The hornbill then leapt onto the cage.
Then, in a swift motion, the hornbill pulled the pet bird out of the cage through the grilles.
A flurry of feathers was seen as the helpless bird flapped uncontrollably, trying its best to break free from the hornbill’s strong grasp.
The bird’s loud and frightened chirps could also be heard in the video.
While the bird tried valiantly to escape, within less than a minute, it went limp as the hornbill chomped down on it.
As this was going on, the person recording the video can be heard asking where the bird owner was.
While such incidents may be jarring and difficult for us to watch, it is all part of the circle of life.
After all, hornbills are omnivorous creatures who eat fruits but also insects and small animals. This is also not the first time hornbills have preyed on caged birds at an HDB estate.
So if you are a bird owner, do remember to keep your pet birds safely indoors, especially if you have hornbills in your area.
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Featured images adapted from Facebook.
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