Distribution of Hornbills and Important Hornbill Landscapes - Setting Site Conservation Priorities for Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia is an important hornbill range country in Asia supporting a total of 10 hornbill species. Malaysia ranks second (collectively with Myanmar and the Philippines) after Thailand and Indonesia (both 13 species respectively) in terms of hornbill diversity per country. Within Malaysia, all 10 species has been recorded in Peninsular Malaysia whereas Sabah and Sarawak have 8 species each. The Great Hornbill Buceros bicornis and Plain-pouched Hornbill Rhyticeros subruficollis do not occur in Borneo. Despite being iconic tropical forest birds, our understanding of its local distribution status, ecology and biology remains limited. In this paper, we conducted a broad examination of the hornbills’ distribution in Peninsular Malaysia based on more recent information gleaned mostly from grey literature e.g. birding trip reports, scientific expedition reports, department annual reports, selected Facebook birding group postings, proceedings, bird databases (MNS Bird-I-Witness) etc. Information from primary literature e.g. local/regional journals were also taken into account where available. The purpose of this exercise is two-fold, (1) to update our knowledge post-Wells (1999) about hornbill distributions in Peninsular Malaysia in light of continuing deforestation and habitat degradation and (2) identify Important Hornbill Landscapes (IHL) in need of protection and conservation to preserve viable hornbill populations.