Wreathed Hornbill (male) - Rhyticeros undulatus

Mike lives in Phuket, Thailand and is a die hard bird photographer. Mike restrics his photography to Thai birds and wild birds only. The photo of Wreathed Hornbill was taken near Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand.

Mike explained his choice for wild birds only: " I never shoot captive birds/zoo creatures/birds in birdparks/aviaries/etc. since I consider such shots not to be "sporting". Having said that, the Wreathed Hornbill is fed daily by a bird lover and is not therefore a true wild bird - he is of course free to go wherever he pleases but he tends to turn up at meal times. :)"

The Wreathed Hornbill lives in the tropical forests of Asia. Its range extends from North-east India and Myanmar to South-east Asia to the greater Sundas and Bali. It eats fruit, insects, and small animals.

Like all hornbill species, the incubating females are usually sealed into tree hole nests with mud, leaving only a small opening, through which food is passed by the male. When the young are hatched the female breaks out but reseals the nest entrance again until the young are ready to leave.

The species is evaluated as Least Concern by the IUCN.

Mike used a tripod to take this photo. It was with a Canon EOS 1Ds MkIII and a Canon 500mm f:4 lens. Here's the exif data. As you can see on Mike's photostream, he has licenced all his photos under a ' Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works'  licence. You can read more about Mike in his Flickr profile.

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