Wittingly or not, this hornbill also naturally grew into a super-effective job as ambassador to the area, welcoming tourists and visitors by virtue of being so photogenic:
As it turns out, there are actually two hornbills living in the area.
Kalai Vanan, Deputy Chief Executive of ACRES, told Mothership.sg it's possible they've been nesting in that vicinity.
"Thanks to previous attempts to increase their population through conservation efforts, we now get to see these beautiful animals up close in urban areas," he added.
The Oriental Pied Hornbill disappeared from Singapore in the mid-1800s, possibly due to poaching and habitat loss. Poaching of hornbills for their casques is still rampant around the world with some species driven to near-extinction.
A pair was first sighted on Pulau Ubin later in 1994, and since then, the population of Oriental Pied Hornbills in the wild revived from a few individuals at Pulau Ubin to over 100 of them across mainland Singapore, such as this pair at Mackenzie Road.
The Oriental Pied Hornbills are important seed dispersers, which can eat and disperse bigger seeds that smaller birds cannot. They are omnivores that eat mainly fruit, but also insects and small animals -- so it's no surprise that they would be interested in the occasional Old Chang Kee too.
That said, let's try not to turn this into a macaque situation -- feeding hornbills with human food (or at all, actually) will reduce their natural fear of humans, develop a dangerous reliance on humans feeding them. At worst, it could degenerate into this:
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So folks, feel free to admire our hornbill friends as you please. Just don't feed them.
March 12, 2017, 01:17 PM 
Photo Courtesy of Kirby Ocastro
Photo Courtesy of Kirby Ocastro
Photo Courtesy of Kirby Ocastro
Photo Courtesy of Lirene Bay