Singapore — A Pasir Ris family has had another hornbill visit — this time by two of the birds, prompting a family member to take to social media to share the “cool” but “sh*tty” experience.
Facebook user Ho Xiang Tian documented the encounter with the tropical birds in a post uploaded on Friday (Dec 18).
“Depending on your level of comfort with nature, having hornbills come to your house would be the coolest thing possible or a horrifying experience,” he said. It appears that he thought it would be the former when the hornbills flew into his flat on Thursday (Dec 17).
“But having experienced it now, I will say it’s a sh*tty experience. Literally sh*tty because they sh*t all over the place the moment they come in,” said Mr Ho.
The story with the hornbills began a few weeks ago when a family member spotted one perched on their laundry pole.
“At that time, I wondered why it came.” Mr Ho said they lived on the 10th floor and it was the first time they saw the bird come up so high.
On Thursday, the hornbills entered through the main door. “It was such a bizarre and unexpected sight that I froze for a moment,” he said.
The first hornbill flew to a corner and landed on a bookshelf. It stayed there for about 45 minutes.
The second hornbill “did a quick sweep of the house and shat all over the place, then attempted to fly out the closed windows”. It eventually exited through the main door.
Mr Ho’s family attempted to guide the other hornbill out of the flat through the windows in a safe manner. He also contacted Acres (Animal Concerns Research & Education Society) for assistance but it said it was overwhelmed with calls. “They did wish us luck, though,” he added.
Before flying out of the flat, the remaining hornbill had switched positions to do its business. “Business done, it perched there and also tried to stick an inquisitive head into the storeroom. Here we got a bit lucky because it didn’t poop on the digital devices on the chair at that time,” said Mr Ho.
“The uninvited guest might be gone, but it left gifts for us! There was sh*t everywhere. There’s no other way to say this, but there was sh*t everywhere.” The family spent the evening cleaning the flat. “But I think a tinge of sh*t smell still hangs over the living room.”
At the end of the post, Mr Ho highlighted a few thoughts on the visit.
“Why did it come in? We’ll never know unless a hornbill whisperer can tell us. My parents suspect it has to do with what is happening across the road, where a huge swath of forest has been cut down for BTOs. Humans take their home; they take ours. I don’t actually think bird brains think like that, but there’s no arguing with the owners of the flat who had their home taken over by a hornbill for 90 minutes.” /TISG
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