Eight hornbill species share the Danum canopy, and photographing them is really eight different problems. Here's how they break down, roughly easiest to hardest, with the settings and positions that actually work from the canopy walkway and the Study Centre tower.

The gimmes: pied and bushy-crested

The oriental pied and bushy-crested hornbills are your warm-up. Both are common, both come to forest edges, and the bushy-crested's habit of moving in noisy groups gives you multiple birds and second chances. Use them to dial in your exposure for a black bird against bright sky — meter for the highlights, then lift the shadows in post, or you'll blow the background chasing the plumage.

The flagship: rhinoceros hornbill

The rhinoceros hornbill is the portrait everyone wants, and the walkway at first light is where you get it. The trick is the flight shot: the species can't fly quietly, so you get about two seconds of that rushing wing-sound as warning. Pre-focus on a likely flight line, shoot in burst, and accept a low hit rate. Side light at 6.30am on the casque is worth the 5am alarm.

The nomads: wreathed and wrinkled

The wreathed and the scarcer wrinkled hornbill follow fruit, so your best plan is to ask which trees are fruiting and station yourself there. A long lens on a beanbag over the tower rail beats hand-holding for the static crown shots these give you.

The grail: helmeted, plus black and white-crowned

The helmeted hornbill is the hard one — uncommon, shy, and often just a long-tailed silhouette crossing high. Photograph the call as much as the bird: learn the accelerating laugh, and you'll be looking in the right place. The black and white-crowned hornbills round out the eight and reward the patient; species pages for those are coming in the next batch.

Kit and craft

Bring more cards and batteries than you think — there's limited charging and no camera shop for a hundred kilometres — and manage the humidity religiously: silica gel in every bag, and let lenses acclimatise before a dawn shoot or you'll spend the golden hour wiping fog. For a fully flexible, guide-led shooting schedule, the private Danum Intensive is built for exactly this.