Red-billed hornbill

Red-billed hornbill
A female northern red-billed hornbill in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya
Call of a northern red-billed hornbill
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Bucerotiformes
Family:	Bucerotidae
Subfamily:	Bucerotinae
Genus:	Tockus sp.

T. rufirostris

The red-billed hornbills are a group of hornbills found in savanna and woodland of sub-Saharan Africa. They are now usually split into five species, the northern red-billed hornbill (T. erythrorhynchus), western red-billed hornbill (T. kempi), Tanzanian red-billed hornbill (T. ruahae), southern red-billed hornbill (T. rufirostris) and Damara red-billed hornbill (T. damarensis), but some authorities considered them all to be subspecies of a single species.

The northern red-billed hornbill has a black stripe on the back of its head, reddish ocular skin and dark eyes.

T. damarensis, illustration by Keulemans, 1892

T. kempi is the only species with both dark eyes and blackish ocular skin

At a nest in Gambia

Description

This group of conspicuous birds have mainly whitish underparts and head, grey upperparts, long tails, and a long and curved red bill which lacks a casque. The sexes are similar, but the female has a smaller bill. They are generally large, at 42 centimetres (17 in) long, but the entire group is considered as one of the smaller hornbills.

Behaviour

Breeding

During incubation, the female lays three to six white eggs in a tree hole, which is blocked off with a plaster of mud, droppings and fruit pulp. There is only one narrow aperture, just big enough for the male to transfer food to the mother and the chicks. When the chicks and the female are too big for the nest, the mother breaks out and rebuilds the wall. Then both parents feed the chicks.

Nesting

The female red-billed hornbill takes precaution against intruders by building a wall across the opening of their nest. They then seal themselves in and bring up their chicks in a 'prison'.

Feeding

They are omnivorous, taking insects, fruit and seeds. They feed mainly on the ground and will form flocks outside the breeding season.

References

• BirdLife International (2004). "Tockus erythrorhynchus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2006. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 11 May 2006.  Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• Birds of The Gambia by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, ISBN 1-873403-32-1

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tockus erythrorhynchus.

• Red-billed Hornbill videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
• Red-billed hornbill - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.