Silvery-cheeked hornbill | |
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Male (left) and female (right) Amora Gedel Park, Awassa, Ethiopia | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Bucerotiformes |
Family: | Bucerotidae |
Genus: | Bycanistes |
Species: | B. brevis |
Binomial name | |
Bycanistes brevis Friedmann, 1929 | |
Synonyms | |
Ceratogymna brevis |
The silvery-cheeked hornbill (Bycanistes brevis) is a large species of hornbill found in Africa. Silvery-cheeked hornbills are residents of the tall evergreen forests of East Africa from Ethiopia to South Africa. In Zimbabwe it is threatened by habitat destruction and its presence in South Africa is marginal, but it remains locally fairly common, especially in the northern and central parts of its range.
It measures 75 to 80 centimetres (30 to 31 in) in length, and has a very large cream-colored casque on the beak. The head is silver-grey and the rest of the plumage is iridescent black, except for the white rump, lower back, thighs, vent and tip of the outer tail-feathers. The sexes are similar except the female has a smaller casque and reddish skin around the eyes.
It is omnivorous, feeding on fruits, insects, small birds, rodents, small reptiles and centipedes.
Usually they live in pairs and sometimes roost in flocks of hundreds of individuals. They breed in spring (September and October; at least in part of its range) and lay clutches of one to three white eggs, incubated for 40 days. The young remain with both parents for about 80 days.
Hornbills are birds found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia of the family Bucerotidae. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a horny casque on the upper mandible. Hornbills have a two-lobed kidney. They are the only birds in which the first and second neck vertebrae are fused together; this probably provides a more stable platform for carrying the bill. The family is omnivorous, feeding on fruit and small animals. They are monogamous breeders nesting in natural cavities in trees and sometimes cliffs. A number of mainly insular species of hornbill with small ranges are threatened with extinction, namely in Southeast Asia.
The African grey hornbill is a member of the hornbill family of mainly tropical near-passerine birds found in the Old World. It is a widespread resident breeder in much of sub-Saharan Africa and the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula. The African grey hornbill has escaped or been deliberately released into Florida, USA, but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and may only persist due to continuing releases or escapes.
The Congo pied hornbill or African pied hornbill is a bird of the hornbill family, a family of tropical near-passerine birds found in the Old World.
The Malabar gray hornbill is a hornbill endemic to the Western Ghats and associated hills of southern India. They have a large beak but lack the casque that is prominent in some other hornbill species. They are found mainly in dense forest and around rubber, arecanut or coffee plantations. They move around in pairs or small groups, feeding on figs and other forest fruits. Their loud cackling and laughing call makes them familiar to people living in the region.
The crowned hornbill is an African hornbill.
The wrinkled hornbill or Sunda wrinkled hornbill is a medium-large hornbill which is found in forest in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo.
The helmeted hornbill is a very large bird in the hornbill family. It is found on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Thailand and Myanmar. The casque accounts for some 11% of its 3 kg weight. Unlike any other hornbill, the casque is almost solid, and is used in head-to-head combat among males. It is a belief among the Punan Bah that a large helmeted hornbill guards the river between life and death.
The trumpeter hornbill is a medium-sized hornbill, with length between 58 and 65 cm, characterized by a large grey casque on the bill, smaller in females. The eyes are brown or red, with pink surrounding skin. Body mass is between 0.45 and 1 kg. It is similar to silvery-cheeked hornbill. Distinguishing features include an all-black back, white belly and white underwing coverts, and red facial skin.
The Abyssinian ground hornbill or northern ground hornbill is an African bird, found north of the equator, and is one of two species of ground hornbill. It is the second largest species of African hornbill, only surpassed by the slightly larger southern ground hornbill.
The great hornbill, also known as the concave-casqued hornbill, great Indian hornbill or great pied hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family. It occurs in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is predominantly frugivorous, but also preys on small mammals, reptiles and birds. It has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2018. It is known to have lived for nearly 50 years in captivity. Due to its large size and colour, it is important in many tribal cultures and rituals. The Government of Kerala declared it as the official Kerala state bird.
The wreathed hornbill is an Old World tropical bird of the hornbill family Bucerotidae, also called bar-pouched wreathed hornbill due to its distinctive blue-black band on its lower throat sac. It is named after its characteristic long, curved bill that develops ridges, or wreaths, on the casque of the upper mandible in adults. Males are black with a rufous crown, a white upper breast and face, and a yellow featherless throat. Females are uniformly black with a blue throat and are slightly smaller than males.
Bucerotiformes is an order of birds that contains the hornbills, ground hornbills, hoopoes and wood hoopoes. These birds were previously classified as members of Coraciiformes. The clade is distributed in Africa, Asia, Europe and Melanesia.
The black-and-white-casqued hornbill also known as the grey-cheeked hornbill, is a large black and white hornbill. It has an oversized blackish bill with a large casque on top. The female is slightly smaller than the male and has a significantly smaller casque. It is a monogamous species, and pairs nest in suitable tree cavities. The female usually lays up to two eggs. The diet consists mainly of figs, fruits, insects and small animals found in the trees.
The Palawan hornbill is a large forest bird endemic to the Philippines. It is one of the 11 endemic hornbills in the country. It is only found in Palawan and nearby islands of Balabac, Busuanga, Calauit, Culion and Coron. It is locally known as 'talusi' in the language Cuyunon, It is threatened by habitat loss, hunting and trapping for the cage-bird trade.
The knobbed hornbill, also known as Sulawesi wrinkled hornbill, is a colourful hornbill native to Indonesia. The species is sometimes placed in the genus Aceros. The knobbed hornbill is the faunal symbol of South Sulawesi province.
The white-crowned hornbill, also known as the long-crested hornbill or white-crested hornbill, is a species of hornbill.
The Sulu hornbill, or Montano's hornbill, is a species of hornbill in the family Bucerotidae. It is endemic to the Sulu archipelago in the Philippines, with the remaining populations in Tawi-Tawi with it believed to be hunted to extinction on Jolo. Its natural habitat is tropical moist forests. It is threatened by habitat loss as well as potential harvesting for food. Its diet includes fruit, insects, and small lizards.
The brown-cheeked hornbill is a species of hornbill in the family Bucerotidae. It is found in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Its natural habitats are tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, plantations, and secondary growth forests. It is threatened by habitat destruction, as timber is harvested and the forests become increasingly fragmented.
The piping hornbill is a bird in the hornbill family. This black-and-white species is found in humid forest and second growth in Central and West Africa, ranging from Senegal east to Uganda and south to Angola. At about 50 cm (20 in) in length, it is the smallest member of the genus Bycanistes.
The black-casqued hornbill or black-casqued wattled hornbill, is a species of hornbill in the family Bucerotidae. It is widely spread across the African tropical rainforest. The population is decreasing.