Hornbill - Bird of the Month: November 2012

[Toko]

What lovely Toko is this?

[Dewi]

Hiya Toko,

Von der Decken's Hornbill.

They have an association with Dwarf Mongoose where the birds will call down into termiroria in the mornings where the Mongooses sleep at night. If the Hornbills are late, the Mongooses wait for them to arrive before venturing out!

The Mongooses benefit from the Hornbills due to their increased vigilance against predators, while the Hornbills benefit from the Mongooses disturbing more insect and other prey items as they forage.

Great looking birds.

[Toko]

You are close to winning the Toko Award 2012, Dewi -O

Great info comming through


Von der Decken’s Hornbill

Habitat
Von der Decken’s hornbill is found across eastern Africa from central and eastern Tanzania, throughout Kenya, and into southeastern Ethiopia and Somalia. It favors the open bush and scrubby woodlands of the dry savanna and arid steppe.

Description
Height: 17-20 inches; Weight: 4-6 ounces
Females are smaller and lighter than the males. The Von der Decken’s hornbill has mainly white plumage on its body with black wings and a black tail. The male has a very distinctive red and ivory two-tone bill. The female has an entirely black bill. Neither the male nor the female have a casque on their bill, as do some other species of hornbill. A casque is a hollow outgrowth of the top of the mandible of the bill made of keratin.
A long bill allows the Von der Decken’s hornbill to forage and collect food items from branches they could not reach otherwise. Their short, broad, and rounded wings are efficient for short intervals of flight but not ideal for extended periods.
Lifespan: In the Wild about 10 years

Behaviors
Hornbills are diurnal birds, often roosting at regular sites in the outer branches of trees, or right against their trunks. At first light they often spend time preening and calling.
They are usually found in pairs feeding on the ground. Outside of the breeding season they often form in flocks.
The Von der Decken’s hornbill vocalizes using loud monotone calls, especially in the mornings.
Other behaviors they participate in are sunbathing, bathing in the rain, toying with sticks, tossing leaves or debris, bill wrestling, or jumping on or over each other.

Reproduction
Von der Decken’s hornbills are believed to breed as monogamous pairs (having only one mate at a time). They nest in tree cavities. The pair works together to partially close up the entrance with a mixture of mud, droppings, and food items such as fruit pulp until the female can barely fit through to enter the nest.
The male continues to seal her in, and she also assists from the inside using food and feces until only a narrow opening remains. The male is then completely responsible for feeding his mate and the upcomingchicks for the next 2 months. Clutch size is usually 2-3 white eggs, incubated for about 46 days. Each chick hatches about a day apart. During incubation, the female completely molts (sheds) her flight feathers and is unable to fly.
To prevent poor sanitation, the female cleans out the nest periodically to remove feces.
After about 3 months, the female and the chicks have grown too large for the nest and the female breaks out. She then rebuilds the seal and assists the male with feeding for the next 2 weeks until the chicks emerge.

Diet
Snails, mice, nestling birds, lizards, tree frogs, seeds, fruit, berries, insects

Fun Facts
The Von der Decken’s hornbill was named after the German explorer Baron Karl von der Decken (1833-1865).
The Von der Decken’s hornbill and the dwarf mongoose of the East African savannah have a unique relationship. The mongooses disturb insects for the hornbills to eat, while the hornbills provide increased vigilance (alertness for predators) allowing these mammals more time to feed.
There are 54 species of hornbills in the world.
Hornbills are the only birds in the world in which the first 2 vertebrae (neck bones: axis and atlas) are fused together.
Hornbills only have a two-lobed kidney, while all other birds have a three-lobed kidney.

[Amoli]

I went in search of Hornbills... in the city... -O

and found these at Lory Park, in Midrand.

Excuse the quality, as I had to take the pics through fenced cages.. and I didn't have the proper lens

[Toko]

Trumpeter hornbill Bycanistes bucinator Gewone boskraai

Description
The Trumpeter Hornbill (Bycanistes bucinator) 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 reported between 0.45 and 1kg.

Distribution and habitat
Occurs from Kenya and Angola to the eastern half of southern Africa, including Zimbabwe, Caprivi Strip (Namibia), Mozambique and eastern South Africa. It generally prefers warm coastal lowland forest, often near watercourses, although often flying across other habitats on its way to new forest patches.

Food
It mainly eats small fruit supplemented with insects, especially termite alates. It often spends the day in a single fruiting tree, foraging in it before moving to a different site the next day.

Breeding
It normally uses natural holes in trees as nesting sites. Once a site has been selected the female then seals it with mud and faeces collected by the male, leaving a small slit. It sometimes uses holes in rock faces, although not often.
Egg-laying season is from September-January, peaking from October-November.
It lays 2-4 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for roughly 24 days. The male forages for the female, giving food to her through the entrance slit.
The chicks stay in the nest for at least 50 days, remaining near the nest for about a week before joining the parents in foraging flights. The female stays in the nest from when the eggs are laid to when the chicks fledge, a period of about 94 days!


Trumpeter Hornbill - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds

[Lisbeth]

[Toko]

Silvery-cheeked hornbill (Bycanistes brevis)

Description
The Silvery-cheeked Hornbill (Bycanistes brevis) is a large bird at 75 to 80cm in length.It is a glossy black bird with a white lower abdomen, bare blue skin around the eyes and black feet and legs. Silvery-tipped feathers on the face give the bird its name. A large creamy casque tops the male's brown bill. The female is smaller with a reduced casque and reddish skin around the eyes. Not much is known about the casque, but it is probably used in recognition of others and for amplifying calls. The casque may also be used in fighting, or to knock down fruit. Often found in pairs, or flocks, the birds are noisy and bold. Vocalizations include loud quacking, braying, barks and grunts.

Distribution and habitat
Occurs in patches from Ethiopia, through Kenya and Tanzania to northern and central Mozambique. It generally prefers patches of montane and coastal forest patches, as well as tall woodland and gallery forest.

Food
Mainly eats fruit, doing most of its foraging in the forest canopy, plucking fruit and occasionally catching prey such as bats and insects.

Breeding
Monogamous solitary nester, defending a small territory in the immediate vicinity of the nest.
The nest is a natural cavity in a trunk or large branch of a tree, such as Mountain craibia (Craibia brevicaudata), often reused in multiple breeding seasons. The entrance is sealed with mud pellets with the female inside, leaving just a thin slot through which the male can pass food.
Egg-laying season is from September-April.
It lays 1-2 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 40 days, while the male brings her food regularly.
The chicks and female are fed by the male throughout the 77-80 day long nestling period; at this point the seal is broken so that the female and fledglings can leave.

[Amoli]

I went in search of Hornbills... in the city... -O

and found these at Lory Park, in Midrand.

Excuse the quality, as I had to take the pics through fenced cages.. and I didn't have the proper lens













(This is what is should look like - from the internet :

[nan]

woo... TR 8.12.2017

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

[Richprins]

How unusual, nana!

Is that a youngster?