Hornbills

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The name of the type genus Buceros is derived from Ancient Greek bous (‘cow’) and keras (‘horn’), referring to a peculiar protuberance, or casque, on the bill of most species. Hornbills are very noisy, and the casque is probably a means to increase the volume of their call, which carries quite a distance.

Hornbills vary greatly in size, from the small West African black dwarf hornbill (Horizocerus hartlaubi), which is 30 cm long and weighs only c. 100 grams, to the huge great hornbill (Buceros bicornis) in India, Malaysia and Indonesia, which may be up to 1.3 m long, and the Abyssinian ground-hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus) in Ethiopia, which may weigh up to 5 kilos.

 

 

 

 

 

The breeding strategy of hornbills is very peculiar. When the female has laid her eggs inside a hollow tree, she will plaster the nest hole from inside, using her own guano which hardens in the air. Sometimes the male will help plastering the hole by bringing clay to the nest. This plaster makes it difficult for enemies like monkeys to eat eggs and young. Only a small opening is left, through which the male feeds the female during the entire incubation period. In some species, the female breaks the plaster, when the young are half grown, and then help the male feed the young – which will plaster the hole with their own guano when their mother has left! In other species, the female remains in the nest, until the young are full-grown. Meanwhile, the male brings food to all of them.

Hornbills feed mainly on various fruits, especially of fig trees (Ficus), but they also eat small animals like insects, scorpions, lizards, and snakes. When termites are swarming, hornbills often gather around termite mounds to eat the forthcoming insects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The generic name is derived from Ancient Greek anthrax (‘coal-black’) and keros (‘horn’), thus ‘the coal-black ones with a horn’.

 

The specific name is derived from the Latin albus (‘white’) and rostrum (‘bill’).

 

 

 

 

 

The generic name is explained above.

 

The specific name is derived from Ancient Greek rhin (‘nose’) and keras (‘horn’), referring to its very pointed ‘horn’, which resembles the largest horn of the African black rhino (Diceros bicornis).

 

 

 

 

 

The generic name is a Latinized version of Ancient Greek bykanistes (‘trumpeter’), alluding to the loud call of these birds.

 

The specific name is Latin, meaning ‘short’, which may refer to its relatively short casque, compared to other members of the genus. The popular name was given due to the silvery-grey dots on the side of the head and neck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The specific name is Latin, meaning ‘trumpeter’, from bucina (‘a military trumpet’). This bird must really be trumpeting, as the scientific name means ‘the trumpeting trumpeter’!

 

 

 

 

 

The specific name is derived from the Latin sub (‘near to’), and cylindricus, the specific name of the brown-cheeked hornbill (B. cylindricus), thus ‘the one resembling brown-cheeked hornbill’. Cylindricus is derived from Ancient Greek kylindros (‘cylinder’), presumably referring to the somewhat cylinder-shaped casque of these two birds.

 

 

 

 

 

The generic name is derived from Ancient Greek lophos (‘crest’) and keras (‘horn’) – an odd name, as these birds have small casques.

 

The plumage of male and female is similar. The male has a greyish upper mandible and a more or less red lower mandible, whereas the upper mandible of the female is brownish, and the lower mandible dark grey with a little red towards the tip and sometimes a small red dot near the gape.

It was named in honour of German naturalist and explorer Wilhelm Friedrich Hemprich (1796-1825), who travelled extensively in Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. He died of malaria in Ethiopia, only 29 years old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It lives in open woodland and savanna. The male has a black bill, whereas that of the female is blackish, often with reddish or yellowish parts. Both sexes have a conspicuous white stripe on the upper mandible.

The specific name is Latin, meaning ‘large-nosed’, derived from nasus (‘nose’), referring to the casque, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

The generic name is derived from Ancient Greek oxys (‘sharp’ or ‘pointed’) and keras (‘horn’).

 

The specific name is derived from the Latin bi (‘two’) and rostrum (‘bill’), alluding to the small protuberance on top of the bill, which, with a bit of imagination, looks like an extra bill.

 

 

 

 

 

The specific name is Latin, meaning ‘grey’.

 

 

 

 

 

The generic name is derived from the French tock, applied to the African grey hornbill and the red-billed hornbill by French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788). Supposedly, this name was based on an onomatopoeic Senegalese name of these birds.

 

It was named in honour of German explorer Baron Karl Klaus von der Decken (1833-1865), who was the first European attempting to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, but did not succeed due to foul weather. He also visited Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands. In 1865, he went to Somalia, exploring the lower parts of the Jubba River, on board the small steamship Welf. However, after the ship sank in rapids, he and three other members of his party were murdered by hostile Somalis.

 

 

 

 

 

The five species/subspecies are as follows:

The northern red-billed hornbill (T. (e.) erythrorhynchus) is found from southern Mauritania eastwards to Eritrea and Somalia, and thence southwards to Kenya and northern Tanzania.

The western red-billed hornbill (T. (e.) kempi) is distributed from southern Mauritania through Senegal and Gambia to western Mali.

The Tanzanian red-billed hornbill (T. (e.) ruahae) is restricted to central and western Tanzania.

The southern red-billed hornbill (T. (e.) rufirostris) is found from Angola and Namibia eastwards to Zambia, and thence south to north-eastern South Africa.

The Damara red-billed hornbill (T. (e.) damarensis) is restricted to southern Angola and northern and western Namibia.

The specific name is derived from Ancient Greek erythros (‘red’) and rhynkhos (‘bill’).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The specific name is derived from the Latin flavus (‘yellow’) and rostrum (‘bill’).

 

 

 

 

 

The name was given in honour of Sir Frederick John Jackson (1860-1929), an English administrator, explorer, and ornithologist, who lived in Kenya.

 

 

 

 

 

The specific name is derived from Ancient Greek leukos (‘white’) and melas (‘black’), thus ‘black and white’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their habitat is grasslands with short vegetation and scattered trees, in which they nest. They differ mainly in their feeding habit, as they spend most of their time on the ground, searching for prey like lizards, snakes, and larger insects.

The generic name is composed of two other genus names, Buceros (above), and Corvus (ravens and crows), thus ‘the hornbills that resemble crows’, maybe alluding to their feeding habit, which is quite similar to that of ravens and crows.

 

The specific and common names allude to Ethiopia, which was called Abyssinia in former days.

 

 

 

 

 

The specific name refers to Benjamin Leadbeater (1773-1851), an English naturalist and natural history dealer in London.