Scientific Name:
Buceros bicornis

Classification:
Order : Coraciiformes
Family : Bucerotidae

Description:
This is a large and very distinctive bird with black plumage and large white stripes on the wings and tail, not the longest but probably the biggest, heaviest hornbill of the region. The neck is whitish yellow in color, the sides of the face black. As with all the Bucerotidae, the beak is large and strong, curving slightly downward with an odd structure, known as a casque, on the upper half. There are differences between males and females in the beak coloring and in the ring around the eye as well as the eye itself. The skull of the Great Hornbill, together with the casque, weighs about 320 grams (11 ounces). There are two subspecies - B. b. homrai, which is about 120 cm long (47”), with the beak, in the male, up to 29.5 cm in length (11 6”), and B. b. bicornis, which is smaller, with the male’s beak reaching 25 cm (10”). A related species is the Rhinoceros Hornbill (B. rhinoceros).

Behavior:
It nests in hollows, like all the other species of hornbill the male bricks in the hollow, leaving just a slit through which to feed the female and young, and to eject droppings. It feeds on fruits, invertebrates and small vertebrates. Call a harsh kronk, lower pitched than Rhinoceros Hornbill and not in duet.

Distribution:
South East Asia.

Habitat:
Forests and woods from lowlands to 1,500m, mainly in northern and hillier regions but also down to coast.