Red-billed Hornbill at Baringo

Explanation: Here is a common visitor to our campsite on the banks of Lake Baringo, in the savanna country of southern Kenya's Rift Valley. These are Red-billed Hornbills, a widely-distributed bird with, well, a big red bill.

Above: Male and female, quite a pair!
The male, at the bottom, has a black patch at the base of the lower bill,
whereas the female's bill is all red.

Red-billed Hornbills commonly feed on the ground, digging in soil and in dung in search of insects and other invertebrates and seeds, and occasionally on other birds' eggs.

Male perched on an acacia, watchful for predators.

Red-billed Hornbills will issue warning calls when they spot predators. Other animals have learned to heed their warnings, as well.

So why are they called "hornbills?" There are no horns!

The name hornbill apparently arose from the shape of their bill reminding people of the region of cattle horns.

Now you know.

And the Afrikaans name is ... get ready ... Rooibekneushoringvoël.

Now you know that, too.

Red-billed Hornbills often congregate in small groups after the breeding season.

During the breeding season, male and female form tight pair bonds, and often vocalize together in a "duet" of honking calls. Here is a recording I made of this:

Information:
Maclean, G. L. 1993. Roberts' birds of southern Africa. Sixth edition. John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town, South Africa. 871 pp.
Borrow, N., and R. Demey. 2001. A guide to the birds of western Africa. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford. 832 pp.

EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week