horn bill, ground hornbill

Hornbills are omnivorous birds, eating fruit, insects and small animals. They cannot swallow food caught at the tip of the beak as their tongues are too short to manipulate it, so they toss it back to the throat with a jerk of the head. They range in size from the Black Dwarf Hornbill (Tockus hartlaubi), at 102 grams (3.6 oz) and 30 cm (1 foot), to the Southern Ground-hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri), at up to 6.2 kg (13.6 lbs) and 1.2 m (4 feet). Males are about 18% larger than females on average, and some species have sexual dichromatism. In the Abyssinian Ground-hornbill, for example, pure blue skin on the face and throat denotes an adult female, and red and blue skin denotes an adult male.

Hornbills generally form monogamous pairs. The female lays up to six white eggs in existing holes or crevices, either in trees or rocks. Before incubation, the females of all Bucorvinae�sometimes assisted by the male�begin to close the entrance to the nest cavity with a wall made of mud, droppings and fruit pulp. When the female is ready to lay her eggs, the entrance is just large enough for it to enter the nest, and after she has done so, the remaining opening is also all but sealed shut. There is only one narrow aperture, big enough for the male to transfer food to the mother and the chicks. During the incubation period the female undergoes a complete moult. When the chicks and the female are too big to fit in the nest, the mother breaks out, then both parents feed the chicks. In some species the mother rebuilds the wall, whereas in others the chicks themselves rebuild the wall unaided. The ground-hornbills are conventional cavity-nesters instead.

Direction Walk 18.53 km or 278 mins south west from last photo
Location Bugala Island, East Africa, Uganda, Africa
Info F 5.6 1/640 ISO 200 with Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
Country Uganda State East Africa
City Bugala Island Weather Sunny
Near Peral Garden Beach Continent Africa
Day Ssese Island Activity football game
Tour GAP (Great Adventure People) User Comment
Date 2007:09:29 18:10:04 Make Canon
Model Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi Width 1468
Height 1101 Flash Off, Did not fire
Focal 300.0 mm Exposure 1/640
F Number 5.6 ISO 200
White Bal. Auto Program Aperture-priority AE
Compensation 0 Hyperfocal 865.65 m
Latitude -0.320930555555556 Longitude 32.1314722222222
Altitude 28969.625 m File Size 691 kB
comments powered by Disqus
Powered by Afterweb 1.66