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Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris

The Indian Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros birostris) is a common hornbill found on the Indian subcontinent. It is mostly arboreal and is commonly sighted in pairs. It has grey feathers all over the body with a light grey or dull white belly. The horn is black or dark grey with a casque extending to the point of curvature of the horn. It is one of the few hornbill species found in urban areas in many cities where they are able to make use of large trees in avenues.

Distribution
The species is found mainly on the plains up to about 2000 feet. It is found from the foothills of the Himalayas southwards, bounded to the west by the Indus system and to the east by the Ganges Delta. It may make local movements in the drier western region. It is found even in cities that have old avenue trees.

It is found mainly on the plains up to about 1400 metres[contradictory]; The species has been observed, usually in pairs, in Dharamsala town (Himachal Pradesh) at about 1500 to 1600 masl during summer and in the rainy season (May to september, 2017). and does not overlap much with the Malabar grey hornbill of the Western Ghats.

Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris

Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net
Range map from www.oiseaux.net - Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net
www.oiseaux.net is one of those MUST visit pages if you're in to bird watching. You can find just about everything there

Description
The Indian grey hornbill is a medium-sized hornbill, measuring around 61 cm in length. The upper parts are greyish brown and there is a slight trace of a pale supercilium. The ear coverts are darker. The flight feathers of the wing are dark brown with a whitish tip. The tail has a white tip and a dark subterminal band. They have a red iris and the eyelids have eyelashes. The casque is short and pointed.

The male has a larger casque on a dark bill, and the culmen and lower mandible are yellowish. The bare skin around the eye is dark in the male, but sometimes pale reddish in females.[4] The female has a more yellowish bill with black on the basal half and on the casque. The juveniles lack the casque, and the bare skin around the eye is dull orange.

Listen to the Indian Grey Hornbill


Behaviour and ecology
The call is a squealing call somewhat like that of a black kite. The flight is heavy and involves flapping interspersed with glides. They are found in pairs or small groups.

The nesting season is April to June and the clutch varies from one to five very symmetrical white eggs. Indian grey hornbills usually nest in tree hollows on tall trees. An existing hollow may be excavated further to suit. The female enters the nest hollow and seals the nest hole, leaving only a small vertical slit through which the male feeds her. The nest entrance is sealed by the female using its excreta and mud-pellets supplied by the male.

While inside the nest, the female moults her flight feathers and incubates the eggs. The regrowth of the female's feathers coincides with the maturity of the chicks, at which point the nest is broken open.

A study at a nest near Mumbai noted that the key fruiting trees on which the hornbills fed were Streblus asper, Cansjera rheedii, Carissa carandas, Grewia tiliaefolia, Lannea coromandelica, Ficus spp., Sterculia urens and Securinega leucopyrus. They are also known to take molluscs, scorpions, insects, small birds (they have been recorded removing and possibly preying on Rose-ringed Parakeet chicks) and reptiles in their diet They are known to feed on the fruits of Thevetia peruviana, which are known to be toxic to many vertebrates.

They are almost completely arboreal, but very rarely descend to the ground to pick up fallen fruits, to dust bathe, or to pick up mud pellets to seal the nest cavity during the nesting period. They indulge in various social activities, including bill-grappling and aerial jousting.

Conservation status
Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2.
International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

www.birdforum.net


Sighted: (Date of first photo that I could use) 29 January 2016
Location: Kanha Tiger Reserve, India


PLEASE! As I'm a first time birdwatcher bear in mind that some of the bird can be wrongly named. I have bought books and I confirm on the internet to get the right identity on the birds I take pictures off. But there can still be mistakes.

I have had most help from my friend, the bird pal I met at Suan Rot Fai. Sending pictures of birds I have not been able to identify to him via Line. 3 minutes later he and he have managed to identify most of the birds I have had problems with. THANKS! Visit his web page m☥lever for his beautiful pictures.

And my new aid, maybe, and I say maybe the best aid. I brought my mobile phone as my SIM card have stopped working and I tried to get it to work again so I can use the internet. Thus I had my phone in my pocket on my first game drive in Jim Corbett National Park.

We saw a bird and I asked my Guide and the driver if they had a pen and a paper as I had forgot my pen and paper in my room. I remembered my LG phone and I recorded the name. And thus I will always bring my phone. Writing the name in the car and I have found more than once that it can be hard to read what I had wrote when I'm back in my room.

So now I always have my mobile in my pocket and it has been a great help. And from November 2018 I use eBird. Bird watching in U.A.E and Oman and my guide in Dubai recommended eBird and I have used the app since then and I note every bird I can identify in my eBird app.

Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris
Indian Grey Hornbill - 29 January 2016 - Kanha Tiger Reserve

Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris
Indian Grey Hornbill - 29 January 2016 - Kanha Tiger Reserve

Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris
Indian Grey Hornbill - 31 January 2016 - Kanha Tiger Reserve, India

Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris
Indian Grey Hornbill - 2 February 2016 - Pench

Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris
Indian Grey Hornbill - 2 February 2016 - Pench

Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris
Indian Grey Hornbill - 2 February 2016 - Pench

Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris
Indian Grey Hornbill - 2 February 2016 - Pench

Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris
Indian Grey Hornbill - 2 February 2016 - Pench

Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris
Indian Grey Hornbill - 2 February 2016 - Pench

Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris
Indian Grey Hornbill - 2 February 2016 - Pench

Indian Grey Hornbill, Ocyceros birostris
Indian Grey Hornbill - 3 February 2016 - Pench



PLEASE! If I have made any mistakes identifying any bird, PLEASE let me know on my guestbook



       
                  



                                       

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