Plain-pouched Hornbill (Aceros subruficollis)

Scientific Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Bucerotidae
Genus: Aceros
Species: A. subruficollis

Identification
Hornbills are a group of birds whose bill is shaped like a cow’s horn, but without a twist, sometimes with a casque on the upper mandible. Frequently, the bill is brightly coloured.

The female lays up to six white eggs. During incubation, the female (of all species except the two ground hornbills) is locked within the nest cavity by a wall made of mud, droppings and fruit pulp. 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 and rebuilds the wall, then both parents feed the chicks. In some species the chicks themselves rebuild the wall unaided.

Hornbills are omnivorous birds, eating fruit, insects and small animals.

Habitat
The Bucerotidae family includes 57 species, 9 of them endemic to the southern part of Africa. Their distribution ranges from Africa south of the Sahara through tropical Asia to the Philippines and Solomon Islands. Most are arboreal birds of dense forest.