- Horizocerus granti
Identification
32cm. A small, blackish hornbill.
- Upperside black
- Broad white supercilium
- Wings black with white tips to secondaries and white spot on primaries
- Black tail with white tip
- Throat area medium grey
- Rest of underside pale grey reaching almost white at the rear
- Dark bill with red tip and red casque
- Blackish bare skin around eye
- Flesh-coloured throat skin
Females are smaller than males, the bill is all dark and the casque smaller.
Juveniles are similar to females.
Similar species
Western Dwarf Hornbill male lacks red in casque, they have darker underside, and fewer white spots on wings when compared with Eastern Dwarf Hornbill.
Distribution
Found in tropical Africa in the Congo Basin of Central African Republic to Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, South Sudan, and extreme northern Angola.
Taxonomy
Formerly placed in the genus Tockus.
Eastern Dwarf Hornbill and Western Dwarf Hornbill was formerly considered one species under the name of Black Dwarf Hornbill.
Subspecies
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Tall evergreen and gallery forest in lowlands to 1000 m asl.
Behaviour
Feeds mainly on insects, takes also spiders, small lizards and rarely fruit.
Feeds mainly in the subcanopy, sometimes following monkeys to take insects disturbed by them. Seems to use techniques of sallying out for food capture, may hover briefly.
Breeding
Little known about breeding. Nests in a natural cavity in a tree, the female seals herself in. Lays probably up to 4 eggs.
Vocalisation
Mostly quiet but whistling sounds have been heard.
References
- Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
- Kirwan, G. M., A. C. Kemp, and P. F. D. Boesman (2023). Eastern Dwarf Hornbill (Horizocerus granti), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (B. K. Keeney and N. D. Sly, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bkdhor2.01
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Eastern Dwarf Hornbill. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 10 September 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Eastern_Dwarf_Hornbill
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
