Is the hornbill which is the smallest in Thailand with the length of the body of 70 centimeters. Most of the body color is black, and there is some while on the stomach, cheek, wing edge, and tail edge. It has a very large yellow mouth and the large hump on the upper part of the mouth. The female bird has a smaller size than the male bird.
Can be found in deciduous forest, dry evergreen forest, deciduous dipterocarp forest, India, South of China, and Southeast Asia. In Thailand, it can be found in every region except the upper part of the Northereast. The albirotris type can be found across the country but the convexus type can be found only in the lower part of the South. The species can be found in forest edge, open, moist deciduous and evergreen forests, riverine forest, secondary, logged forests and even gardens and agricultural fields. The species shows a preference for secondary growth, river-margin forests (Datta 1998). It is usually recorded in elevations up to 700 m. Flocks of up to 170 individuals have been recorded in Khao Yai National Park during the non-breeding season (Poonswad et al. 2013). The species’s diet consists of figs, non-figs and animal prey (Smythies 1999, Wells 1999). 94% of the diet was figs and non-figs (in equal proportions) and 6% animal matter in the non-breeding season in Arunachal Pradesh (Datta and Rawat 2003). The species has also been seen feeding on papaya, rambutan, mango, banana and other cultivated fruit crops close to villages and beach resorts. Amongst wild fruits other than figs, it prefers Polyalthia, Horsfieldia, Strombosia and Dysoxylum. Animal prey include insects, centipedes, millipedes, scorpions, spiders, snails, earthworms, lizards, small birds and eggs, rats and sometimes fish and crabs from near streams (Poonswad et al. 2013). The species is adapting to urban conditions by taking advantage of feeding stations and taking leftovers from rubbish bins on Pulau Pangkor (C. A. Yeap pers. obs.) and attempting to snatch song birds in cages in Singapore (Stolarchuk 2018). The species does not depend on primary forest habitat even for breeding, preferring forest edges, open woodland, coastal and riverine scrub and cultivation instead (Poonswad et al. 2013). Data collected in Piasau Nature Reserve in northern Sarawak suggests that the species may breed twice per year. Eggs are laid at different times of the year across various parts of the range; in February-April on the Asian mainland and in September-May on many Malaysian and Indonesian islands. In north-east India, nest entry is in the 1st to 2nd week of April and chicks fledge between June and July (Datta 2001). The nest is usually found up to a height of 30 m often in Dipterocarpus or Cliestocalyx in Thailand (Poonswad et al. 2013) and on Tetrameles nudiflora in north-east India (Datta 2001). The species often competes for nest cavities with several other hole-nesting birds such as Hill Mynas, Great Slaty Woodpeckers, Broad-billed Rollers and Red-breasted Parakeets, or bees and monitor lizards (Datta and Rawat 2004). The female lays 1-4 eggs which are incubated for 25-33 days, but usually only one or sometimes two chicks successfully fledge. The last chick to hatch is weak and is usually starved to death or eaten by the mother or the sibling. On average, the nesting cycle takes 85-90 days in Thailand (Poonswad et al. 2013) and 94 days in north-east India (Datta 2001).
Indian Pied Hornbill eats fruit and fig, especially banyan seeds, fig seeds, including insect and small reptiles.
Seeking for food as a group, staying on the big tree, eating fruit, fig and small reptiles, making a loud noise “gag, gag, gag” This bird breeds during April to May, building the nest in the hollow of the tree. It lays 2 to 3 eggs each time. During the incubation, the bird’s mother will enter the nest before the bird’s father closes the nest, living the small hole for the feeding from the bird’s father, and taking out the dung from the bird’s mother and the chick. The bird’s mother will stay in the nest tjl the chick hatches out and then will help each other to open the nest.
Leaet Concern
CLASS : Aves
ORDER : Bucerotiformes
FAMILY : Bucerotidae
GENUS : Anthracoceros
SPECIES : Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris)
Conservation status : Least Concern
Update : 11 April 2017
