Mystery Bird: Von der Decken's Hornbill, Tockus deckeni

grrlscientist — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 08:59:59 +0000

tags: Male Von der Decken's Hornbill, Tockus deckeni, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz

~~[Mystery bird]~~ Male Von der Decken's Hornbill, Tockus deckeni, endemic to savanna and woodland of sub-Saharan Africa. Photographed in the African Bird Safari at London Zoo. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]

Image: GrrlScientist, 2 September 2008 [larger view].

Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.

Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:

What a crazy-looking bird this one is! With that huge bill and long tail, it can only be a hornbill, a group of Old World tropical birds related, if not terribly closely, to the kingfishers. There are about sixty species; many species of hornbill are known for the immurement of the incubating and brooding females. The red bill and starkly black-and-white plumage point us towards the genus Tockus (what a fine name!); the plain wing coverts rule out Red-billed and Jackson's Hornbills, leaving us with Von der Decken's Hornbill, a widespread and common species of southern Africa (and well represented in zoos, where this individual was photographed).

Von der Decken, by the way, is best known not for his hornbill but for his abortive ascents of Kilimanjaro in the 1860s -- rumored to be the first such attempts ever by a European.

Review all mystery birds to date.

grrlscientist Sat, 11/15/2008 - 03:59

Tags

Von der Decken's Hornbill

birding

Photography

It's a hornbill. Not sure what kind yet, but it is an African or Asian bird.

The two-tone red and ivory bill with black tip: male Von Der Decken's Hornbill.

Yeah, male Von Der Decken's Hornbill, based on the head pattern and the bill. I recognized it as a hornbill thanks to a misspent youth watching wildlife documentaries, and from there it was a short step to googling for "hornbill" and paging through images.

Sorry, forgot to mention the feature. The big horny bill, head shape, overall body shape, tail. Basically, it looks like every other hornbill I've ever seen and I've lived among the hornbills. (Though it took a long time for them to really accept me)

Zazu!

Ha, I knew it was a hornbill of the Tockus genus, but didn't know the exact species. I'm more familiar with the Asian species in any case.

Now, if only you had photos of some Southeast Asian birds, then I could play this game... =)

I can't remember if there were any Southeast Asian birds at the zoo.

I have no idea, but what an astonishing face.

The above bird in a Von Der Decken (Tockus deckeni) not (Tockus erythrorhynchus)also know as the red bill. The red billed hornbill has a lot more slender bill completely red bill and also has spots on the wing were the Vonder Decken has a 2 tone (Ivory and red bill) with solid black wings. The jackson hornbill (Tockus jacksoni) with very simular to the Von Der Deckin except to has the spots in the wing like the red billed hornbill.Also the Von Der Deckens and Jackson hornbills are sexually Dimorphic. The Females have a complete black bill while i believe the redbill hornbills both male and female have the slender bed bills. I will be uploading photos to my website in the future but here are pictures of my pair.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cajunbait2000/