Profile
In flight
Hornbills
Yellow-billed Hornbill
Tockus leucomelas
- uncommon
- 42 km/h
- Least Concern
Called the Flying Banana for a reason. Bold yellow bill, ground-foraging habits, and zero hesitation approaching campsites.
- Population
- Global population size not numerically quantified; species described by BirdLife/IUCN as widespread and common, with a suspected decreasing trend driven by loss of large nesting trees
- Habitat
- Dry savannas, open acacia and broadleaved woodland, mopane scrub, and dry subtropical/tropical woodland/grassland with access to permanent water; generally at low elevations (roughly 50-300 m)
- Fun fact
- During breeding, the female seals herself inside a tree-cavity nest using a wall of droppings and food remains (leaving only a narrow slit) and molts all her flight and tail feathers at once, remaining flightless and confined until the chicks are half-grown.
- Range
- Southern Africa: Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Eswatini, and northern/eastern South Africa; Extent of Occurrence ~3,300,000 km^2; non-migratory permanent resident
- Diet
- Mainly arthropods (termites, beetles and their larvae, grasshoppers, caterpillars), also centipedes, scorpions, small mammals, berries, fruit, nuts, and occasionally eggs of other species
- Size
- 0.54 m
- Lifespan
- 20 years
