Wrinkled Hornbill (Aceros corrugatus)

Family: BUCEROTIDAE

Hornbills are large, black or brown, and white, mainly arboreal birds, with long, heavy bills. Many species have large protuberant casques on top of the bill which may be gaudily coloured. Hornbills are found throughout Africa and tropical Asia, and throughout Indonesia to New Guinea. They eat fruit and insects and have harsh, penetrating calls.

The nesting habits of the family are interesting. The incubating females are usually sealed into tree hole nests with mud, leaving only a small aperture through which food can be passed by the male. When the young are hatched the female breaks out but reseals the nest entrance again until the young are ready to leave. Ten species of hornbill occur in Sumatra, eight in Borneo, but only three are found in Java.

Description: Medium-sized (75 cm) black and white hornbill with short, red buckled casque. Male in black with sides of head, neck, and terminal two thirds of tail white. Female like male but head and neck black, bare skin of throat bluish.

Iris-red; orbital skin-blue; bill-yellow and red; feet-horn.

Voice: Deep, echoing calls rowwow or wakowwakowkow given from treetops or in flight, and harsh kak kak contact calls.

Range: Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Batu Islands, and Borneo.

Distribution and status: An occasional bird of lowland forests and swamp forests, up to 1000 m.

Habits: Lives singly or in groups, feeding largely on figs in upper canopy. Flies high over forest to evening roost trees. Rather shy.