Southern Red-billed Hornbill
Tockus rufirostris
A small, black-and-white hornbill with a petite red bill; male has a black base to the mandible. Pairs occur in open savanna with sparse ground cover, where they hop on the ground foraging for invertebrates. The territorial display, given with the head bowed and wings spread, starts with a series of “kok-kok-kok” notes, becoming a rolling bisyllabic “kokok-kokok”. Similar Damara Red-billed Hornbill differs by having brown (not yellow) eyes and an unmarked creamy white head and neck. Jackson’s Hornbill is larger, with a more robust bill and dark face and eyes. Crowned Hornbill has a solidly brown back and orange bill.
Identification
The sexes are similar, but males are larger and heavier. Males also have somewhat longer bills, with the lower mandible coloured black to a variable extent. It is distinguishable from other red-billed hornbills by the combination of yellow iris and pale orbital skin (pink to greyish), and the ample blackish plumage streaking from the ear coverts to the side of the neck.[citation needed] The throat is white, and the wing coverts clearly spotted.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Tockus rufirostris
- Authority
- (Sundevall, 1850)
- Order
- Bucerotiformes
- Family
- Bucerotidae
- Genus
- Tockus
Range and habitat
It is found from Malawi and Zambia to southern Angola, northeastern Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, eastern Eswatini and northern South Africa (Transvaal and northern KZN province). It occurs in the upper Zambezi valley of Mozambique, but is mostly absent from the eastern lowlands.
Photos
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Roadside Hawk
Rupornis magnirostris
Well-named, the common roadside hawk in tropical lowlands of East Mexico and Central and South America. Often seen on wires, phone poles, posts out in fields. Adult has staring pale eyes, streaked breast contrasting with barred belly. Immature streaked below, much like many other immature hawks, but its tail has broad and fairly even bands. Flies with rather quick, stiff wingbeats, recalling a Red-shouldered Hawk or an Accipiter; noisy flight display mainly in late winter-spring.
Red-and-white Antpitta
Grallaria erythroleuca
Fairly large antpitta of montane habitats. Rusty orange with a white throat and a lighter white or gray belly. Forages on the ground in dense undergrowth in upper montane forest, elfin forest, and humid scrub above the treeline. Often a fairly common bird, but reclusive and much more often heard than seen; listen for an even-paced and slightly descending series of a few whistled notes: “pee, per, pur,” easily imitated.
Antioquia Wren
Thryophilus sernai
This medium-sized wren has a very limited range in the Cauca Valley in Colombia. It is warm rufous-brown above and white below with a white eyebrow and faintly striped cheeks. The tail and undertail coverts are barred. Sexes similar. Pairs are found in dry forests, where they forage among thickets and vine tangles in the understory. Like many wrens, can be difficult to see, but listen for its relatively low-pitched flutey song.
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