Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill
Bucorvus abyssinicus
A huge ground-dwelling hornbill. Males have a mix of blue and red bare facial skin, while females have entirely blue facial skin. In flight, a large white patch is revealed in the wings. Found in savanna, grassland, and agricultural habitats, usually in pairs or small groups, walking on the ground. Breeds and roosts in trees. Similar to Southern Ground-Hornbill, but there is little overlap in range, and Abyssinian is easily separated by the blue facial skin. The call is a series of deep “boop” notes.
Identification
Abyssinian ground hornbill is a large, terrestrial hornbill with black body feathers and white primary feathers which are visible in flight. The adult male has a patch of bare blue skin around the eye and an inflatable patch of bare skin on the neck and throat which is red, apart from the upper throat which is blue. The bill is long and black except for a reddish patch at the base of the mandible. On top of the bill there is a short open-ended black casque. The female is similar but smaller with any bare skin being wholly dark blue. Juvenile birds are dark sooty-brown with a smaller bill, with an incipient casque. As the juvenile matures, which usually takes 3 years, it gradually develops the plumage, bare skin colour and casque of the adults. The total length is 90 to 110 cm (35 to 43 in).<p>The Abyssinian ground hornbill has long feathers that look like eyelashes that surround its eyes. These protect the eyes from injury.<p>It reportedly averages around 90 to 100 cm (35 to 39 in) tall, around 110 cm (43 in) and weighs approximately 4 kg (8.8 lb). Per Stevenson and Fanshawe, the Abyssinian is a larger species on average than the southern ground hornbill, at 102 cm (40 in), but published weights and standard measurements contrarily indicate the southern species is indeed slightly larger.<p>A deep booming uh-uh, uh-uh-uh which is far carrying and is normally made at dawn from either a perch or from the ground. The male and female sing in duets.
Taxonomy
The Abyssinian ground hornbill was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Buceros abyssinicus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The type locality is Ethiopia. The Abyssinian ground hornbill is now placed in the genus Bucorvus that was introduced, originally as a subgenus, by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1830. The species is monotypic. The generic name is derived from the name of the genus Buceros introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for the Asian hornbills where corvus is the Latin word for a "raven".
- Scientific name
- Bucorvus abyssinicus
- Authority
- (Boddaert, 1783)
- Order
- Bucerotiformes
- Family
- Bucerotidae
- Genus
- Bucorvus
Range and habitat
The Abyssinian ground hornbill is found in Northern sub-Saharan Africa from southern Mauritania, Senegal and Guinea east to Eritrea, Ethiopia, north western Somalia, north western Kenya and Uganda.<p>It is found in open habitats such as savanna, sub-desert scrub, and rocky areas, preferring short vegetation which enables its visual foraging technique. The areas inhabited by this species are usually drier areas than the preferred habitat of the Southern ground hornbill. It will tolerate disturbed areas but does require large trees to be used as nest sites.<p>The Abyssinian ground hornbill has escaped or been deliberately released in to Florida, USA, but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and may only persist due to continuing releases or escapes.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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