Indian Grey Hornbill

As a young birder, I was fortunate enough to see the Indian Grey Hornbill right outside my living room window earlier this year.

It was perched on the trees and seemed to be a bit scared as all the crows were trying to peck it. Maybe the crows were just as surprised as me to see such a magnificent bird in our locality.

Any bird belonging to the Hornbill family is easy to identify mainly because of its characteristic horned bill or beak that it possesses.

The Indian Grey Hornbill gets its name mainly because of its grey colored body, they are extremely hard to find in urban areas but are striking when seen.

The Indian Grey Hornbill is mainly grey in colour with a light grey or dull white belly, the upper parts are coloured greyish brown with a faint pale supercilium. The coverts of the ears are darker than this.

Flight feathers are dark brown with a tip which is whitish. It has a white tip on the tail and a dark subterminal band. The iris of the eye is red and they have eyelashes. The casque is short and pointed.

The horn is black or dark-grey and the casque reaches to the curvature of the horn, the casque is short and pointed, Males have a larger casque than the females, the culmen and lower mandible are yellowish.

It has bare skin near the eye which is dark in the male, can be pale reddish in females. The bill of the female is mainly yellow with black on the basal half and casque. Juveniles can be seen lacking the casque, the bare skin near the eye is dull orange.

They belong to the Kingdom Animalia, The Phylum is Chordata, The Class is Aves, The Order is Bucerotiformes, The Family is Bucerotidae, The Genus is Ocyceros, The Binomial name is Ocyceros birostris.

The Indian Grey Hornbill is about 61 centimeters tall, they weigh 375 grams.

The diet of the Indian Grey Hornbill is molluscs, scorpions, insects, small birds , reptiles and toxic fruits of Thevetia Peruviana. They are arboreal, they sometimes pick fallen fruits and try to dust bathe.

The Indian Grey Hornbills are found in plains at elevations of 2,000 ft. They live in the southern foothills of the Himalayas, They are not found past the Indus system to the west and Ganges Delta to the east. They are capable of making movements to the west. They are sighted in cities inside massive trees.

The Indian Grey Hornbill is known for its bill-grappling and aerial jousting behavior.

The nest of the Indian Grey Hornbill is made during April to June while the clutch is one to five symmetrical white eggs. They make the nest in tree hollows. They make use of existing tree hollows by excavating.

The female seals the tree hollow with excreta and mud-pellets from the male. it leaves a small vertical slit so that the male can feed her.

The female molts her flight feathers inside the nest to incubate the eggs. The male from outside brings bark pieces to remove excreta by absorption to maintain the temperature for the female and the young. The female grows her feathers when the chicks become mature, causing the nest to burst.

The Indian Grey Hornbill make a squealing sound. The wingload is high and requires flapping interspersed with glides. They live in pairs and can be in small groups.

The average lifespan of a Indian Grey Hornbill is 30 to 35 years.

The exact population of this species is unknown though it has been placed in the category of 'Least Concern' for its Conservation Status.

The Indian Grey Hornbill or any other Hornbill for that matter does not make a good pet. No market tries to sell it and it is a mysterious bird which cannot be found easily, it wouldn't be ethical to cage a bird meant to be free and which is this large in size and unique.