Wreathed Hornbill Rhyticeros undulatus Scientific name definitions

75–85 cm; male 1680–3650 g, female 1360–2685 g. Large, black hornbill with short white tail. Male has crown and nape dark red-brown, head and neck to upper breast creamy white; bill pale yellow, basal half of both mandibles with prominent orange-brown ridges; low wreathed casque brownish and yellow; bare skin around eye pinkish-red ; inflatable throat skin yellow with blue-black central bar. Distinguished from R. subruficollis by larger size, dark bar across throat sac, ridged mandibles. Female smaller, head to breast all black, throat sac blue with darker band. Juvenile similar to adult male, but smaller bill, no casque.

S Bhutan and NE India E to Vietnam (N Annam), and S to Sumatra, Borneo, Java and Bali, including several intervening offshore islands.

Extensive tracts of primary evergreen forest, mainly among foothills but up to 2560 m; extends into selectively logged areas and coastal forest.

No regular movements, but ranges widely in search of fruiting trees, even crossing between islands, such as Java and Bali, and up to 1000 or more birds gather from wide area at communal roosts.

Mainly fruit; also small animals, especially when breeding. Fruits of at least 30 plant genera recorded; proportions of figs and lipid-rich drupes eaten vary according to locality and season. Animal food generally less than 5% of diet, includes contents of bird nests, reptiles, snails, insects, centipedes, millipedes and crabs. Forages mainly in canopy; descends to ground for fallen fruit and to take animals, especially during midday rest period.

A repeated, short, double yelp “coo-cuk”, given both when perched and in flight. Also a variety of lower-pitched barks, usually bisyllabic.

Lays in Apr–Jun in India, in Jan–Mar elsewhere, extending to Jun–Sept in Borneo and Java. Nest in natural hole 18–28 m up in tree, often Dipterocarpus or Syzygium species; same cavity often used in successive seasons; female seals nest entrance with droppings. Clutch usually two eggs (1–3), but only one chick ever raised; incubation c. 40 days; chick with pink skin that soon turns black; male feeds female and chick in nest by regurgitation, up to 120 fruits per visit; female emerges from nest when chick fledges, does not always moult remiges and rectrices together while breeding; fledging 90 days; whole nesting cycle 111–137 days; juvenile remains with parents for several months after leaving nest.

VULNERABLE. CITES II. Still locally fairly common in a few areas across its wide range, which includes several large reserves and at least seven national parks, e.g. Khao Yai (Thailand), Ulu Belum and Gunung Mulu (Malaysia) and Bali Barat (Bali). Among more sedentary Thailand population, breeding home range 10 km² and non-breeding 28 km². Although still common, has been eliminated from many marginal areas, and distribution now patchy as result of forest loss and species’ requirement for large, unbroken tracts of forest. Still hunted in several areas.