The Oriental pied-hornbill's head, neck, back, wings and upper breast are black with a slight green sheen. The tail is black with white tips except the central feathers. The lower breast, abdomen, thighs and underwings are white, as is the skin around the eyes and on the throat (the throat patch often has a bluish tinge to it). Males have red eyes and a yellow bill with a black base of the lower bill. Females have more brown eyes and a yellow bill with more black on the smaller bill. I saw three or four of them in the same tree along the perimeter road to Kaziranga NP in Assam, India, while we were driving to the eastern range. The Wikipedia article has a photo of mating hornbills in Kaziranga NP.
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Illustration of male oriental pied-hornbill, albirostris, flying, and standing, below, with the red eye. From Birds of the World. |
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Illustration of the female with the more brown eye. From Birds of the World. |
There are two subspecies. We saw Anthracoceros albirostris albirostris, the nominate subspecies, which is found in northern India and southern Nepal to south China and south to northern peninsular Malaysia, southwestern Cambodia and southern Vietnam. It is sometimes known as the Malaysian pied hornbill. The other subspecies is A. a. convexus found in peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Bali and other smaller islands. It is known as the Sunda pied hornbill (after the Sunda Islands of Indonesia).
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Range of oriental pied-hornbill from Birds of the World. |