Scientific name: Aceros undulatus
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Bucerotidae
Also called Wreathed Hornbill, Bar-pouched Wreathed Hornbill, Malayan wreath-billed hornbill
This bird habitats the forested hill ranges of India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo, Singapore. It is omnivorous and a generalized feeder, eating mostly fruit. However, male feeds animal prey such as bats, reptiles, frogs, crabs, and insects to brooding female and developing chicks. Browses from the tree tops to the forest floor and even in water.
Flocks of around twenty range far in flight, dropping down in response to calls or when spotting others below. They congregate at feeding and bathing sites, with up to 400 at communal roosts. These birds form life-long monogamous pairs. They nest in hollows excavated by the pair or already existing in tree trunks and may return to the same nesting hole for as many as nine years.
After laying up to three white eggs,the female seals herself into the nest chamber with mud and dung,leaving a slit that just admits the male’s beak. She is completely dependent on him for food during the 4 1/2 months that she incubates the eggs and broods the young. During this time, she also molts and re grows her feathers. She emerges with usually only one purple-skinned chick, any other chicks having died of starvation.
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