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10 August 2015

African Grey Hornbill – Wadi Jaw

The subspecies of African Grey Hornbill that occurs in the southwest of Saudi Arabia is L. n. nasutus that occurs from southern Mauritania east to Eritrea and southern Somalia, south to northern Sierra Leone, north Cameroon, north Uganda and north Kenya as well as southwest Saudi Arabia and western Yemen. They birds are nowhere common in Saudi Arabia but can be seen in various locations including the Raydah Escarpment area. They can sometimes be heard calling a series of shrill piping whistles. They mainly eat insects, especially grasshoppers and beetles, but also lizards, fruit and seeds where it deeds at varying heights among the foliage of trees and bushes. They are sedentary in areas with mixed open trees and measure 45 centimetres in length, so is a large bird, although it is one of the smaller hornbills. It has mainly grey plumage, but the head, flight feathers and long tail are a darker shade. There is a white line down each side of the head and one on the back which is visible only in flight. The long curved bill is black and has a small casque and a white horizontal stripe.
African Grey Hornbill

African Grey Hornbill

African Grey Hornbill

African Grey Hornbill