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.
