Indian Grey Hornbill

The Indian Grey Hornbill is a common bird of the Indian sub continent. It is mostly found in pairs. The birds have dull grey feathers with a white or dull grey belly. Their beaks are black or dark grey with a helmet kind of protruding on top of the beaks.

The birds are about 24 inches long. They have a red iris and the eyelids have eyelashes. The casque (helmet) is short and pointed. The males carry a darker casque and their culmen, lower mandible are yellow. They nest in hollows of trees. Their nesting season is around April to June. They lay one to five eggs. The female enters the nest and seals it leaving a small slit for the male to feed her. The sealing is done with her own excreta. Inside of the nest, the female moults all her feathers and then lays the eggs. The female regrows her feathers coinciding it with the maturity of the chicks, the time to break the nest open.

I saw this beautiful bird at Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve on the beginning of this year literally. Lovely birds, there were a pair of them and kept eluding my camera and me. Finally managed to get one shot of the bird