Species profile
About the silvery-cheeked hornbill
The silvery-cheeked hornbill is a large black-and-white forest bird with silvery-grey frosted cheek feathers and, in the male, an enormous pale cream casque riding above the bill. Its flight is the giveaway long before it is seen: the wings make a loud rhythmic whooshing that carries hundreds of metres through the forest.
It is a key seed disperser of montane and groundwater forest, swallowing large fruit whole and carrying seeds far from the parent tree. Arusha National Park and Lake Manyara's forest are the classic Tanzanian sites.
Life in the wild
Behavior & relationships
Behavior
Feeds in the canopy on fruit, often in noisy parties at a fruiting fig. Roosts communally, sometimes in large gatherings.
Social life
Monogamous pairs during breeding, when the female seals herself into a tree cavity; outside the season birds gather in large feeding and roosting flocks.
What makes it remarkable
Special features
A massive hollow casque, and wings whose beat is audible far across the forest because the flight feathers lack the muffling underwing coverts other birds have.
