Silvery-cheeked Hornbill ( Bycanistes brevis, family: Bucerotidae)

silvery cheecked hornbill Kruger National Park birds The Silvery-cheeked Hornbill (Latin name Bycanistes brevis) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 456 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 157 also a picture of the Silvery-cheeked Hornbill on page 160. The Silvery-cheeked Hornbill belongs to the family of birds classified as Bucerotidae. According to the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology the Silvery-cheeked Hornbill is also known by these other names: Crested Hornbill.

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Silvery-cheeked Hornbill is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the Silvery-cheeked Hornbill in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Silvery-cheeked Hornbill has been recorded in only 1 sections of the arbitrary Kruger Park regions I selected.

Identification assistance for this avian species ...

One of the first indicators to take note of when trying to identify a bird is it relative size. For example how big is the bird compared to a well known familiar bird. The Silvery-cheeked Hornbill is a large bird much bigger than a Pied Crow. The height of the Silvery-cheeked Hornbill is about 80 cms and its weight is about 1300 gms

The male and female Silvery-cheeked Hornbill have the same plumage and colours

  • Head is black.
  • Eye is brown.
  • Bill is brown.
  • Throat is grey.
  • Back is black.
  • Legs are black.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Silvery-cheeked Hornbill feeds on the ground and on wing mainly

Invertebrates

Fruits

Seeds

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Silvery-cheeked Hornbill is monogamous unless its mate dies. In the event of a partner dying Bycanistes brevis will seek out a new mate

The nesting habit of Silvery-cheeked Hornbill is to create the nest in a hole in a tree trunk. The bird lays eggs which are white in colour and number between 1 to 6

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Silvery-cheeked Hornbill are: woodlands

You will normally see the Silvery-cheeked Hornbill in pairs or flocks and not as single birds.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... Unknown

Afrikaans ...Kuifkopboskraai

German ... Schopfhornvogel, Silbenwangen-Hornvogel

Portuguese ... Calau-de-crista

French ... Calao joues argent

Dutch ... Zilveroor-Neushoornvogel

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 456

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za