Rhyticeros subruficollis
The Plain-pouched Hornbill (*Rhyticeros subruficollis*) is a striking medium-sized hornbill species, reaching lengths of 65-75 cm with a wingspan averaging 100-120 cm, and featuring a distinctive pale, uncasqued gular pouch. Males possess a creamy-white head and neck, contrasting with a black body, while females are entirely black save for their pale blue gular pouch. Both sexes exhibit a large, pale yellow bill with a prominent, ridged, low casque, and dark brown eyes. A key field mark is th...
This hornbill primarily inhabits humid evergreen and semi-evergreen broadleaf forests, ranging from lowland to lower montane elevations up to approximately 1,200 meters.
The diet consists predominantly of wild fruits, especially figs, which constitute up to 90% of their intake; they also consume insects, small reptiles, and amphibians, foraging by gleaning from tree branches in the forest canopy.
Plain-pouched Hornbills are largely diurnal, often seen flying in pairs or small family groups, though outside the breeding season, they can form spectacular communal roosts and foraging flocks numbering in the hundreds, sometimes even thousands. They are primarily arboreal foragers, gleaning fru...
The Plain-pouched Hornbill's historical range extended across parts of Southeast Asia, from southern Myanmar and western Thailand south through Peninsular Malaysia to Sumatra, Indonesia. Today, its distribution is severely fragmented and primarily confined to remaining patches of suitable forest....
Vulnerable
- The Plain-pouched Hornbill gets its name from the distinctive, unlined gular pouch beneath its bill, which is pale yellow in males and pale blue in females. - During nesting, the female seals herself inside a tree cavity for up to four months, relying entirely on the male to deliver food throug...