Rufous-necked Hornbill Aceros nipalensis ranges India to Vietnam, in China in southeast Tibet and southern Yunnan (Xishuangbanna). HABITAT & BEHAVIOR Large, old-growth forests, from 150–2200 m (490–7,220 ft.). Eats figs, pears, crabs, and small vertebrates. Nests in cavities in large trees, the female sealing herself in for four months. ID Male has rufous head, neck, and underparts and is black above except for white tips to outer primaries and white lower half of tail. In female, rufous replaced by black. BARE PARTS Has sky-blue orbital skin and adjacent area at base of lower mandible; red gular pouch. Bill large, dull yellow, with black carvings on maxilla (bill smaller in juvenile; black carvings missing). Casque nearly absent. Feet black; iris brown. Female Wreathed Hornbill Rhyticeros undulatus has all-white tail, blue gular pouch, red orbital skin, larger casque, and less marked ridges on bill. Female Wreathed Hornbill has corrugated casque, mandible, and maxilla. VOICE Barks squeakily and hesitantly, with no cadence; markedly higher-pitched than Great Hornbill Buceros bicornis. — Craig Brelsford
THE HORNBILLS OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com covers all five members of the family Bucerotidae that occur in China. Click any link:
Great Hornbill Buceros bicornis
Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris
Austen’s Brown Hornbill Anorrhinus austeni
Rufous-necked Hornbill Aceros nipalensis
Wreathed Hornbill Rhyticeros undulatus
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daniel Bengtsson served as chief ornithological consultant for Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, from which this species description is drawn.
