The Life & Love
of the Indian Grey Hornbills
#intothewildwithrufus
#musings #birdnov2025
Are the Indian Grey Hornbills
and Common Grey Hornbills of the same species?
Also, are the Malabar Grey Hornbills and the Indian Grey Hornbills of the same species?
Read to find out… 😊
These memorable snapshots of
the Indian Grey Hornbill that I had taken quite recently, form part of my
prized birding archives of all time.
It’s indeed a rarity to spot these
Indian Grey Hornbills in such close quarters, giving a darshan ‘exclusively’
for my Sony lens 😊 for such a
long time.
Well, there are a lot of
takeaways from the life and living of the Indian Grey Hornbill.
Bulbul Sharma, legendary
painter and writer based out of New Delhi, has spent a lifetime exploring the
gardens, parks and forest areas in and around Delhi. She has written a
delightful book based on her wanderings.
From Grey Hornbills and Roseringed
Parakeets in Lodi Gardens to the handsome resident Indian Eagle-owl at
Tughlakabad Fort, she recounts her observations of all manner of birds and
animals with the zeal of a true nature lover in her book titled, Sunbirds in the Morning, Grey Hornbills at Dusk.
I wish to quote from her
observations of the Grey Hornbill –
During summer afternoons
when the heat is turning Delhi’s streets into a furnace and most people are
indoors, the male Grey Hornbill flies around looking for food for his wife.
This clumsy looking bird with a huge curved beak is a devoted husband.
The Grey Hornbill, a purely
Indian species, has a complicated lifestyle. The female lays her eggs in the
hollow of a tree, usually peepal or banyan, and then sets about building a wall
with her own droppings.
She uses her heavy beak like a trowel
to flatten the plaster and to seal the entrance to the hollow but she cleverly
leaves a tiny crack open.
Now she is a self-made
prisoner.
The male searches around for the
best berries and brings them back to his mate. Then he proceeds to feed her
through the crack in the plaster.
The female stays captive in this ‘nest’ till
the eggs hatch though she takes great care to keep her home clean by throwing
out rubbish through the tiny slit window. Then one fine sunny day in summer she
breaks open the plaster and emerges into the fresh air.
At first she looks a bit dazed by
the sunlight but soon recovers her poise and the happy hornbill pair
congratulate each other for successfully bringing into this world yet another
brood.
I wonder if the Grey Hornbill
fledglings ever acknowledge their mother’s sacrifice to hatch them in such
total security or do they like most teenagers say, ‘What did you ever do for
us?’
observes Bulbul Sharma.
Interestingly, the Malabar Grey Hornbill (MGH) and the Indian Grey Hornbill (IGH) are two distinct
species of hornbill, even though their names and overall grey appearance are
very similar.
 |
Source: Birds of the
Indian Subcontinent by Richard, Carol and Tim |
They both belong to the same
genus, Ocyceros, but are separate species with clear differences in their
distribution and physical features.
The Malabar Grey Hornbill is
endemic to the Western Ghats and associated hills of Southern India (dense
forest habitat), whereas the Indian Grey Hornbill is widespread across the
Indian subcontinent in the plains and northern, central, and eastern parts of
India (more adaptable to open woodlands and even urban areas).
Also, the Malabar Grey Hornbill
lacks a prominent casque (the helmet-like structure). The bill is simply large
and curved, while the Indian Grey Hornbill can be easily identified by its
small, prominent, pointed casque that extends to the point of curvature on the
bill.
In addition, the MGH prefers dense,
moist evergreen forests and hilly tracts, while the IGH prefers dry deciduous
forests, open woodlands, and is often found in urban parks and gardens.
On a ‘historical’ note, I should
confess that, whenever I look up these lovely books for authentic information for our birding adventures, I am always extra curious to know the legendary Salim Ali’s take on the ‘birds’
that we spotted, as well.
That’s because, Salim Ali, the renowned Indian ornithologist and naturalist, famously known as the Birdman of
India, is also in high renown for his celebrated work titled, The Book of
Indian Birds, that was first published in the year 1941.
Published by the Bombay
Natural History Society (BNHS), the book quickly became a landmark volume,
sparking widespread popular interest in ornithology across India. The book has
been continually revised and remains a standard field guide for bird
enthusiasts in the subcontinent.
Added, the book has real-time
historical references to some of the modern nomenclatures associated with most
of the birds that are native to the Indian subcontinent.
And so in all curiosity, I looked
up this book for his notes on the Grey Hornbill.
To my surprise, the Indian
Grey Hornbill was originally referred to as the “Common Grey Hornbill” - an
older name for the bird that is now most widely known as the Indian Grey
Hornbill.
Since the bird is found
throughout the Indian subcontinent (India, Nepal, Bangladesh, parts of
Pakistan), the newer name “Indian Grey Hornbill” stuck to it!
You may want to watch a
lovely and memorable video on YouTube Shorts, that we had shot during our
darshan of the Indian Grey Hornbill, quite recently in Pench, Madhya Pradesh,
HERE.
All photos (c) this blogger 😊
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