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African grey hornbill


African grey hornbill
Photo Information
Copyright: Annick Vanderschelden (vanderschelden) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2710 W: 76 N: 6987] (27816)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-10-22
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark III, Canon 400mm 2.8 IS
Exposure: f/5.0, 1/1250 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Travelogue: Kruger National Park
Date Submitted: 2008-09-30 2:24
Viewed: 317
Points: 20
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
This is a male African grey hornbill. I believe, I spotted this hornbill species only once during my stay in Kruger National Park.
It's quite a crop, so the subject distance was a bit far away.
It's similarly sized compared to the Southern yellow-billed hornbill and the Red-billed hornbill.
A tad smaller than the Trumpeter hornbill
and the Crowned hornbill.
And of course much smaller than the Southern ground hornbill.
The two species I couldn't photograph in KNP are the Trumpeter hornbill and the Crowned hornbill.


wiki..
The African Grey Hornbill, Tockus nasutus, is a hornbill. Hornbills are a family of tropical near-passerine birds found in the Old World.

The African Grey Hornbill is a widespread and common resident breeder in much of sub-Saharan Africa and into Arabia.

This is a bird mainly of open woodland and savannah. The female lays two to four white eggs in a tree hollow, which is blocked off during incubation with a cement made of mud, droppings and fruit pulp. There is only one narrow aperture, just big enough for the male to transfer food to the mother and the chicks.

When the chicks and the female are too big to fit in the nest, the mother breaks out and rebuilds the wall, then both parents feed the chicks.

This species is a large bird, at 45cm in length, but is one of the smaller hornbills. It has mainly grey plumage, with the head, flight feathers and long tail being a darker shade. There is a white line down each side of the head and one on the back which is visible only in flight. The long curved bill is black and has a small casque and a creamy horizontal stripe.

Sexes are similar, but the male has a black bill, whereas the female has red on the mandibles. Immature birds are more uniformly grey. The flight is undulating. The similarly sized Red-billed Hornbill has uniformly grey plumage.

The African Grey Hornbill is omnivorous, taking insects, fruit and reptiles. It feeds mainly in trees.

This conspicuous bird advertises its presence with its piping pee-o pee-o pee-o call.
robindb, PaulH, crs, nglen, Juyona, rcrick, Evelynn has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi Annick,

Definitely a rare sighting. I have never seen the Grey, Trumpeter or crowned hornbills but will look out for them in future. Nice pose with good detail even although the light is from the back. Sharp with a highlight as well.

Robin

  • Great 
  • PaulH Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1064 W: 26 N: 3196] (11459)
  • [2008-09-30 3:17]

Hi Annick,
very cool shot, although you cropped it alot, it' still a real beauty. Very nice setting as always, a real nice mix of branches and twigs and leaves...
Paul

  • Great 
  • crs Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 398 W: 0 N: 624] (2513)
  • [2008-09-30 5:48]

Hello Annick,

Your photo has a very fine image showing good details in a very fine light. There is a fine match between bird's colors and the background. As you have used the light well there are many color tones to be seen in the image.

Thank you for sharing,
Cristian

  • Great 
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 2129 W: 9 N: 5957] (22516)
  • [2008-09-30 12:10]

Hi annick. It looks as if this Hornbill is posing for you with the way its head is turned. You have good detail and natural colours. Its colours blends in well with the BG. well done TFS.
Nick..

  • Great 
  • Juyona Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 2102 W: 6 N: 2113] (13565)
  • [2008-09-30 12:17]

Hola Annick,
bello ambiente natural,
selecto enfoque y detalles...
hermoso trabajo.
saludos

  • Great 
  • PeterZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1347 W: 72 N: 2864] (9457)
  • [2008-09-30 12:42]

Hallo Annick,
Mooie foto in een erg goede compositie en houding. Scherp als altijd. Ik heb deze ook nog een keer in de aanbieding.
Groet,
Peter

  • Great 
  • rcrick Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 647 W: 42 N: 1198] (3854)
  • [2008-09-30 21:09]

Hi Annick,

Super shot of this African grey hornbill. Excellent detail in the plumage, nice eye catch, well framed, t.f.s

Cheers Rick :)

  • Great 
  • Jamesp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1297 W: 0 N: 5080] (15138)
  • [2008-09-30 23:58]

Hi Annick

Great shot - lovely pose and excellent detail.

James

  • Great 
  • joey Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1874 W: 245 N: 6145] (21884)
  • [2008-10-01 14:25]

Hi Annick,
there are a lot of different Hornbills in Africa! :-)
This is a great capture of yet another different species.
Superb composition.
Very sharp, especially seeing as this was cropped a lot.
Great light.

Well done,
Joe

Good eye spotting this fellow amongst the similarly colored surroundings. You certainly had lots of resolution left after the crop. Nice work.

TFS
Evelynn : )

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