Birds with horrifying skeletal anatomy. From left to right are the skeletons of a white-throated toucan (Ramphastos tucanus), a great hornbill (Buceros bicornis), and an Australian pelican (Pelecanus conspiclatus).
The first time I saw a helmeted hornbill, I screamed. It wasn’t a fear scream, don’t get me wrong. It was a surprised scream. It just…it caught me off guard, is all. Their big heavy heads are like a hammer and chisel in one, and they use them to dig around in tree bark to find insects. I have a theory that they also use them to dig around in your dreams looking for your deepest fears, but it hasn’t been verified yet. Also their calls sound like maniacal laughter, which is seriously not okay out of an animal that looks like Freddy fucking Krueger.
The southern ground hornbill is one of two species of ground hornbill and is the largest species of hornbill. This is a large bird, at 90 to 129 cm long. Southern ground hornbills can be found from northern Namibia and Angola to northern South Africa to Burundi and Kenya. They require a savanna habitat with large trees for nesting and dense but short grass for foraging.The southern ground hornbill is a vulnerable species, mainly confined to national reserves and national parks. They live in groups of 5 to 10 individuals including adults and juveniles. Southern ground hornbill groups are very vocal: contact is made by calls in chorus which can usually be heard at distances of up to 3 kilometres.
TheBirdsong Volume III Kickstarter has launched - A Guide to the Birdsong of Western Africa from @shikashikacollective pairs musicians and imperiled birds from the region to raise money for conservation. I will be contributing illustrations for the highlighted species, including the Yellow-Casqued Hornbill shown here.
Some more of my inktober drawings! My first brush pen is already almost dead (to be fair, it’s also ancient, so it may retire early) so I bought another… the old pen will be used for “shading” since I can’t get flow out of it any more.
