Rufous-necked Hornbill

The rufous-necked hornbill is among the largest of the hornbills in its group, about 117cm long. The head, neck and lower body of the male are rich rufous, while the female is black, with white tips on the middle primaries and the end of the tail in both sexes. The rest of the plumage is glossy dark green and black. The upper beak carries dark ridges that increase with age, up to about seven (Wikipedia, general species account).

It has the northernmost distribution of its group, from north-east India and central Bhutan to western Thailand and north-western Vietnam, and lives mainly in temperate broadleaf and mixed forest at 150 to 2,200m. Nesting is from March to June in tall, broad-girthed trees, and groups move between forests to follow fruiting trees. It is locally extinct in Nepal through hunting and habitat loss, and fewer than 10,000 adults remain.