Austen's Brown Hornbill

Austen's brown hornbill, also called the white-throated brown hornbill, is a medium-sized hornbill of forests from north-eastern India to Vietnam and northern Thailand. It has dark brown upperparts with a lighter belly, cheeks and throat, white tips to the tail and wings, and blue bare skin around the eyes. The bill and casque are ivory white in females and cream in males, and the female has a yellow wash below the eye. The male is 73–80 cm long and weighs 710–900 g (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is rare throughout its range and threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation. It has been observed up to 1,000 m in India. Compared with other hornbills it is an animal specialist, spending more time hunting animals below the canopy, though it also eats fruit; animal matter is 40–79% of its diet. Non-breeding offspring stay in a social group with their parents, and the birds make loud screams, croaks, squeals and a nasal ank-ank-ank call. SoIB 2023 rates it a Moderate conservation priority, with a Restricted range of about 9,500 km² (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).