Rufous-necked Hornbill

The rufous-necked hornbill is among the largest hornbills, about 117 cm long. The underparts, neck and head are rich rufous in the male and black in the female, the middle primaries and lower half of the tail are tipped white, and the rest of the plumage is glossy dark green and black. The upper bill has dark ridges that are absent in the young and increase in number with age up to about seven (Wikipedia, general species account).

It has the northernmost distribution of its group, from north-east India, especially Arunachal Pradesh, and central Bhutan to western Thailand and north-western Vietnam, mainly in temperate broadleaf and mixed forest at 150–2,200 m. It is locally extinct in Nepal because of hunting and habitat loss, and fewer than 10,000 adults are thought to remain. The nesting period is March to June in tall, broad-girthed trees, and birds move between forests seasonally to forage on fruiting trees. SoIB 2023 rates it a High conservation priority, with a Restricted range of about 18,300 km² (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).