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Hornbills Namibia (1 Viewer)

Andy Hurley

Andy Hurley

Gotta love nature!
Opus Editor
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Scotland
Hi,
I'm having trouble id'ing these Hornbills from the Onduruquea Guestfarm near Omaruru in Namibia. One has dark cheeks which idicate Southern Red-Billed Hornbill but it also has dark eyes which indicate Damara Hornbill or is it a juvenile SRBH? The second, which I think might be a female because of the lack of neck feathers (after nesting) has a white cheek but a darkish neck and dark eyes. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also Sasol refers to the Damara Hornbill whereas Opus calls it a Damara Red-Billed Hornbill. Which is correct?

Thanks
 

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The first photo is Damara. The white cheek and the noticeable yellow base to the lower mandible ( SRBH has a more orange-red base ). The dark eye vs yellow eye only really works if the pupil isn't fully expanded and there appears to be some shade on the head. I'm still struggling with the second one. On nomenclature, I suppose as the RBH's form a distinct group of Hornbills Damara Red-billed and Southern Red-billed Hornbill would be best.

Chris
 
Thanks Chris,
so its the cheek that has to be white for DRBH and if its dark its SRBH? I take your point about pupil dilation, something I should have thought about myself. Actually on range, I'm not sure if they overlap at that location, its a bit tricky with such a small range map covering such a large area.
 
njlarsen said:
According to this Avibase page both Clements and IOC include Red-billed in the name that starts with Damara.

Niels
Click to expand...

Thanks Niels,
I'll include it as well in that case

Edit: According to the link you provided there are several english alternative names listed, all very confusing. I should really check what Opus uses because its here that I get advice and info and it should be my common denominator
 
Last edited:
Andy Hurley said:
Thanks Niels,
I'll include it as well in that case

Edit: According to the link you provided there are several english alternative names listed, all very confusing. I should really check what Opus uses because its here that I get advice and info and it should be my common denominator
Click to expand...

You are correct there are many names listed in the little reddish box. If you look in the list (on white) starting with "Authorities recognizing this taxonomic concept:" I think you will only find "Damara Red-billed Hornbill" for those authorities currently recognizing it as a full species.

By the way, I am curious when Denis will include H&M4 in his listings.

Niels
 
Andy, I had similar problems to you concerning these two species, and I figured it was because there are many hybrid Southern Red-billed x Damaras in north/central Namibia. Agree the first bird looks pretty classic Damara (or I'd have it anyway! ;)). eg, a classic Damara site in the middle of Etosha was populated by an array of these types, most of which looked variously intermediate between classic birds I'd seen elsewhere, and the same went for Roy's camp further to the northeast of the park. I think these taxa were once lumped, along with a few other red-billed hornbills, and we've got a bit of a Dusky/Naumann's thing going on in some of their borderlands.
 
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