Samar hornbill
| Samar hornbill | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Penelopides samarensis | ||||||||||||
| Steere , 1890 |
The samar hornbill ( Penelopides samarensis ) is a species from the hornbill family (Bucerotidae). Its range is limited to some of the Philippine islands. Like all hornbills, the samar hornbill is a cave breeder. The female walls herself up in a tree hole during the breeding season. They and later the young birds are provided with food by the male.
Appearance
Samar hornbills are among the smaller hornbills. The body length is 45 centimeters. The male's tail is an average of 19.9 centimeters, while the female's tail is slightly shorter at 17.9 centimeters. The beak in the male is on average 10.1 centimeters long, that of the female is slightly shorter with an average of 8.1 centimeters. The two sexes also differ in weight. Males weigh an average of 509 grams, while the females weigh 422 grams. The sex dimorphism in this species is so pronounced that the sexes can be distinguished by field observation.
The males have yellowish-white plumage on the chest, neck and head. The rest of the body plumage is black. The upper tail-coverts are, however, pale red-brown. This is also the distinguishing feature of the Mindanao Tariktikhornvogel , as whose subspecies the Samar hornbill was classified for a long time. In females, on the other hand, the neck, chest and head are also feathered in black. Unfledged areas on the head are pale blue. In the males, however, the featherless areas around the eyes are beige, the skin on the throat is black. While the male has dark brown legs and feet, the female has black.
The samar hornbill is the only hornbill species in its range.
Distribution area and habitat
The samar hornbill occurs on the Philippine island of Samar and the much smaller islands of Leyte and Bohol . The topography of Samar is determined by a flat hilly terrain, which rises in the center to 800 meters above sea level. The largest river in Samar is the Catubig , which has its source in the northern center of the island and flows into the Philippine Sea. In the southeast of the island there is a karstified ridge; In this is the Sohoton Natural Bridge National Park , which is part of the Samar Natural Park . On all three islands, increasing deforestation is the key contributing factor to the species' endangerment. At the end of the 20th century the proportion of forests on Samar was still 30 percent, on Leyte still 20 percent and on Bohol 10 percent.
The samar hornbill is a forest-dwelling bird species. It inhabits primary forest and is particularly found in clearings and along the forest edges. As an exception, he also looks for isolated fruit-bearing trees if these are not too far from the forest.
Way of life
The way of life of the samar hornbill has so far only been examined superficially. He lives solitary or in pairs. Occasionally it can also be found in small groups of up to 12 individuals in fruit-bearing trees. Like the vast majority of hornbills, it is probably omnivorous . Figs play a major role in its diet, and it probably also eats arthropods and small vertebrates.
Two females in breeding mood were observed in April and May. A samar hornbill kept in captivity laid a clutch of three eggs. In captive individuals, both partner birds were involved in walling up the entrance to the nest box. The female left the breeding cave before the young birds had fledged. This behavior is found in many species of hornbills.
literature
- W. Grummt , H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds. Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 .
- Alan Kemp: The Hornbills - Bucerotiformes . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1995, ISBN 0-19-857729-X .