African Grey Hornbill
Grautoko ( Tockus nasutus )
- T. nasutus epirhinus, ( Sundevall, 1850)
The Grautoko ( Tockus nasutus ), also called Weißschopftoko, is an African bird that belongs to the hornbills ( Bucerotidae ).
Appearance
The Grautoko is 43 to 48 cm long and thus belongs to one of the smaller Tokoarten. He, like all tokos a long tail and a long, curved beak. Its plumage is mainly light gray - brown. The top of the head and belly are whitish. The cheeks and tail are darker. He has a bright line on the back, which is only visible in flight. The beak has a little horn and the male is black, with a bright strip at the base of the upper mandible. In the female, the beak is yellow at the base and is maroon forward.
Except for the color of the beak to the same gender. When the young birds the plumage is uniformly gray.
Dissemination
The Grautoko sub-Saharan widespread. The area stretches from Senegal in the west to Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, and also includes the south of the Arabian Peninsula along the coast. In eastern Africa, its range extends across Uganda, Kenya, southern Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe to the west to the north of South Africa and extends over Botswana and northeastern Namibia to the south of Angola.
Food
The diet consists of insects, small reptiles, fruits and seeds.
Behavior
The female lays two to four eggs in a tree hole, which closes it with clay, manure and fruit pulp. Only a small hole, just big enough for the males feed can by pass for the female and the chicks remains. Thus, the cavity remains clean the manure is thrown through the opening to the outside. When the chicks are too large for the cavity along with the mother breaks this on the lid and leave the cave. The closure is made again and both parents feed the young.
Unlike many other Tokoarten the Grautokos keep mostly in trees and rarely fly to the ground. The flight is undulating and the striking bird makes its presence through multiple iterations of his "pie -huh " call attention.