Malabar Pied-Hornbill

A large black-and-white hornbill with a huge bill and casque. The plumage is almost entirely black, but for the white on the belly and the sides of the throat. Sexes are alike, except that the female has a white patch around the eye. In flight, note the white tail with a black tip, and the black wings with a thin white bar in the middle and a thick white edge. It inhabits evergreen and deciduous forests and forest edges. Calls include loud and often maniacal-sounding clucking and braying.

The Malabar pied hornbill in Sri Lanka lives in dry zone forests, low country forests, and home gardens.

The Malabar Pied-Hornbill in Sri Lanka primarily feeds on a diet of fruits, with figs being a particularly important food source, alongside other fruits like those from the Strychnos nux-vomica tree; they may also occasionally eat small mammals, reptiles, insects, and young birds, making them omnivorous overall.