On Kololo Game Reserve, we have many different species of birds, but one of the most interesting birds is the hornbill.

You can always see by the way that they fly that it is a hornbill, they go up and down like a wave, this type of flight is also known as ‘dipping flight’.

They make the funniest but most beautiful sounds.

On Kololo we have 1specie, the Grey hornbill. South Africa is home to 9 species of Hornbills.

It is fascinating how they are making their nests.

They make their nest in a tree hole, in which the female will plug out all her feathers and the male will close the hole with mud and fesses leaving only a small hole for the female to defecate and for the male to feed her and the new hatchlings.

The hatchlings legs develop very fast so that they can reach the hole to get the food out of the opening and defecate out of the nests opening.

When the strongest hatchling is big enough and ready to fly the female opens the hole and they are ready to get airborne.

I’ve rescued a hornbill from the restaurant that flew in and sat behind the dishwasher.

That is how I know they have sharp, hard bills (that can bite very hard).

Ps. Next time you walk under a tree watch out for the defecating hornbills.