Palawan Hornbill

The Palawan Hornbill locally known as Talusi, is large bird approximately 28 inches long and weighing about 750 grams. It is one of the 11 endemic hornbills in the Philippines, only found in Palawan and nearby islands of Balabac, Busuanga, Calauit, Culion and Coron. Its plumage is entirely black except for a white tail and a long, thick, pale cream-colored bill and casque. Whitish bare skin around the eyes and across the throat is tinged blue. Female has a smaller bill and casque that made it unmistakable to male. Its voice is raucous cackling which can be transcribed as kaaww and kreik-kreik. It is usually seen in pairs or small noisy family groups, and it has a communal roosting site.

It inhabits primary and secondary tall forest tree, mangrove swamps and forest edge up to 900 meters above sea level. It has also occasionally been recorded visiting farmland and cultivations. It requires large trees for nesting. While they can tolerate secondary forest, they have the highest population densities and health in old-growth forest.

The Palawan hornbill consumes mostly fruit, but also occasional insects and small reptiles. Due to its large size and home range, it is an important vector of seed dispersal for large-seeded trees. Many ground-dwelling seed-eating mammals live beneath such trees, and in areas where hornbills have become rare, consume such a large percentage of the fallen seeds that they threaten the trees survival.

Scientific Name: Anthracoceros marchei
Family: Bucerotidae

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palawan_hornbill