Bucorvus abyssinicus
Silhouette: Gordon E. Robertson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The Abyssinian ground hornbill or northern ground hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus) is an African bird, found north of the equator, and is one of two species of ground hornbill. It is the second largest species of African hornbill, only surpassed by the slightly larger southern ground hornbill.
The Abyssinian ground hornbill was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Buceros abyssinicus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The type locality is Ethiopia. The Abyssinian ground hornbill is now placed in the genus Bucorvus that was introduced, originally as a subgenus, by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1830. The species is monotypic. The generic name is derived from the name of the genus Buceros introduced... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 4 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Ground Hornbill sighting in Awash National Park on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 150th most-seen of the 217 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Ground Hornbill in Awash National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, July and December–January, the lowest months. February–March, May and September have too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Northern Ground Hornbill sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Northern Ground Hornbill sightings, Awash National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Murchison Falls National Park (Uganda, about 60%), Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 50%) and Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal, about 20%).
Same order: Bucerotiformes
The closest relatives of the Northern Ground Hornbill that you can see in Awash National Park (order Bucerotiformes, Hornbills and Hoopoes) are African Grey Hornbill (about 50%), Common Hoopoe (about 50%) and Northern Red-billed Hornbill (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Northern Ground Hornbill is recorded against all the birds logged in Awash National Park (16 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
