Ocyceros griseus
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The Malabar gray hornbill (Ocyceros griseus) is a hornbill endemic to the Western Ghats and associated hills of southern India. They have a large beak but lack the casque that is prominent in some other hornbill species. They are found mainly in dense forest and around rubber, arecanut or coffee plantations. They move around in pairs or small groups, feeding on figs and other forest fruits. Their loud cackling and laughing call makes them familiar to people living in the region.
The Malabar grey hornbill is a large bird, but at 45 to 58 cm (18 to 23 in) in length it is still the smallest of the Asian hornbills. It has a 23 cm (9.1 in) tail and pale or yellowish to orange bill. Males have a reddish bill with a yellow tip, while the females have a plain yellow bill with black at the base of the lower mandible and a black stripe along the culmen. They show a broad whitish superciliary band above the eye, running down to the neck. They fly with a strong flap and glide flight and hop around heavily on the outer branches of large fruiting trees. They have brown-grey wings, a white carpal patch and black primary flight feathers tipped with white. The Indian grey hornbill... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Periyar National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Malabar Grey Hornbill sighting in Bandipur National Park on a given day, based on 63 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 124th most-seen of the 256 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December and January
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Malabar Grey Hornbill in Bandipur National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April and June–November, the lowest months. Those are among Bandipur National Park's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain a month against 210 mm in July.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Malabar Grey Hornbill sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Malabar Grey Hornbill sightings, Bandipur National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Periyar National Park (India, about 60%) and Nagarhole National Park (India, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Malabar Grey Hornbill is recorded against all the birds logged in Bandipur National Park (63 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.
