Lophoceros nasutus
Silhouette: Charles J. Sharp and T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The African grey hornbill (Lophoceros nasutus) is a member of the hornbill family of mainly tropical near-passerine birds found in the Old World. It is a widespread resident breeder in much of sub-Saharan Africa and the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula. The African grey hornbill has escaped or been deliberately released into Florida, USA, but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and may only persist due to continuing releases or escapes.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the African grey hornbill in the fourth volume of his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name Le calao à bec noir du Sénégal and the Latin name Hydrocorax Senegalensis Melanorynchos. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognized by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson in his Ornithologie. Linnaeus included a terse description of the African grey hornbill, placed... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 2 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 3 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 4 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 5 | Lomé | 🇹🇬 Togo | |
| 6 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 8 | Lagos | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 9 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 10 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antwerp Zoo | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 2 | Liberec Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 3 | Parc des oiseaux | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Wrocław Zoological Garden | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 5 | Attica Zoological Park | 🇬🇷 Greece | |
| 6 | Bird Paradise | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 7 | Rainforest Wild Asia | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 8 | Reserva Zoológica Oasys MiniHollywood | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Las Águilas Jungle Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 10 | African Dawn Bird and Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 11 | World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 12 | Montecasino Bird Gardens | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 13 | Zoo Lagos | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 14 | Africarium | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 15 | Aquatopia | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 16 | terrarium ogrodu zoologicznego we Wrocławiu | 🇵🇱 Poland |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an African Grey Hornbill sighting in Nairobi National Park on a given day, based on 95 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 218th most-seen of the 371 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–May, October and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an African Grey Hornbill in Nairobi National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–February, June–September and November, the lowest months. Those are among Nairobi National Park's wettest months, with about 100 mm of rain a month against 15 mm in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Grey 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.
36th of 41
Of the 41 parks where we can rate African Grey Hornbill sightings, Nairobi National Park ranks 36th at about 10%. The best odds are in Waterberg Plateau Park (Namibia, about 70%), Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 70%) and Murchison Falls National Park (Uganda, about 70%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Grey Hornbill is recorded against all the birds logged in Nairobi National Park (95 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.
