Bucorvus abyssinicus
Silhouette: Gordon E. Robertson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
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 |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Ground Hornbill sighting in Niokolo-Koba National Park on a given day, based on 132 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 89th most-seen of the 215 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March, August and November–December
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Ground Hornbill in Niokolo-Koba National Park on a given day, against about 10% in April and September, the lowest months. May–July and October 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.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Northern Ground Hornbill sightings, Niokolo-Koba National Park ranks 3rd at about 20%. The best odds are in Murchison Falls National Park (Uganda, about 60%) and Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 50%).
Same order: Bucerotiformes
The closest relatives of the Northern Ground Hornbill that you can see in Niokolo-Koba National Park (order Bucerotiformes, Hornbills and Hoopoes) are Western Red-billed Hornbill (about 60%), Green Wood Hoopoe (about 50%) and African Grey 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 Niokolo-Koba National Park (132 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.
