Bycanistes brevis
Silhouette: Charles J. Sharp and T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The silvery-cheeked hornbill (Bycanistes brevis) is a large species of hornbill found in Africa. Silvery-cheeked hornbills are residents of the tall evergreen forests of East Africa from Ethiopia to South Africa. In Zimbabwe it is threatened by habitat destruction and its presence in South Africa is marginal, but it remains locally fairly common, especially in the northern and central parts of its range.
It measures 75 to 80 centimetres (30 to 31 in) in length, and has a very large cream-colored casque on the beak. The head is silver-grey and the rest of the plumage is iridescent black, except for the white rump, lower back, thighs, vent and tip of the outer tail-feathers. The sexes are similar except the female has a smaller casque and reddish skin around the eyes.
It is omnivorous, feeding on fruits, insects, small birds, rodents, small reptiles and centipedes. Usually they live in pairs and sometimes roost in flocks of hundreds of individuals. They breed in spring (September and October; at least in part of its range) and lay clutches of one to three white eggs, incubated for 40 days. The young remain with both parents for about 80 days... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lake Manyara National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Aberdare National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Silvery-cheeked Hornbill sighting in Tarangire National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 391st most-seen of the 411 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Silvery-cheeked Hornbill in Tarangire National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Silvery-cheeked Hornbill sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Silvery-cheeked Hornbill sightings, Tarangire National Park ranks 6th at under 5%. The best odds are in Lake Manyara National Park (Tanzania, about 60%), Arusha National Park (Tanzania, about 40%) and Aberdare National Park (Kenya, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Bucerotidae
The closest relatives of the Silvery-cheeked Hornbill that you can see in Tarangire National Park (family Bucerotidae, Hornbills) are Northern Red-billed Hornbill (about 80%), Von der Decken's Hornbill (about 70%) 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 Silvery-cheeked Hornbill is recorded against all the birds logged in Tarangire National Park (6 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.
