Malabar Pied Hornbill

Malabar Pied Hornbill

Anthracoceros coronatus

Silhouette: Rohit N · PhyloPic

LCNTNear ThreatenedVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~80% · Very likely
at Wilpattu National Park

In 3 days >90%

447 Verified sightings at Wilpattu National Park From 2019 to 2026
2,730 In all 9 parks
October Best month
🌅 Crepuscular When it's spotted

About the Malabar Pied Hornbill

The Malabar pied hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus), also known as the lesser pied hornbill, is a bird in the hornbill family, a family of tropical near-passerine birds found in the Old World. The Malabar pied 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 coronatus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The Malabar pied hornbill is now placed in the genus Anthracoceros that was introduced by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1849. The species is monotypic. The generic name combines the Ancient Greek anthrax, meaning "coal black" and kerōs, meaning "horn". The specific epithet coronatus is Latin for "crowned".

The Malabar pied hornbill is a large hornbill, at 65... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:07

India · 2018

© Mandar Bhagat · XC417595 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Song0:57

India · 2016

© Ganesh R mandavkar · XC301622 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:30

India · 2009

© Pankaj Lad · XC214133 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Wilpattu National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~80%
2 Yala National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~70%
3 Udawalawe National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~40%
4 Minneriya National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~30%
5 Bandhavgarh National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
6 Satpura National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
7 Nagarhole National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
8 Kanha National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
9 Bandipur National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 清远长隆动物大越野 🇨🇳 China In captivity
2 Nehru Zoological Park 🇮🇳 India In captivity
3 Bronx Zoo 🇺🇸 United States In captivity
4 Jijamata Udyaan 🇮🇳 India In captivity
5 National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka In captivity
6 Taraporewala Aquarium 🇮🇳 India In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Malabar Pied Hornbill in Wilpattu National Park?

Very likely

About 80% of wildlife watchers report a Malabar Pied Hornbill sighting in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, based on 447 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 7th most-seen of the 169 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Malabar Pied Hornbill in Wilpattu National Park?

October

In that month about 90% of wildlife watchers report a Malabar Pied Hornbill in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, against about 70% in April, June, September and November–December, the lowest months. That is one of Wilpattu National Park's wettest months, with about 260 mm of rain against 40 mm in February.

What time of day is best to see a Malabar Pied Hornbill?

Between 3 and 6 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Malabar Pied Hornbill sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.

Is Wilpattu National Park the best place to see a Malabar Pied Hornbill?

Yes

Of the 9 parks where we can rate Malabar Pied Hornbill sightings, Wilpattu National Park has the highest daily chance: about 80%. Next come Yala National Park (Sri Lanka, about 70%) and Udawalawe National Park (Sri Lanka, about 40%). All parks ranked.

Where does the Malabar Pied Hornbill sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Malabar Pied Hornbill is recorded against all the birds logged in Wilpattu National Park (447 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.

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