Rhinoceros Hornbill

I've seen rhinoceros hornbills at three zoos.

Kirana at the Toledo Zoo in 2018. Females have white eyes.

 

Andaru at the Toledo Zoo in 2019. Males have red eyes.

Cincinnati Zoo in 2021

A juvenile at the Minnesota Zoo in 2024

Kirana and Andaru have lived at the Toledo Zoo since 2008. They seem to be compatible, but there have been no chicks.

In January, 2025, the missing gardener and I attended a rhinoceros hornbill keeper talk. The keeper was inside the enclosure, tossing grapes to the birds, and he said the hornbills have excellent beak-eye coordination. He also explained that their upper and lower mandibles meet only at the tips of their beaks, so they catch the grapes at the tips and toss them into their mouths. I don't have shots of that, but I did catch a silvery-cheeked hornbill's toss in 2023.

Here, Kirana and Andaru share a tender moment and a grape:

Toledo November 12

This bear, either Crystal or Nuka, was stretched-out and dozing, and I was in the right place when it opened its eyes.

A chuckwalla, a type of iguana

This female rhinoceros hornbill was preening. She and her exhibit-mate have lived at the Toledo Zoo for at least 20 years, but there have been no offspring.

A female Raggiana bird of paradise

A superb starling. To me, the spots on its wing look like jewels.

A female Swinhoe's pheasant

A blue-bellied roller, one of my favorite birds.

An adult and baby emperor tamarins under a heat lamp.

Birds in flight

My cousin sent me some pictures of flying birds from a magazine. I laughed to myself and replied that the birds in my photos are perching or standing, and for good reason: They weren't moving! Not long after I acquired a camera I made some attempts to capture a blue-bellied roller. I might be able to do better today, and I have caught a few more birds in flight.

Ross, a Lady Ross's turaco (Columbus Zoo)

Ross lives with the African grey parrots and is usually perched in the shade by the window of the building to which the parrots' aviary is attached, and he is a handsome fellow (click the link). I have some nice close-up head shots but nothing that shows his blue magnificence. I had visited his perching self a bunch of times over a year and was stunned when I saw him fly because the red is not visible when his wings are folded.

 

The Toledo Zoo has a pair of rhinoceros hornbills. They're active about half the time I see them, hopping from branch to branch. These are large birds and don't have a heckuvalot of space, but one day they were flying back and forth in opposite directions. I took some so-so pictures and then decided to try the camera's burst mode. I forget Nikon's official name for that, but the camera keeps taking pictures as long as the button is pressed. The shots are not great, but I got this sequence:

I didn't record whether this bald eagle at the Columbus Zoo had just taken off or was heading for a landing. The latter, I'd say.

I was walking from one part of the Columbus Zoo to another when I spotted this wild Cooper's (not sure) hawk. I took this picture and then the hawk took flight.

I got two shots, and here's one. (This might have been a good time for burst mode, but I didn't think of it and I would have been too slow to set the camera, anyway.) I suppose that other bird is thinking good riddance!