A northern red-billed hornbill (Tockus erythrorhynchus, in the family Bucerotidae), in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya, East Africa. It is found from southern Mauritania through Somalia and northeast Tanzania. During incubation, the female lays three to six white eggs in a tree hole, which is blocked off with a plaster of mud, droppings and fruit pulp. There is only one narrow aperture, just big enough for the male to transfer food to the mother and the chicks. When the chicks and the female are too big for the nest, the mother breaks out and rebuilds the wall. Then both parents feed the chicks. They are omnivorous, taking insects, fruit and seeds. They feed mainly on the ground and will form flocks outside of breeding season. // Samburu National Reserve is a game reserve on the banks of the Ewaso Ng'iro river in Samburu County, Kenya, offering several safari lodges and camp. South of the river is Buffalo Springs National Reserve. The Samburu National Reserve was one of the two areas in which conservationists George and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the Lioness, made famous in the best-selling book and award-winning movie Born Free. The two major rainfall seasons typical to Kenya also loosely apply to Samburu, with the months from April to May and September to November seeing brief rainly spells accompanied by hours of sunshine. The Samburu people are nilotic, semi-nomadic shepherds who live in north-central Kenya.
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