Blyth's Hornbill - British Solomon Islands

Blyth's Hornbill

Country: British Solomon Islands
Date of Issue: 01.03.1967   Surcharge on 1965
Series Name: Definitive
Condition: Mint
Face Value: 35 cents
Bird Name:  Blyth's Hornbill    Rhyticeros plicatus

Collectors Corner:This stamp is a surcharged issue of 1965 issue. There were two other surcharged issue of 1965 issue but has watermark sideways and upright. This issue has no watermark. I would like to thank Mr Pramod Bhat, Navi Mumbai for arranging this stamp for me.

Blyth's Hornbill  - Rhyticeros plicatus
(Papuan Hornbill)

Status: Lesat Concerned
Habitat: Lowland Rainforests - Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands
Threats: Deforestation and hunting.

Diet: Fruits, figs, insects and small animals.
 
Features:  Up to 91 cm in length, the adult male has a mainly black plumage with a golden or orange-buff coloured head, white throat and a white tail.
Its irises are reddish brown, surrounded by naked pale blue skin around the eye. The female is a smaller predominantly black bird with a white throat and tail. Both sexes have a very large, horn-coloured, bill and casque (a large display growth on the upper bill). Both sexes of young birds resemble the male. Adults have up to eight folds on the pale casque, depending on age, while young birds have none.
 
Facts:
It  is subject to hunting pressure by some tribal groups, with its feathers used in headdresses, its bill being valued as a personal adornment, and the lower mandible used as a spear point.
It is the only hornbill bird in Papua New Guinea