This large, incredibly cool species is a common resident in lowland, coastal and riverine evergreen forests.

So what makes a trumpeter hornbill cool? Well, it is the second biggest hornbill in southern Africa (not that cool), it has a fabulously big bill (pretty cool) and it sounds like a bundle of babies crying (fabulously cool).

We first recorded this “wailer” in April 2010 while staying at Kosi Bay Forest Lodge in northern KwaZulu Natal.