Absolute Hooligan - Hornbill Portraits by Sub Urban Bird Artist Tim Niall-Harris

Hornbills a wonderful characters of the bird world and maybe the original Absolute Hooligans I painted in the bird world. I have visited them as a subject on numerous occasions and they will continue to inspire new art works.

Painted in acrylic, spray paint ( Liquitex and Montana Gold spray paints ) graffiti cleaner, ink, dirt, remains of Highland midges and peat dust.

The hornbills (Bucerotidae) are a family of bird found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly colored and sometimes has a casque on the upper mandible. Both the common English and the scientific name of the family refer to the shape of the bill, "buceros" being "cow horn" in Greek. Hornbills have a two-lobed kidney. They are the only birds in which the first and second neck vertebrae (the atlas and axisrespectively) are fused together; this probably provides a more stable platform for carrying the bill. The family is omnivorous, feeding on fruit and small animals. They are monogamous breeders nesting in natural cavities in trees and sometimes cliffs. A number of species of hornbill are threatened with extinction, mostly insular species with small ranges.