Brown ear pheasant
| Brown ear pheasant | ||||||||||
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Brown ear pheasant ( Crossoptilon mantchuricum ) |
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| Crossoptilon mantchuricum | ||||||||||
| Swinhoe , 1863 |
The Brown hoki ( Crossoptilon mantchuricum ) is a bird art from the family of pheasant-like . It is endemic to northern China , where it occurs in the mountains in the north and northwest of the Chinese provinces of Hebei , Shanxi and Shaanxi, as well as in an area near Beijing . Contrary to its specific epithet, the brown ear pheasant does not occur in Manchuria . It is classified by the IUCN as endangered ("vulnerable"). Subspecies are not described.
description
The sexes of the pheasant, which is 96 cm long, do not differ in terms of coloration. The parting is velvet black, the featherless area around the eye is intense red. The iris is light reddish brown, the beak reddish horn-colored. The chin and throat as well as the cheek feathers and the ear covers are white, the latter, as in the case of the blue ear pheasant, lengthened to two tufts of feathers protruding back over the hops. The black of the neck blends into brown on the front back and shoulders, which also extends over the underside. The back, rump, and tail-coverts are silver-white. The upper wing coverts and arm wings show a purple sheen. The approx. 55 cm long tail consists of 22 control feathers , the basal section of which is gray-whitish and the black-brown, distal part shines purple-blue. While the flags of the outer control feathers are still quite closed, they become more and more tattered and hair-like with those towards the middle. The middle pair arches over the rest of the tail. The legs are dark red.
The wing length of this species is 306 mm, the weight of the roosters between 1.7 and 2 kg, that of the hens between 1.5 and 1.75 kg.
voice
The calls of this kind are high, loud and hoarse. At courtship time you can hear a wiijah wiijah wiijah from the roosters . In addition, a trip-crrrrr-ah of variable length is described.
Distribution and existence
The brown ear pheasant only occurs in a few disjoint areas, three of which are in Shanxi Province (including Lüliang Shan ), one in Hebei Province, one in central Shaanxi and one near Beijing. Four of the areas are nature reserves. The species was already considered extinct due to reenactments and the destruction of its habitats, until residual deposits were discovered in Xiao Wutai Shan in Shanxi and placed under protection. The population in reserves was recently estimated at 5,000 individuals, but since there are probably other occurrences outside the reserves, according to further estimates it could be 17,000. Since unknown occurrences have been reported recently, the number could be even higher.
Way of life
The brown ear pheasant occurs in coniferous and mixed forests at altitudes between 1700 and 2.600 m, in winter it migrates to lower altitudes up to 1100 m. The winter troops of this species consist of 20 to 50 animals. The breeding season is between April and June and the troops are then divided into pairs. The clutch consists of 5–8 stone-gray, sometimes slightly green or brownish playing eggs of 53 × 39 mm in size. They show a dull sheen and are incubated for 26 to 27 days.
literature
- Heinz-Sigurd Raethel : Chicken birds of the world. Verlag J. Neumann-Neudamm GmbH & Co. KG, Melsungen 1988, ISBN 3-7888-0440-8 .
Individual evidence
Web links
- Crossoptilon mantchuricum in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed on 30 September, 2010.
- BirdLife species factsheet
- Videos, photos and sound recordings for Crossoptilon mantchuricum in the Internet Bird Collection
- Photos of Crossoptilon mantchuricum in the Oriental Bird Club image database , accessed on September 30, 2010