Lobed birds

Lobed birds
Huia ( Heteralocha acutirostris ) † Illustration by John Gerrard Keulemans from A History of the Birds of New Zealand, 1905
Systematics
Class : Birds (aves) without rank: Neornithes Subclass : Neognathae Order : Passerines (Passeriformes) Subordination : Songbirds (passeri) Family : Lobed birds
Scientific name
Callaeidae
Sundevall , 1836

The lobes (Callaeidae) are a family in the order of the passerine birds (Passeriformes). Ragbirds were once widespread in the forests of New Zealand . Today, the three or four surviving species are only found in areas that the human-introduced fox kusu ( Trichosurus vulpecula ), which prey on eggs, young birds and breeding specimens of the lobsters, has not yet reached.

features

Lobed birds have gray or shiny black plumage, which in the two Philesturnus species is supplemented by chestnut brown sections on the back and under the tail. The trunk is cylindrical-oval, the wings are short to medium-long, the tail is long and rounded at the end. Legs and feet are of medium length and strong. The family was named after the fleshy, brightly colored skin flaps on both sides of the beak. The sexes of the species still alive today look the same, with Huia they differ in the shape of the beak.

Habitat and way of life

Rag birds live in pristine, old forests with dense undergrowth. Lobed crows ( Callaeas ) feed mainly on fruits and leaves, which they look for high up in the tree tops, as well as insects, whereby the insect portion of the food increases significantly during the breeding season. Saddle birds ( Philesturnus ) mainly eat insects, and, depending on availability, also fruit and nectar. They tend to look for their food near the forest floor and under loose bark of large trunks and branches. Lobbirds are monogamous and stay together for several years. The cup-shaped nest consists of small twigs and finer material and is only built by the female, who is solely responsible for the breeding business, which lasts 18 to 20 days. A clutch consists of two to three eggs. Young saddle birds leave the nest after about 25 days, young ragged crows after about 37 days.

Genera and species

There are three genera with five species in this family .

• Callaeas
  • South Island rag or South Island kokako ( Callaeas cinerea )
  • North Island rag or North Island kokako ( Callaeas wilsoni )
• Philesturnus
  • Südinsel saddle bird , Südinsel saddleback, Südinsel lappenstar or Südinsel-Tieke ( Philesturnus carunculatus )
  • North Island saddle bird, North Island saddle back, North Island Lappenstar or North Island Tieke ( Philesturnus rufusater )
• Heteralocha
  • Huia or Lappenhopf ( Heteralocha acutirostris ) †

The Huia is extinct, the South Island ragged crow is critically endangered or may already be extinct, the other three species are endangered. To blame for this were and are the introduced fox cusus , predators and rodents , hunting and the destruction of their habitat, among other things by forest fires. The Māori hunt for the Huia reduced the population significantly early on. In particular, the black tail feathers with white tips served the tribal chiefs as headdresses.

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  North Island ragged crow (with blue skin flaps), South Island ragged crow (with orange skin flaps)

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  South Island saddle bird

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  North Island Saddle Bird

supporting documents

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} David W. Winkler, Shawn M. Billerman, Irby J. Lovette: Bird Families of the World - An Invitation to the Spectacular Diversity of Birds. Lynx Edicions and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2015, ISBN 978-84-941892-0-3 . Page 393 a. 394.
2. ↑ Australasian babblers, logrunners, satinbirds, painted berrypeckers, wattlebirds, whipbirds in the IOC World Bird List
3. ↑ Winkler, DW, SM Billerman, and IJ Lovette (2020). Wattlebirds (Callaeidae) , version 1.0. In Birds of the World (SM Billerman, BK Keeney, PG Rodewald, and TS Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. doi: 10.2173 / bow.callae1.01

Web links

Commons : Callaeidae  - collection of images, videos, and audio files