Thicket birds
| Thicket birds | ||||||||||||
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Brown-bellied thicket bird ( Atrichornis clamosus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
| Atrichornithidae | ||||||||||||
| Stejneger , 1885 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Atrichornis | ||||||||||||
| Stejneger, 1885 |
The thicket birds ( Atrichornis ) are a genus of shy ground-dwelling birds in the order of the passerine birds (Passeriformes). Their family, the Atrichornitidae, are monogeneric, i. This means that it includes only the thicket birds as the only genus and is therefore also called thicket birds in German-speaking countries. Two species belong to it, the rust-bellied thicket bird ( Atrichornis rufescens ) and the brown-bellied thicket bird ( Atrichornis clamosus ). Both are very rare and have a small area of distribution in Australia ; one of the two species was considered extinct for a long time before it was rediscovered in 1961.
The thicket birds are a very old family, most closely related to the lyre tails, as well as the bower birds and tree slides .
The two species are about the size of a starling (approx. 20 cm) with inconspicuous brown and black plumage. The rust-bellied thicket bird lives in the rainforests in the coastal border area of New South Wales and Queensland , the brown-bellied thicket bird in a small area in the bushland in southern Western Australia . They are bad fliers who live mainly in the undergrowth and scrub.
The males have a very loud call that can be heard over long distances. The females build arched nests close to the ground and take care of raising the young on their own.
species
- Rust-bellied thicket bird ( Atrichornis rufescens )
- Brown-bellied thicket bird ( Atrichornis clamosus )
literature
- Simpson &, Day: Field Guide to the Birds of Australia a Book of Identification . ISBN 0-7470-3023-5
