Flamehead bearded bird
| Flamehead bearded bird | ||||||||||||
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Flamehead bearded bird, males |
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| Trachyphonus erythrocephalus | ||||||||||||
| Cabanis , 1878 |
The red-and-yellow barbet ( Trachyphonus erythrocephalus ) is a bird art from the family of the African barbets. The strikingly colored species occurs in East Africa. Several subspecies are distinguished. The IUCN classifies the flamehead bearded bird as not endangered ( least concern ).
features
Body measurements
The males of the nominate form reach a wing length of 9.4 to 10.6 centimeters. The tail length is 8.3 to 9.2 centimeters. The beak reaches a length of 2.3 to 3.0 centimeters. Females have similar body dimensions. Flamehead bearded birds weigh an average of 60 grams. Sex dimorphism is present, but not very pronounced.
Appearance
The forehead and crown of the males are black, they also have a small feather hood on the back of the head. The neck is red-orange and yellow with black spots. The over-eye stripe is yellow, the ear covers are orange. At the level of the actual ear opening there is a white, crescent-shaped stripe. The top of the body is black and has large, white spots. The feathers of the upper tail cover are orange with yellow tips. The control feathers are black-brown with a yellowish to creamy white cross band.
The chin is yellow in most individuals, with a black spot in the center of the throat that widens towards the chest. The center of the breast is orange or red-orange and becomes more yellowish on the sides. A narrow black band with large white spots runs across the middle of the chest. The rest of the underside of the body is yellow. The flanks are yellowish-gray to gray-white. The feathers of the under tail cover are red with narrow yellow tips. The beak, which is large in relation to body size, is red, reddish horn-colored or purple horn-colored. The featherless region around the eyes is dark gray to black. The eyes are yellowish-brown to red-brown or dark brown. The legs and feet are slate gray to bluish gray.
The females usually lack the black throat spot and usually also the black top part. At this point they are mostly yellow-orange to orange-yellow. Overall, females are more dull in color than males and have more yellow and white in their plumage. Fledglings are also paler than the adult males. Young males still have a gray-yellow throat and are a little more yellowish overall. In both sexes, the black is more brownish, the spots on the dark upper plumage are cream-colored or yellow. The eyes are gray.
Possible confusion
The flamehead bearded bird can only be confused with a few species due to its striking plumage. There is a similarity with the earmarked bearded bird , which belongs to the same genus , but which has a shorter and more dull colored bill. It lacks the white, crescent-shaped stripe on the sides of the head and basically shows more yellow in the head area. Which is also the jewelry barbets belonging yellow-breasted barbet has no orange or red areas on the head.
voice
The Flamehead Bearded Bird sings very loudly and melodiously. Duets can often be heard. These usually begin with kuk-kukkukukuk , a soft kik or tik . While the male's song consists of three calls that fall in pitch, the female's song consists of three to five tones, which are called shorter and more sharply. The duet of a couple, which usually lasts 120 seconds, is often accompanied by calls from other birds of the same species. Flamehead bearded birds sing almost all year round. The utterances of the flamehead bearded bird are among the characteristic bird calls of East Africa.
Distribution area
The distribution area of the flamehead bearded bird stretches from southeast Sudan across Ethiopia and northwest Somalia to northeast Uganda and north and east Tanzania . At sea level, this species occurs only in eastern Somalia. Occasionally it can still be observed up to an altitude of 1980 meters. He avoids open, flat land as well as deserts and forests; on the other hand, it requires open, structured terrain such as river beds or cliffs. Its habitat must have termite mounds because it is dependent on these to create its nesting holes.
Way of life
Flamehead bearded birds are decidedly social birds. They look for food on the ground or in low bushes and trees. They are not very fast and generally stay close to cover. Among other things, they are hunted by the Maasai for their feathers. Where such hunting does not take place, they are not shy of humans. For example, they look for insects along car wheels or on the radiators of automobiles and even come into houses in villages. While foraging for food, they form loose groups that maintain acoustic contact with each other.
Flamehead bearded birds are omnivores that consume a wide range of berries, seeds, and fruits. In addition, earwigs, beetles, praying mantises, grasshoppers, termites, ants, spiders and small lizards play a role in their diet. They also eat the eggs and juveniles of other bird species. Other bird species are chased away from rich feeding places. They are very aggressive towards predators such as snakes and mongooses and show clear hatred behavior . Smaller bird species avoid the proximity of the flameheaded bearded bird in a similar way as they do towards predators. In the regions where the range of the flamehead bearded bird overlaps with that of the earmarked bearded bird, the flamehead bearded bird is the dominant species.
The nest cavity is created in termite mounds or partial earth walls. The nesting chamber has a diameter of 9.0 to 11.2 centimeters. Usually a 40 centimeter long tunnel leads to this chamber. The breeding season either falls during the rainy season or begins at the end of the rainy season. Flamehead bearded birds kept in captivity are known to regularly raise two broods a year. The clutch consists of two to four eggs. These are white, have a smooth surface and have a matt sheen. The breeding season is unknown, but it has been found in birds kept in human care that the males breed more than the females. The nestlings are fed by all the adult birds in a group, and here, too, the males bring more food than the females. Young birds follow the other birds in the group as they forage and beg for food from all members of the group.
supporting documents
literature
- Lester L. Short, Jennifer FM Horne: Toucans, Barbets and Honeyguides - Ramphastidae, Capitonidae and Indicatoridae . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-19-854666-1
Single receipts
- ↑ Short et al., P. 122 and p. 123
- ↑ Short et al., P. 123
- ↑ a b c Short et al., P. 124
- ↑ Short et al., P. 125
Web links
- Trachyphonus erythrocephalus in the Red List of Endangered Species of the IUCN 2013.2. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2014.