Yellow-tailed pheasant

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yellow-tailed pheasant
Yellow-tailed pheasant's rooster

Yellow-tailed pheasant's rooster

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Chicken birds (Galliformes)
Family : Pheasants (Phasianidae)
Genre : Chicken Pheasants ( Lophura )
Type : Yellow-tailed pheasant
Scientific name
Lophura erythrophthalma
( Raffles , 1822)

The necked pheasant or tailed Pheasant ( Lophura erythrophthalma ) is a Hühnervogel art from the family of pheasant-like . He colonized low-lying forests on the Malay Peninsula from the Malay state of Kedah to the south as well as on Sumatra and Borneo .

description

The nominate form cock is 47–50 cm long, the tail measures 15–18 cm. The hen reaches a body length of 42 to 44 cm, the tail 14-16 cm. The wing length of the cock is 240–250 mm, that of the hen 200–220 mm.

This species does not wear a hood. In the rooster, the featherless eye region is red, expandable and provided with cone-shaped cavernous bodies on the forehead. The iris is brown and the beak greenish white. From the head to the neck and on the chest, the plumage is colored blue-black, the chest is marked with silver-gray shaft lines and inconspicuous spots. The plumage on the upper side is black with fine, silver-gray streaking and partly light shafts. The lower back shows a metallic copper red, which turns maroon on the rump and appears only in the form of narrow hems on the dark blue upper tail ceilings. The joint is pale yellow with a shade of cinnamon and consists of 14–16 control feathers . The middle ones are rounded and shorter than the second and third pairs. The legs are gray-blue and strongly spurred.

The hen is predominantly glossy blue-black, the throat gray, the head shiny brown. The black beak shows a light base, the red, featherless area around the eye is less extensive than that of the rooster. The spurs on the legs are also smaller than those on the rooster.

voice

The species is apparently not very fond of reputation. However, a long, hoarse excitement call ( kak ), a vibrating, throaty "grinding" and a deep tak-takrau are described. A deep snarling and humming sound is heard when fighting, and a deep chuckle when searching for food.

Distribution and existence

The yellow-tailed pheasant inhabits the Malay peninsula from the Malay state of Kedah to the south. It also occurs on Sumatra and Borneo and is tied to lowlands. The altitude distribution is less than 100 m. There is little current evidence of Borneo, here the species appears only rarely and scattered in the south and southwest and in Sarawak northwards to the Baram district . The species was observed in Gunung Mulu National Park in the 1980s . The species was only found sporadically in Sumatra, for example in the provinces of Riau and Jambi . In places, densities of around 6 birds per km² have been determined, but the species is mostly only found scattered and the total population is probably quite small. It is estimated to be less than 20,000 birds. The species is threatened by the rapidly advancing deforestation in the Indonesian lowlands, the IUCN considers it endangered (“vulnerable”).

Geographic variation

Two subspecies are described. The form that occurs on Borneo differs from the nominate form in that it is lighter in the cervical and upper dorsal plumage, wide white stripes on the chest and flanks, a darker rump and light blue upper tail-coverts. The tail feathers are black at the base.

  • L. e. erythrophtalma ( Raffles , 1822) - Malay Peninsula south of the Kedah and Sumatra
  • L. e. pyronota ( GR Gray , 1841) - Borneo

Way of life

The yellow-tailed pheasant lives in tropical, humid forests in lowlands. Primary forests with a dense canopy are preferred to be settled, but the species also appears to be found in forests with logging, in plantations and in grazed jungle areas. Studies of the exact habitat requirements and in particular the differences to the closely related fire-backed pheasant are missing so far.

The courtship is a simple side courtship like many other pheasants. The two cavernous bodies in the forehead area are erected. The only nest that has so far been found in the wild was in a swamp jungle on an ant or termite hill, in which a shallow pit had been dug. It was laid out with a few leaves and contained 4 pear-shaped, cream-colored eggs 47 × 35 mm in size, with the pointed ends towards the center of the nest.

Outside the breeding season, males with several hens were often found.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Raethel, p. 559, s. literature

Web links

Commons : Yellow-tailed Pheasant  - Collection of images, videos and audio files