Hemprich-Toko
| Hemprich-Toko | ||||||||||
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Hemprich toko ( Tockus hemprichii ) |
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| Tockus hemprichii | ||||||||||
| ( Ehrenberg , 1833) |
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The hemprich's hornbill ( Tockus hemprichii ) is a bird art that the hornbills belongs (Bucerotidae) and occurs in East Africa. Like all hornbills of the genus Tokos, the Hemprich-Toko is also a cave breeder. The female walled up in the nesting hole, which is usually in a rock wall. and is fed by the male during the breeding season. Despite the comparatively large distribution area, no subspecies are distinguished for this species.
The population situation of the Hemprich-Tokos was classified in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2016 as “ Least Concern (LC) ” = “not endangered”.
Appearance
The Hemprich-Tokko reaches a body length of up to 50 centimeters. This makes it one of the great Toko species . Females weigh around 300 grams during the breeding season. The gender dimorphism is not very pronounced.
In the male, the head, neck and upper chest as well as the back are dark brown. The tail is soot-brown, of the ten control feathers the third and fourth outer pair are completely white, so that the tail looks dark-white, longitudinally striped. The underside of the body is otherwise whitish. The feathers of the wing-coverts and wings are soot-brown with cream-colored edges and tips. The beak is dark red with a barely noticeable small beak ridge. The featherless orbital ring and the bare throat skin are black. The eyes are dark brown, the feet and legs are black.
The females do not differ from the males in their body plumage. However, they are somewhat smaller and the ridge of the beak is even less developed than in the male. The orbital ring is gray and the bare throat skin is greenish-yellow. Young birds are similar to females, but their beak is still soot-brown and the lower beak has a yellow tip.
The calls of the Hemprich Tokos are high-pitched, whistling calls that can either be heard individually or that can be heard in long series of calls. The courtship call is a long series of pi-pi-pi-pioh-pioh-pioh calls.
Possible confusion
In the extensive distribution area of the Hemprich-Toko, two other species from the genus of the Tokos occur in some regions, with which the Hemprich-Toko can be confused. Like the Hemprich-Toko, both species have a whitish underside of the body, so that they correspond in the distribution of the plumage.
The Crown Toko has darker, soot-brown plumage. A pale stripe above the eyes is indicated above the eye and he has noticeably yellow eyes. The most noticeable distinguishing feature to the Hemprich-Toko is the bright orange-red beak with the conspicuous horn attachment. The Gray Hornbill is with a height of up to 45 centimeters slightly smaller than the Hemprich-Toko, the beak of the males is striking black and white. The females have a maroon and creamy white beak.
distribution and habitat
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The Hemprich-Toko is an inhabitant of rocky terrain and canyons in semi-arid areas. The distribution area includes Ethiopia , Djibouti , North Somalia to Southeast Sudan , Northeast Uganda and North and Northwest Kenya .
The Hemprich-Toko inhabits rocky areas in foothills and mountains and occurs at altitudes of 4300 meters. He prefers to stay in wooded gorges and forests near rivers. It is most common in the Ethiopian highlands, in other parts of its range it is locally limited and comparatively rare. In the south of its distribution area it alternates between wooded areas and arid open landscapes with a sparser population of trees and bushes. Basically, it is a resident bird, after rainfalls and the breeding season it also migrates to lower-lying areas temporarily in order to use the food available there. Small groups of up to 14 individuals can form during such migrations. Such troops also occur during the dismigration of the young birds.
food
The Hemprich toko is omnivorous. The diet consists mainly of insects , small mammals, frogs, lizards, fruits and seeds. Bees, beetles, caterpillars and grasshoppers, figs and juniper berries are all eaten.
The Hemprich-Toko finds its food mainly in the treetops. However, it occasionally comes to the ground to eat winged termites or to examine crevices in the rock for prey.
Reproduction
The breeding biology of the Hemprich toko has not yet been conclusively investigated. However, it is probably a monogamous bird that defends a territory together with its partner.
Like all Tokos, the Hemprich Toko is a cave breeder, but unlike other species it mainly uses crevices as nesting holes and only rarely tree hollows. Most of the breeding caves are found on rocky slopes in gorges. The brood cavity is covered with pieces of wood and bark. The female seals the breeding caves from the inside except for a narrow gap. The male carries food in the tip of its beak to the breeding cavity.
Dedication names
The Hemprich Toko bears its name in honor of the Prussian naturalist Friedrich Wilhelm Hemprich . Hemprich was friends with the naturalist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg and in 1820/21 both were invited by Martin Lichtenstein on an expedition to Egypt , which they were supposed to support as naturalists. On a second expedition from 1821 to 1825, they traveled south along the Nile , crossed the Sinai desert and Lebanon, and traveled the Red Sea . On the way they collected natural history samples. Hemprich died of a fever in the port of Massawa .
literature
- W. Grummt , H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds. Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 .
- Alan Kemp: The Hornbills - Bucerotiformes. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1995, ISBN 0-19-857729-X .
- Ian Sinclair, Peter Ryan: Birds of Africa.
Web links
- Lophoceros hemprichii inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
- The Hemprich Toko calls on Xeno Canto
Single receipts
- ↑ Lophoceros hemprichii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2016 Posted by: BirdLife International, 2016. Retrieved on 3 October 2017th
- ↑ a b c Kemp: The Hornbills - Bucerotiformes . P. 119.
- ↑ Calls of the Hemprich-Tokos on Xeno-Canto , accessed on October 2, 2016
- ↑ Kemp: The Hornbills - Bucerotiformes. P. 124.
- ↑ a b Kemp: The Hornbills - Bucerotiformes. P. 120.
- ↑ a b Kemp: The Hornbills - Bucerotiformes . P. 121.
- ↑ Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins: Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds . Christopher Helm, London 2003, ISBN 0-7136-6647-1 , pp. 205 .