Mantle blackening
| Mantle blackening | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mantle blackling ( Nigrita fusconotus ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Nigrita fusconotus | ||||||||||||
| Fraser , 1843 |
The mantle blackling ( Nigrita fusconotus , syn .: Nigrita fusconota ), also known as white breasted blackling , is an African species of bird from the finch family . In addition to the nominate form , a subspecies was described with Nigrita fusconotus uropygialis Sharpe, 1869.
The mantle blackling can be found mostly in the treetops, they are usually noticeable by their singing.
description
Cloak blacks reach a body weight of eight to eleven grams. There is no sexual dimorphism . The bridle, the forehead and the crown of the head are shiny blue-black in both sexes. The neck is also black, but it lacks the blue-black sheen. The back and the wings are brown, only the small wing covers are black. In the nominate form , the rump, like the back, is dark brown in color. In the subspecies Nigrita fusconotus uropygialis , on the other hand, the rump is lighter and turns pale yellow-brown. The beak is black, the eye color varies from dark to hazel brown to dark red.
distribution and habitat
The distribution area of the mantle blackling are the low forest areas in West and Central Africa. It extends from southeastern Nigeria and the Cameroon lowlands via Equatorial Guinea , Gabon , Congo and the Central African Republic to Kenya , where blackened cloaks are only found in the Kakamega Forest National Reserve .
The subspecies Nigrita fusconotus uropygialis is more widespread in the west. Their occurrence is limited to forest areas on the border between Guinea and Sierra Leone , Liberia , Ghana and the Ivory Coast . The mantle blackling is variable in its habitat requirements. On the island of Bioko , off the coast of Cameroon , it inhabits cloud forest and mountain heather, in Benin, on the other hand, the tree savannah and in Sierra Leone and Gabon it can be observed more frequently in swarms in cocoa and oil plantations. Otherwise, it is particularly common in clearings, at the edges of the forest, along forest paths and in gallery forests. It also colonizes agricultural land if it still has a population of tall trees.
In Liberia, two to four singing males are counted per square kilometer. In Gabon there are an average of three to four breeding pairs per square kilometer in the secondary forest. In a few years, however, the population density doubles or triples.
Way of life
Blackjackets live in pairs, in family groups or in small schools with up to ten individuals. Occasionally, troops of up to ten individuals are observed on cocoa plantations in Liberia. They are occasionally associated with other species of birds in the treetops. The diet consists mainly of insects, berries, other small fruits and small seeds. One of the special features of the species is the regionally different song. The breeding time varies depending on the respective distribution areas. The nest is a ball nest with a side entrance. It is built from thin branches, dry blades of grass, flower stalks and bits of bark. The ball nest is usually six to ten meters above the ground. The clutch consists of three to six white-shelled eggs.
supporting documents
literature
- C. Hilary Fry , Stuart Keith (Eds.): The Birds of Africa. Volume 7, Christopher Helm, London 2004, ISBN 0-7136-6531-9 .
- Jürgen Nicolai (Ed.), Joachim Steinbacher (Ed.), Renate van den Elzen, Gerhard Hofmann, Claudia Mettke-Hofmann: Prachtfinken - Afrika. Series Handbuch der Vogelpflege, Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8001-4964-3 .
Web links
- Coat blackening on AVIBASE
- BirdLife factsheet on Mantelschwarzling
- Nigrita fusconotus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2014.