Latticed bearded bird
| Latticed bearded bird | ||||||||||||
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Latticed bearded bird |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Trachyphonus darnaudii | ||||||||||||
| ( Prévost & Des Murs , 1847) |
The latticed Barbet ( Trachyphonus darnaudii ) belongs to the Old World species of trachyphonus ( Trachyphonus ) within the order of Specht birds . It inhabits sparsely overgrown dry zones in tropical East Africa. Like all other representatives of the genus, he is a pronounced duet singer and breeds in self-made burrows.
description
The earmarked bearded bird is about the size of a sparrow at 14 to 17 cm. The back and the wings are roughly dotted with white dots on a dark brown background. The pattern of the back continues on the tail. The central control feathers are predominantly dark with a pattern of light, parabolic edge spots. These become wider towards the outer control springs, where they form a concise horizontal stripe, which is particularly clearly visible from below. The head is predominantly pale to greenish yellow and looks finely spotted thanks to the black feather tips. Depending on the subspecies, a black headstock and a throat patch are pronounced. The eponymous "ear mark" and the area in front of the eye are also dark feathered. On the chest the yellow (especially in T. d. Usambiro ) can be very bright and interspersed with red. This is limited at the lower edge by a more or less wide, black band, which, like the back, is interspersed with white, roughly teardrop-shaped spots. The underside is otherwise whitish to gray and may have dotted lines or spots that decrease from the chest band towards the back. The under tail coverts show a more or less strong red.
The strong beak is ocher to horn-colored and can be colored darker on the crown towards the tip. The feet are gray. A sexual dimorphism , as in many species with pronounced duet singing, is not present.
distribution and habitat
The latticed bearded bird lives in the dry zones of tropical East Africa. The distribution area extends from South Sudan via Eritrea , Ethiopia , Somalia to Kenya and Tanzania . It inhabits dry, tree-lined grassland, open woodland, thorn bush savannahs and pastureland. It is important that there are places with sparse vegetation where it can create burrows. He can often be found near settlements (Maasai settlements, tourist lodges) and shows little fear of people there.
Lifestyle and diet
Like the other representatives of their genus, earmarked bearded birds create burrows in the ground that they inhabit all year round - even outside of the breeding season. The entrance is an inconspicuous hole in the flat ground through which the bird can barely fit. Often it is somewhat hidden in the sparse vegetation. A smooth-walled passage leads 80 to 100 cm deep vertically downwards and then again in a slight curve, in which the rainwater can catch if necessary, up to the nesting chamber. The dug up earth is carried away in large portions and thrown away from a branch at a distance with a sideways movement of the head. The beak is then wiped several times on the branch, and remnants of earth in the throat or beak are removed by choking or with the tongue.
The bird carefully approaches the hole in the ground at a certain distance, waits - even with food in its beak - for up to a few minutes and then slips into it headlong with rapid movement.
The earmarked bearded bird usually looks for food on the ground. He likes to eat ants, termites and their eggs, grasshoppers and other insects. Some are caught in flight, others are picked up by leaves or the ground. Termites are "chopped free" from their structures. Berries, small fruits and seeds are also part of the diet.
Inventory and protection status
According to the IUCN, the birds are not endangered and are not subject to the WAA (Washington Convention on the Protection of Species).
Systematics
Depending on the system, there are three or four subspecies. The subspecies T. u. darnaudii , T. u. boehmi and T. u. emini occur in a north-south sequence, clinically graded they show increasingly pronounced dark head plates and throat patches towards the south. The subspecies T. u. usambiro , which is therefore often listed as a separate species, the usambiro beard bird ( Trachyphonus usambiro ). This also shows a clearly different duet song: the part of the male contains a section that is very similar to the begging call of the young birds.
- T. u. darnaudii ( Prévost & Des Murs , 1850) - south-east Sudan and south-west Ethiopia, south and north-east Uganda and on the west coast
- T. u. boehmi ( Fischer & Reichenow , 1884) - south and east of Ethiopia, south Somalia, as well as the south to the east coast and south-east of Kenya and north-east of Tanzania
- T. u. emini ( Reichenow , 1891) - north coast of Tanzania (east of the outskirts of Dar es Salaam ).
- T. u. usambiro ( Neumann , 1908) - southwest of Kenya to the north coast of Tanzania
literature
- Wolfgang Wickler : Species differences in duet singing between Trachyphonus d'arnaudii usambiro and the other subspecies of T. d'arnaudii. In: Journal of Ornithology. Volume 114, 1973, pp. 123-128
- Helmut Albrecht, Wolfgang Wickler: Outdoor observations for the "welcoming ceremony" of the bearded bird Trachyphonus d'arnaudii (Prévost and Des Murs). In: Journal of Ornithology. Volume 109, 1968, pp. 255-263.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Albrecht, Wickler, 1968, p. Literature.
- ^ Wickler, 1973, p. Literature.
- ↑ Avibase , as well as IUCN and BirdLife (see web links)
- ^ Wickler, 1973, p. Literature.
Web links
- Factsheet at Birdlife International
- Trachyphonus darnaudii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed on March 11 of 2009.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings about Trachyphonus darnaudii in the Internet Bird Collection
- D'Arnaud's barbet on Kenyabirds.org
- Brief description of the earmarked bearded bird from the Nashville Zoo