Red-forehead ant picker
| Red-forehead ant picker | ||||||||||||
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Red-fronted ant picker ( Parmoptila rubrifrons ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Parmoptila rubrifrons | ||||||||||||
| ( Sharpe & Ussher , 1872) |
The red-forehead ant-picker ( Parmoptila rubrifrons ) is an African species of bird from the finch family . The IUCN assesses the species as near threatened because of its fragmented range .
description
Red-forehead ant pickers reach a height of 11 to 12.5 centimeters. They weigh between 8 and 10.5 grams. The male is bright red on the forehead and front parting. The top of the head and the nape of the neck are olive brown. The individual feathers have whitish tips here. The reins and sides of the head are olive brown with whitish spots and dotted lines, as the feathers have white pointy spots and white shaft lines. The chin is whitish, the rest of the underside of the body, however, dark maroon. The wings are dark gray-brown, the wings are lined with light. The beak is black. The iris is maroon to red.
The female lacks the male's red forehead. Like the rest of the back of the head, the front of the head is olive-brown with ocher-colored tips. The underside of the body is creamy white and appears spotted by the dark brown feathers. Fledglings are more monochrome on the upper side than the adult birds. On the top of the body, they are pale reddish brown with dark spots.
Distribution area and way of life
The red-forehead antpicker occurs in West Africa in Mali , in the Gola Forest National Park area in Sierra Leone and somewhat more frequently in Liberia , Guinea and Ghana . It is a forest-bound species and occurs predominantly near water. He prefers to look for insects in the tree layer at heights between five and ten meters. The food mainly consists of ants.
The reproductive biology of this species has so far been little researched. The three nests found so far were a pile of grass and leaves and up to 40 centimeters wide. The nests were between 2.5 and 3.5 meters above the ground in small trees in the undergrowth. A nest was built exclusively by the female over a period of eight days.
supporting documents
literature
- C. Hilary Fry and Stuart Keith (Eds.): The Birds of Africa. Volume VII. 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
Single receipts
- ↑ BirdLife Factsheet , accessed June 11, 2010
- ↑ Nicolai et al., P. 31
- ↑ Fry et al., P. 263
- ↑ Fry et al., P. 263
Web links
- Parmoptila rubrifrons inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2014.