Comb-billed turaco
This article was based on formal or substantive deficiencies in the quality assurance biology in the section "birds" registered for improvement. This is done in order to bring the quality of the biology articles to an acceptable level. Please help improve this article! Articles that are not significantly improved can be deleted if necessary.
Read the more detailed information in the minimum requirements for biology articles .
Reason: see quality assurance biology
| Comb-billed turaco | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
_-_color_separation_-_result.jpg)
Comb-billed turaco ( Gallirex johnstoni ) |
||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Gallirex johnstoni | ||||||||||
| Sharpe , 1901 |
The Kammschnabelturako ( Gallirex johnstoni , Syn. : Ruwenzorornis johnstoni ) is a 40 centimeter great representative of the family of turacos .
Appearance
This species has green abdominal plumage, the chest is yellow and reddish. The upper part of the back is green and the lower part is blue. The long tail is also blue. The wings are mostly blue, in the lower, rear part the wing is red. The forehead and the upper part of the head are blue, the neck is red. The throat and the base of the beak are black. The area around the eyes is yellow. The beak is yellow except for the black tip of the beak. The legs are black. Outwardly, males and females cannot be distinguished in terms of their coloring.
distribution and habitat
The crested turaco occurs in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in the south-west of Uganda . He lives in the Ruwenzori Mountains of the same name at an altitude of 2,000-4,000 meters above sea level. NN. There he stays in dense bamboo groves , trees and shrubs of the genus Podocarpus .
Way of life
It usually jumps from branch to branch or flies around in smaller groups. All day long you are tirelessly looking for food in the treetops or in tree groves. The Ruwenzori turaco feeds on fruits and insects . The adult birds live together as a pair. The birds are very shy and at the slightest sign of danger they flee into the thicket to hide. Your loud scream is very shrill. Its natural enemies include birds of prey and crawling cats , which also plunder the nests of the Ruwenzori turaco in the trees.
Courtship
The male offers the female predigested fruits as a gift during courtship . The breeding area is vigorously defended against other conspecifics.
Reproduction
Reproduction usually takes place in December . However, nests are also created in other months. The nest is a bowl of dry twigs that is laid out in trees. The female lays 2-3 white eggs in the nest. The partners take turns in the brood business again and again. The young hatch after 3 weeks. The nestlings are supplied with soft fruits, insects and their larvae . At the age of 10 days, the young leave the nest and then hop through the branches of the trees and continue to be provided with food by the parents. When the young fledglings at 6 weeks of age, parental care ends. The boys form bachelor groups after leaving their parents. The young take on the coloring of the adult birds only at the age of 10 years. The reason for this is that the color is only related to a certain minimum amount of copper that has to be consumed with food.
Danger
Because of its wide distribution and because no endangerments are known for this species, the IUCN classifies this species as Least Concern .
literature
- Wildlife of Africa in color. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1989, pp. 227, 228.
- The FSVO encyclopedia birds of the world. BLV Buchverlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-405-16682-9 , p. 320.
Web links
- Gallirex johnstoni inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020.1. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2020.