Barbed hookbill

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Barbed hookbill
Barbed hookbill eating on Orectanthe sceptrum on the Roraima Tepui

Barbed hookbill eating on Orectanthe sceptrum on the Roraima Tepui

Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Family : Tangaren (Thraupidae)
Subfamily : Diglossinae
Genre : Hooked beaks ( diglossa )
Type : Barbed hookbill
Scientific name
Diglossa major
Cabanis , 1849

The Strichelhakenschnabel ( Diglossa major ) is a bird art from the family of tanagers (Thraupidae) in Venezuela and Brazil is widespread. The IUCN assesses the population as Least Concern .

features

The barbed hook bill reaches a body length of about 17.3 cm with a weight of about 17.5 to 26.0 g. It is the largest of all hooked beaks, very dark and with a long tail. The light blue-gray beak is noticeably thick at the base with a strong hook at the tip. The ridge of the beak is blackish. The front of the head, the reins , the area around the eyes and the chin are black and form a mask. On the ear covers this changes into the bluish-slate-colored. The beard area is speckled with bluish-white stripes. Otherwise, the top is bluish, shiny, slate-colored. From the back of the head to the top of the tail, inconspicuous silver-blue stripes run through the spring shafts. The smaller and middle upper wing-coverts are bluish with only a few light shaft lines. The larger upper wing and hand covers are matte black. The flight feathers and the tail are blackish with narrow indistinct white borders. The throat and the underside is pale slate gray with a minimal shimmer of blue and has only a few indistinct pale shaft lines. The under tail-coverts are ocher-red-brown. The iris is brown to deep red-brown. The legs are dark black. Both sexes are similar. Adolescent young animals are dark brown and gray-brown on the top with matt white lines on the underside. The line of the beard is spotted black, the coverts under the tail are chestnut-colored.

Behavior and nutrition

The barbed hook bill feeds on nectar and insects. He forms pairs when brooding, otherwise he is alone: ​​Mostly he does not mix with other groups. He looks for his food in the strata from eye level to the treetops, but more in the upper strata. He is considered an active contemporary who regularly flaps his wings and is restless on the leaves of the plants. To get nectar, he pierces the flower crowns at their base, but also gets it directly from shorter flowers. He could also look for insects here. His focus is particularly on tree-like bromeliads.

Vocalizations

The singing of the barbed hookbill is rather unusual. Usually he sits alone on a high branch or performs this in a complex duet. This consists of a quick start with high and variable tones, which he repeats more or less over 20 to 30 seconds, occasionally even over several minutes. In a duet, one bird begins a series of rough or shallow low tones, which the other answers with high, clanking tones - which rise and fall in pitch - and which can vary in volume. The sound of the singing, whether alone or in a duet, is chattering, less musical and like an impulse or burst of scratchy static that increases and decreases in volume as soon as the bird turns its head.

Reproduction

The hawk's beak's nest is described as an open goblet made of grass and moss that is attached to rocks, mostly on overhanging ceilings and less than 0.4 meters above the ground. More information and research on breeding biology would be desirable, as z. B. other members of the genus also use ferns or smaller roots for construction.

distribution and habitat

The barbed hookbill prefers the edges and middle and upper levels of moist and wet mountain forests, crippled cloud and cloud forests , dense, mossy secondary vegetation and, especially , secondary vegetation on white sandy soil dominated by black- mouthed plants. He travels at altitudes of 1400 to 2850 meters in Venezuela, but mostly in the higher altitudes. Otherwise it can be found over 1800 meters. In Guyana he has also been observed at an altitude of 1200 meters. In the Sierra de Lema he is only on the move up to 1500 meters above sea level.

migration

There is little data available on the pulling behavior of the barbed hook bill. Seasonally he can hike locally z. B. to the Sierra de Lema. Too little is known about its migratory behavior in the upper altitudes, where the species is much more common.

Subspecies

There are four known subspecies:

  • Diglossa major gilliardi Chapman , 1939 is widespread on the Auyan-Tepui . The subspecies is a little darker, slightly shiny and has a little more black on the ear covers. The beard line is only hinted at. The flight feathers have blue hems and the underside is more slate blue with more pale blue shaft lines.
  • Diglossa major disjuncta Zimmer, JT & Phelps , 1944 occurs on the Tepuis on the western side of the Gran Sabana . The subspecies is similar to D. m. gilliardi , but the lines are clearly reduced to absent. The underside looks less blue, the cesspool and the under tail coverts are deep chestnut colored.
  • Diglossa major chimantae Phelps & Phelps Jr , 1947 occurs on the Chimantá tepui in southeastern Venezuela. The subspecies is a little darker than the nominate form. The underside is pure slate gray. The cesspool and the under tail coverts are deep chestnut colored.
  • Diglossa major major Cabanis , 1849 is common on Roraima-Tepui, Kukenán and Uei-Tepui .

Etymology and history of research

The barbed hook beak was first described in 1849 by Jean Louis Cabanis under the scientific name Diglossa major . The type specimen came from the Roraima Mountains and was collected by Moritz Richard Schomburgk . As early as 1832 Johann Georg Wagler introduced the new generic name Diglossa for the cinnamon-belly hooked beak ( Diglossa baritula ). This name is made up of "di-, dis, duo δι-, δις, δυο " for "double, twofold, two" and "glōssa γλωσσα " for "tongue". The species name »major« is derived from the Latin »maior, maioris, magnus« for »larger, large«. "Gilliardi" is dedicated to Ernest Thomas Gilliard , who collected the type specimen. »Chimantae« refers to the Chimantá-Tepui , the place where the type specimen was found. “Disjuncta” has its origin in the Latin “disiunctus, disiungere” for “different, differentiate”.

literature

Web links

Commons : Strichelhakenschnabel ( Diglossa major )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Steven Leon Hilty u. a.
  2. ↑ IOC World Bird List Tanagers and allies
  3. ↑ a b Frank Michler Chapman, p. 11.
  4. ↑ John Todd Zimmer et al. a., p. 15.
  5. ↑ a b William Henry Phelps u. a., pp. 160-161.
  6. ^ A b Jean Louis Cabanis, p. 676.
  7. ↑ Johann Georg Wagler, pp. 280–281.
  8. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 136.
  9. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 238.
  10. ↑ James A. Jobling, p. 137.