Swierstrafrankolin

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Swierstrafrankolin
Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Chicken birds (Galliformes)
Family : Pheasants (Phasianidae)
Genre : Frankoline ( Francolinus )
Type : Swierstrafrankolin
Scientific name
Francolinus swierstrai
( Roberts , 1929)

The Swierstrafrankolin ( Francolinus swierstrai ) is a bird of the genus Frankoline from the pheasant-like family . It occurs exclusively in the highlands of Angola. With a population of 2,500–9,999 living specimens, it has been considered an endangered species since 1988. The main reason for the decline is the increasing deforestation of the forests in this region.

features

The Swierstrafrankolin reaches a body length of 33 centimeters. The males are slightly larger, both sexes weigh an average of 600 grams.

The plumage of the Swierstrafrankolin is black and white, its legs and wings are bright red. The male has a black forehead, the parting is dark brown, on the nape of the neck this dark brown gradually turns black. The chin and throat are white and framed by a wide black chest band. A white band that begins above the eyes runs down over the gray ear covers and merges into the white side of the neck. The coat, the shoulders, the back and the wing covers are gray-brown, the individual feathers are lined with black. The rump and the tail are dark brown, the under-tail-coverts are ocher-colored with a dark brown transverse banding. The underside of the body below the black chest band is white, the individual feathers are broadly lined with black on the inside flag.

The female has a similar head color and a similar patterned abdomen to the male, but has a lighter rust-brown hue on the back and wings. The rump, tail-coverts and tail-feathers are light brown with a darker brown wavy cross-banding. The iris is brown in both sexes, the beak is red.

Young birds are similar to females, but are not spotted on the underside of the body, but banded in black and white. The throat and the stripe above the eyes are isabel in their color.

The voice of the Swierstrafrankolin resembles the bamboo frankolin and the Hildebrandt frankolin in its chatter .

distribution

The Swierstrafrankolin is only native to western Angola . There it is widespread from Tundavala in the Hila district to the north of Cariango in the Suanza Sul district, on island mountains in the Huambo district and in the Bailundu Highlands. In the Bailundu Highlands, he lives on Mount Moco in deep forested gorges . This is where the largest surviving forests of original Afromontan forests in Angola exist with around 15 hectares .

Way of life

The Swierstrafrankolin is native to the montane area, where it lives mainly in forests and on the edges of forests. But it has also been observed on rocky and grass-covered mountain slopes, large-scale grass savannahs on mountain plateaus and in gorges. He hides in the thick undergrowth of bushes, shrubs, tall grass and fern . The Swierstrafrankolin feeds on grass seeds and the seeds of legumes . He also eats insects that he picks up from the leaf litter. Its breeding behavior is almost unexplored, but specimens seen in August suggest a breeding season between May and June. On Mount Moco, the Swierstrafrankolin is threatened by spreading clearings and slash and burn , and the remaining forest is disappearing increasingly rapidly. The hunting is a serious problem. Already in the 1970s it was proposed to build a 60 km² protected area on Mount Moco. However, this plan has not yet been implemented.

Trivia

The specific epithet swierstra honors the entomologist Cornelis Jacobus Swiestra (1874–1952), who was the department head of the Transvaal Museum in Praetoria.

literature

Web links

Single receipts

  1. ↑ a b Madge, McGowan and Kirwan: Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse . P. 227.
  2. ↑ Raethel: Chicken Birds of the World. P. 407.
  3. ↑ Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins: Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds . Christopher Helm, London 2003, ISBN 0-7136-6647-1 , pp. 205 .