Swinhoefasan

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Swinhoefasan
Swinhoefasan's rooster

Swinhoefasan's rooster

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Chicken birds (Galliformes)
Family : Pheasants (Phasianidae)
Genre : Chicken Pheasants ( Lophura )
Type : Swinhoefasan
Scientific name
Lophura swinhoii
( Gould , 1863)

The Swinhoe's Pheasant ( Lophura swinhoii ) is a Hühnervogel art from the family of pheasant-like , on the island of Taiwan endemic is. It occurs there in evergreen deciduous forests with a dense canopy and scattered undergrowth. Due to the long-term dwindling and the increasing fragmentation of the habitats, the IUCN puts it on the warning list (“near threatened”). The specific epithet honors the British naturalist Robert Swinhoe .

description

Hen of the Swinhoefasan
Swinhoefasan's cockerel

The rooster reaches a weight of 1.1 kg and a body length of about 79 cm, of which the tail accounts for between 41 and 50 cm. The wing length is between 250 and 260 mm. With a body length of about 50 cm, a tail length of 20–22 cm and a weight of 1–1.1 kg, the hen is somewhat smaller and lighter. The wing length is between 240 and 245 mm.

The rooster is predominantly silky dark blue to black blue. He wears a short, white hood with black feathers in the forehead region. The eye area is featherless and intensely red, forehead and wattles swell out of it during courtship. The iris is red-brown and the beak horn-yellow. A white field extends from the neck to the front of the back. The round feathers of the lower back, the rump and the upper tail-coverts are black-blue and have metallic blue shimmering hems as well as a velvet-black band that ends straight at the top. The large wing covers show the same scale pattern, but here the hems are metallic green-blue. The small wing covers shine wine-red to copper-red. The wings are dark gray-blue. The control springs are dark blue except for the white and protruding middle pair. The feet are spurred carmine red and whitish yellow.

Lophura swinhoii

The hen lacks a bonnet, the parting is brown, the face and neck are gray-brown. The red parts of the face are not as extensive as on the rooster. The feathers of the upper back, shoulders and upper wing-coverts are brown with a black-lined, ocher-yellow V-mark. The back of the back, rump and upper tail-coverts have a fine, black-brown mottling that continues on the central control feathers and is interrupted here by light brown transverse bands. The rest of the pile is a vivid maroon. The lower chest and abdomen are rust-brown with black, V-shaped pen drawing, which is washed out towards the flanks and the lower abdomen and then completely faded. The cock's beak, iris and feet correspond to those of the rooster.

In the first annual dress, the dark areas of the young roosters are still washed out, the white areas are interspersed with chestnut brown and black. In the second year they molt into the adult dress .

Distribution and existence

The monotypical species inhabits the mountain regions of central Taiwan. In the 1960s and 1970s there were declines in stocks and land in some places. An investigation from this time revealed an estimate of 5000–10,000 birds. Since today the population in Yushan National Park already amounts to 6500 individuals, it can be assumed that the total population exceeds the assumed 10,000. In the protected areas today the population seems stable, but outside of them there could be further declines in the long term.

Way of life

The Swinhoefasan primarily inhabits evergreen deciduous forests with oaks and laurel plants , which have scattered undergrowth of bushes and ferns and such a dense canopy that only island-like light falls on the ground. The terrain is mostly slightly hilly and lies between 1800 and 2300 m. The species is also less common in natural secondary forests , in bamboo groves and on manioc cultures . They prefer to look for food in clearings where the birds dig through the fallen leaves with their beaks. We are happy to accept positions that have already been stripped of leaves by wood partridges .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BirdLife species factsheet, s. Web links

Web links

Commons : Swinhoefasan  - Collection of images, videos and audio files