White-breasted ant shrike
| White-breasted ant shrike | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.JPG)
White-breasted ant shrike ( Taraba major ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Taraba | ||||||||||||
| Lesson , 1831 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Taraba major | ||||||||||||
| ( Vieillot , 1816) |
The great antshrike is a passerine bird of the family of ant birds and the only member of the genus Taraba .
features
The 20 cm long and 56 g heavy white-breasted ant strangler is a stocky bird with a large head, a hook-tipped beak and red eyes. The plumage of the male has a black top, a black hood, white tail and wing bands and a white underside. The female is brownish on top, yellow-brown on our part.
Occurrence
The distribution area of the white-breasted ant strangler extends from Mexico to Argentina. There it lives in the dense undergrowth of secondary forests, citrus plantations and sometimes gardens.
behavior
The white-breasted ant strangler lives in pairs that occupy a territory. The bird looks for prey close to the ground in the dense scrub, which consists of insects, other invertebrates, but also frogs and small lizards. He follows migrant ant colonies in order to catch animals that they scare off.
Reproduction
The cup-shaped nest made of grass and leaves is suspended from a branch. The clutch consists of two to three eggs, which are hatched by both parent birds for two weeks. The young birds fledge after twelve days.
literature
- Colin Harrison & Alan Greensmith: Birds. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London 1993,2000, ISBN 3-8310-0785-3
- Bryan Richard: Birds. Parragon, Bath, ISBN 1-4054-5506-3
Web links
- English website with photos
- photo
- Taraba major in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2004. Retrieved on January 24 of 2009.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Taraba major in the Internet Bird Collection