White mask hop
| White mask hop | ||||||||||||
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White mask hop |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Phoeniculus bollei | ||||||||||||
| ( Hartlaub , 1858) |
The white mask hop ( Phoeniculus bollei ), also called white mask tree hop or white-headed tree hop, is a species of the tree hops genus .
description
The 33–36 centimeter tall bird has a distinctive red beak and red legs. The feathers on the head are cream-colored. The rest of the plumage is green, blue, black in places. The tail feathers are reddish, colored black towards the end. The females are slightly smaller than the males, otherwise the birds are similar to each other.
Distribution and way of life
The birds roam their habitat, the forests, savannas and mountains of East and West Africa near the equator, in small groups of 5–12 animals in search of food. With their strong beak they break open the bark of the trees to get to the insects, their larvae and spiders below.
Brood
The birds lay their nests in tree hollows, mostly abandoned woodpecker hollows. In this the female lays two light blue, dark brown spotted eggs. The incubation period is three weeks and the young are nestled around 25 days. When rearing the young, the parent birds are supported by the young of the previous year's brood. After leaving the nest, the young roam the area together in search of food.
Danger
Although there are no exact inventories of this species and the species is widely distributed regionally, the IUCN classifies this species as not endangered ( least concern ).
literature
- Wilhelm owner (ed.), Erna Mohr: Encyclopedia of the animals. Volume 2, Weltbild, Augsburg 1991, ISBN 978-3-89350-361-2 , p. 345.
- Jiří Felix (eds.), Jaromír Knotek, Libuše Knotková: African fauna in color. Translated from the Czech by Roland Schür. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1989, p. 138.
- Goetz Rheinwald (ed.), Cyril Walker: Atlas of the bird world. Unipart, Remseck near Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 978-3-8122-3399-6 , p. 141.
Web links
- Phoeniculus bollei inthe IUCN 2012 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved May 7, 2013.