Halsband-Wehrvogel

Bestimmung

The northern screamer is 76 to 91 cm (30 to 36 in) long. They are stout bodied with a disproportionately small head and a gray bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a gray crown with a long crest, a mostly white face, a wide black band around the neck, and a dark gray body, wings, and tail. Their wing has two sharp spurs at its manus. They have bare red skin around their brown eye and reddish orange legs and feet. Juveniles are similar to adults but drabber.

Taxonomie

The northern screamer shares genus Chauna with the southern screamer (C. torquata). One other species, the horned screamer (Anhima cornuta) is also in family Anhimidae. The northern screamer is monotypic.

Wissenschaftlicher Name

Chauna chavaria

Autorität

(Linnaeus, 1766)

Ordnung

Gänsevögel

Familie

Pfeifgänse

Gattung

Chauna

Verbreitung und Lebensraum

The northern screamer is found across northern Colombia from the Atrato River and Magdalena River valleys east into the Lake Maracaibo area of Venezuela. It inhabits a variety of wet landscapes including swamps, marshes, lagoons, riverbanks, and seasonally flooded river plains.

Zugverhalten

Resident species

Verhalten

The northern screamer is essentially sedentary but local wandering by non-breeders and juveniles is suspected.<p>The northern screamer feeds on the leaves, stems, and roots of aquatic plants. They usually graze like geese, sometimes in loose flocks.<p>The northern screamer is territorial during the breeding season. The pair build a mound of plant material and debris as a nest. Breeding can be at any time of year but most eggs are laid in October and November. The typical clutch size is three to five eggs but can be up to seven. Both parents incubate the eggs and care for the young. The incubation period is 42 to 44 days; fledging occurs eight to ten weeks after hatch and the young are independent after about 12 weeks.<p>The northern screamer, like others of its family, is very vocal. Its primary vocalization is a "single, rather high-pitched yelping call...'kleer-a-ruk, cherio'."

Schutzstatus

Bestandstrend

stable