Scaly Spurfowl
Pternistis squamatus
Medium-sized dull-brown francolin with a red bill and legs. Varies geographically; eastern birds are darker. Found in montane forest, forest edge, secondary scrub, plantations, and bamboo. Shy, and difficult to see, except when crossing a road or path. The call is a series of very rough notes which become quicker and more emphatic. Separated from Handsome and Red-necked Francolins by the lack of red bare skin around the eye.
Taxonomy
The scaly spurfowl was formally described in 1857 by the American ornithologist John Cassin from specimens collected by Paul Du Chaillu in the Cape Lopez region in what is now the West Africa state of Gabon. Cassin coined the binomial name Francolinus squamatus. The specific epithet squamatus is Latin for "scaled". The species is now placed in the genus Pternistis that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. A phylogenetic study published in 2019 found that the scaly spurfowl is a sister species to the Ahanta spurfowl.<p>Three subspecies are now recognised:
- Scientific name
- Pternistis squamatus
- Authority
- (Cassin, 1857)
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Phasianidae
- Genus
- Pternistis
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Small, long-tailed terrestrial bird of southeastern New South Wales and ranges on the Queensland border. Mottled grayish brown, paler below, with red eye, reddish wing, pale throat, faint pale supercilium, and long, graduated rusty tail. Dark bristles around bill give this species its name. Runs around on the ground in forested areas with dense understory, as well as in coastal heathland, and rarely seen in flight. Calls include a chirpy whistled "chip chip whirr-eee."
Guayaquil Woodpecker
Campephilus gayaquilensis
Large woodpecker found in both dry and humid forest in western Ecuador, northwestern Peru, and far southwestern Colombia. Note red head, white “V” on black back, white neck stripes, and barred lower underparts. On female, white neck stripe extends to beak. Similar to Lineated Woodpecker, but Guyaquil Woodpecker’s back stripes converge in a “V”, and it lacks a dark mask around the eye. Often perches on dead trees, and periodically pounds out a loud, powerful burst of knocks.
Okinawa Woodpecker
Dendrocopos noguchii
Dark, reddish-brown woodpecker with a long pale bill. Occurs in mature broadleaf evergreen forests of Yanbaru Forest, northern Okinawa Island, where it is endemic and critically endangered. Calls similar to other woodpeckers, with various combinations of sharp sounds. Drumming gradually accelerates toward the end.
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