Yellow-footed Honeyguide
Melignomon eisentrauti
Medium-sized honeyguide with a plain face, a slim pale bill, yellow legs, and large white patches in the outer tail. Found in the middle levels and canopy of humid forest at low and middle elevations. The distinctive vocalization is a series of around a dozen rising “sveeya” notes. The series slows down and becomes slightly lower-pitched at the end. Very similar to Zenker’s Honeyguide, but there is only minor overlap in range, and Yellow-footed is paler overall with more white in the tail. Similar to other honeyguides, but separated by the slim bill and the yellow legs. Separated from most greenbuls by the white in the tail, and from Honeyguide and Sjöstedt's Greenbuls by the smaller size and shorter tail.
Identification
This small, unobtrusive bird grows to a length of about 18 cm (7 in). The sexes are similar in this species but females are slightly smaller than males. The head and upper parts are olive green, with the back rather yellower than the head. The flight feathers of the wings and the two central feathers of the tail are brownish-black, as are the bases of the outer four pairs of feathers, the remainder being white, with dark tips. The chin, throat, breast and front of the belly are pale grey, while the rear belly and the under-tail coverts are pure white. The beak is yellowish, the orbital ring greenish-yellow and the iris brown. The legs and feet are yellow. The voice is a sequence of about a dozen clear notes, each rising in pitch, the whole series gradually slowing and descending.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Melignomon eisentrauti
- Authority
- Louette, 1981
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Indicatoridae
- Genus
- Melignomon
Range and habitat
The yellow-footed honeyguide is native to tropical West Africa where it has been recorded in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon. It is known from lowland forest at altitudes of up to 750 m (2,500 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
This bird feeds on insects, fruits and seeds, and probably on beeswax as evidenced by a waxy yellow material being found among the stomach contents. Little is known of its breeding behaviour.
Conservation
The yellow-footed honeyguide occupies a total area of around 485,000 km2 (187,000 sq mi) and is described as being rare, although this may be because it is an unobtrusive bird. It is threatened by habitat destruction, as the forests where it is found are being degraded or cleared, but it is tolerant of some degree of habitat disturbance. For these reasons, the International Union for Conservation of Nature suspects that its population is slowly declining and has assessed the species as having a "near threatened" conservation status.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
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