Chestnut-naped Spurfowl
Pternistis castaneicollis
A large, colorful francolin with chestnut and black on the head, and rufous on the heavily marked neck and underparts. The bill and legs are red. Found at middle and high elevations in alpine heath and forest edge habitat, often in pairs or small groups. Similar in size and shape to Erckel’s Francolin, but distinguished by different overall coloration and red bill and legs. The call is a repeated loud, grating “kek” or “ker-krek.”
Identification
The chestnut-naped spurfowl (Pternistis castaneicollis) is a species of bird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. At 33–37 cm (13–15 in) in length and weighing 550–1,200 g (19–42 oz), it is a large species of spurfowl. It is found in Ethiopia and Somaliland. The population is believed to be stable but according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) there is insufficient data to make an estimate of the population.
Taxonomy
The chestnut-naped spurfowl was described in 1888 by the Italian zoologist Tommaso Salvadori based on a specimen collected near "Lago Ciar-Ciar" (now Haro Ch'erch'er Hayk') in the Ahmar Mountains of central Ethiopia. He coined the binomial name Francolinus castaneicollis. The species is now placed in the genus Pternistis that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. The specific epithet castaneicollis combines the Latin castaneus meaning "chestnut-brown" and the Modern Latin -collis meaning "necked". The chestnut-naped spurfowl is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Pternistis castaneicollis
- Authority
- (Salvadori, 1888)
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Phasianidae
- Genus
- Pternistis
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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