Red-crested Bustard
Lophotis ruficrista
A medium-sized, black-bellied bustard with diagnostic white chevrons on a brown-and-black mottled back. The male has a brown-gray neck and slaty cap, and the female is plainer. The name is misleading, as the red crest is almost always hidden. It walks slowly and steadily in arid woodlands, where it is common but due to its camouflage often avoids detection. The song is a sequence of clicking “tic-tic” notes that are followed by a mournful piping “sweee-swee-sweee sweet” series that accelerates to a crescendo. The male indulges in an absurd display in which he flies nearly vertically into the sky and then folds his wings and somersaults down as if shot, only to unbelievably land on his feet. In flight the Red-crested Bustard’s all-black underwings differentiate it from Black-bellied Bustard, which has white windows in the underwing.
Identification
The red-crested korhaan grows up to 50 cm (1.6 ft) in length with a maximal weight of 680 g (1.5 lb).The feathering of the wings folded on the back is marked by V-formed patterns of a light cream color with some white at the sides. Breast feathers are black. Legs are pale yellow and feet gray.
Taxonomy
One syntype specimen of Otis ruficrista Smith (Rep. Exped. Centr. Afr., 1836, p.56.) is held in the collections of National Museums Liverpool at World Museum, with accession number D56 (male adult). The specimen was collected in the “Country between Latakoo and the Tropic of Capricorn”, South Africa by Andrew Smith. The specimen was purchased at the sale of Smith’s South Africa Museum (Lot 89, 6 June 1838) and came to the Liverpool national collection via the 13th Earl of Derby’s collection which was bequeathed to the people of Liverpool in 1851. There is a further syntype specimen in the bird collection at the Natural History Museum at Tring.
- Scientific name
- Lophotis ruficrista
- Authority
- (Smith, A, 1836)
- Order
- Otidiformes
- Family
- Otididae
- Genus
- Lophotis
Range and habitat
The red-crested korhaan inhabits diverse environments: dry savanna, bushveld, thorny scrubland, but sometimes also wet woodland. It is a sedentary rather than migratory bird.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Cayenne Jay
Cyanocorax cayanus
Large jay of humid forest and edges including savanna and premontane forest in the tepui region. Combination of size and black-and-white plumage unlike any other species in range. Moves through forest in noisy groups but can be hard to see well. Sometimes accompanies foraging flocks of oropendolas and caciques, feeding on flowers and fruit. Calls include a variety of whistles and grunts.
Outcrop Sabrewing
Campylopterus calcirupicola
Large, rather drab hummingbird, green above and light gray below. Note the white spot behind the eye. Occurs at high elevations in deciduous dry forests on outcrops of limestone. Very similar to Gray-breasted Sabrewing, but ranges do not overlap.
Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker
Picoides tridactylus
Distinctive black and white woodpecker with two large white stripes on the face. Males have a yellow crown and no red plumage elements. Patterning varies across range, with varying amounts of black on the back and sides. Shy and retiring, found in old coniferous and mixed forests, especially with spruces and lots of dead trees. Often forages by stripping bark off trunks to find the invertebrates underneath. Gives a hard, yapping chip, as well as a rattled series.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.