Banded Ground-Cuckoo
Neomorphus radiolosus
Impressively large, roadrunner-like bird of wet foothill rainforest. It’s one of the rarest and most sought-after birds of northwestern Ecuador and western Colombia. Note large size, long tail, chestnut back, and black-and-white scaled underparts. Terrestrial; most likely to be encountered following large swarms of army ants. Sometimes snaps its bill very loudly. Song is a series of soft, very low-pitched, rising notes given at regular intervals.
识别特征
The banded ground cuckoo is about 46 cm (18 in) long, about half of which is its tail, and weighs about 400 g (14 oz). Adults have a heavy decurved bill with a black to dusky maxilla and a grayish mandible tipped with blue-gray. Males and females have the same plumage. Adults have a black forehead and crown and a shaggy, glossy, blue-black, erectile crest. Their face is dark with bare blue skin behind the eye. Their hindneck is glossy blue-black and their upper back black with white edges giving a scaly appearance. Their lower back and rump are rich maroon-chestnut and their uppertail coverts metallic green. Their tail is black with a purple and green gloss on the upper side. Their wings have black outer primaries and purplish-red and black inner primaries and secondaries. Their underparts except the undertail coverts are black with the same scaly appearance as the lower back; the coverts are plain black. Juveniles' scaling is mostly ochraceous with some white on the breast and their crest is blackish without blue.
分类信息
The banded ground cuckoo is monotypic. It shares genus Neomorphus with three or four other species depending on the chosen taxonomic system.
- 学名
- Neomorphus radiolosus
- 命名信息
- Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1878
- 目
- Cuculiformes
- 科
- Cuculidae
- 属
- Neomorphus
分布与栖息地
The banded ground cuckoo is found in the Chocó Ecoregion on the Pacific slope of southern Colombia and far northern Ecuador. It is "rare and localized, and occurs at very low density throughout its distribution." It inhabits wet to very wet tropical primary forest. In elevation it mostly ranges between 700 and 1,200 m (2,300 and 3,900 ft) though it has been observed both higher and lower.
- 迁徙
- Resident species
行为
The banded ground cuckoo is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The banded ground cuckoo is almost exclusively terrestrial, though it may fly into a tree to escape a predator or to roost. It mostly walks or runs on the forest floor and makes hops to catch prey.<p>The banded ground cuckoo forages mostly by sprinting along the forest floor with abrupt stops to scan for and capture prey. It also hops onto low branches to pluck prey from vegetation. Its diet is mostly insects. It also includes significant amounts of other arthropods; small vertebrates like lizards, amphibians, and small birds; and sometimes fallen fruits. It often follows army ant swarms with other ant-following birds to catch prey fleeing from the ants. It has also been observed following peccary herds, apparently for the same purpose. <p>The banded ground cuckoo's breeding season is not fully known but appears to include at least March to June. Only two nests have been fully described. They were made mostly of fern leaves with no supporting structure, placed in forks of fairly large branches near the trunks of medium-sized trees, and were 3.9 and 5.4 m (10 and 20 ft) above the ground. Each held only one egg. Both parents incubated the egg and cared for the hatchling. The incubation period was at least 13 days and the time to fledging was 20 days.<p>The banded ground cuckoo's principal vocalization "resembles a deep moo of a cow" that rises and falls and repeats about every five seconds. Pairs and family groups call to each other while foraging out of sight of one another. They also make a dry clacking sound by clapping their bill.<p>Banded ground cuckoos have been observed to mimic peccaries acoustically, perhaps for two reasons. Peccaries are able to defend their herd from predators, so mimicking peccaries would trick predators into believing that peccaries are near. Doing so may also benefit both species by warning the other of nearby predators.
保护状况
- 种群趋势
- declining
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
Yellow-faced Siskin
Spinus yarrellii
Small finch with bright yellow plumage; males have a black cap. Found at forest edges, in caatinga vegetation, in second growth, and even in coffee plantations. Rare; heavily exploited for the illegal cage bird trade. The song is a complex series of warbling notes. In the more common Hooded Siskin, males have a black head and females have less yellow below and are less uniform green on the head.
Northern Red Bishop
Euplectes franciscanus
A very small gregarious species of open habitats including agricultural areas and the edges of marshes; often found in flocks of tens to hundreds. Note the black face and crown, brown wings, and long reddish orange uppertail coverts (concealing black tail) of breeding male. Nonbreeding males and females distinguished from similar Black-winged Bishop by smaller size and bill and told from Yellow-crowned Bishop by buffier coloration and more limited streaking on chest. Song is a rapid jumble of squeaky, twittering, and churring notes. Its calls include a sharp “tsit” and “tzit.”
White-tailed Nuthatch
Sitta himalayensis
Simply-colored nuthatch with gray upperparts and pale orange underparts. Difficult to distinguish from similarly-colored nuthatches, but averages smaller than Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch, and has a bright white spot on the tail base and a clean tan vent instead of a white-and-orange-striped one. Resides in Himalayan foothills, where it often forages in the middle and upper levels with mixed-species flocks.
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