Great Spotted Cuckoo
Clamator glandarius
Distinctive, boldly patterned cuckoo with a spiffy crest and white-spotted wings. Adult has a gray crest and gray-brown back. Juveniles are even more contrasting, with a rusty wing panel and black crest and back. Typically restless, making short flights often and hopping on the ground with tail raised. A nest parasite of corvids (crows, jays, and relatives). Found in semiarid open woodland and dry savannas. Noisy, often giving "krree krree krree" calls.
识别特征
This species is slightly larger than the common cuckoo at 35–39 cm (14–15 in) in length, but looks much larger with its broad wings and long narrow tail. The adult is grey above with a slender body, long tail and strong legs. It has a grey cap, grey wings, a yellowish face and upper breast, and white underparts. Sexes are similar. The juveniles have blackish upperparts and cap, and chestnut primary wing feathers. This species has a magpie-like flight.<p>It is a bird of warm open country with trees. It feeds on insects, spiders, small reptiles and hairy caterpillars, which are distasteful to many birds.<p>The great spotted cuckoo's call is a loud cher-cher-kri-kri and variations.
分类信息
In 1747 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the great spotted cuckoo in the second volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The Great Spotted Cuckow". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a specimen that had been shot in Gibraltar and sent to the English naturalist Mark Catesby in London. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the great spotted cuckoo with the other cuckoos in the genus Cuculus. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Cuculus glandarius and cited Edwards' work. The great spotted cuckoo is now placed in the genus Clamator that was introduced by German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1829. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. The genus name Clamator is Latin for "shouter" from clamare, "to shout". The specific epithet glandarius is Latin meaning "of acorns".
- 学名
- Clamator glandarius
- 命名信息
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- 目
- Cuculiformes
- 科
- Cuculidae
- 属
- Clamator
分布与栖息地
- 迁徙
- Complete migrants
行为
Unlike the common cuckoo, neither the hen nor the hatched chick of this species evict the host's eggs, but the young magpies often die because they cannot compete successfully with the cuckoo for food. However it has been shown that this species' chicks secrete a repellent scent when predators threaten. The repellent protects great spotted cuckoo chicks themselves as well as the host's chicks from predators. Carrion crow (Corvus corone corone) chicks survive better if a great spotted cuckoo chick shares their nest. Birds of prey and feral cats less frequently prey on crow's nests that include a great spotted cuckoo chick. Crow chicks benefit only when predators are very active; when there is less predation, losing food to great spotted cuckoo chicks harms the crow chicks without compensation.
保护状况
- 种群趋势
- stable
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
Great Xenops
Megaxenops parnaguae
Large and subtly beautiful xenops with a pointy curved bill. Has bright rusty plumage with a white throat. Inhabits caatinga woodland; unlike other xenops, does not climb trunks or use its tail for support. Often accompanies mixed-species flocks. The song is a series of nervous chattering notes.
Purple-banded Sunbird
Cinnyris bifasciatus
Male is iridescent green above, with a dark belly and maroon and bluish bands across the breast. Female is nondescript, with faint streaking across the pale yellow underparts. Found in forest, woodland, scrub, and savanna. Generally scarce and less common than other sunbird species. Vocalizations are high-pitched trills and jumbles. Very similar to Mariqua Sunbird but distinguished by slightly smaller size and shorter bill with a thinner base. Also very similar to Tsavo and Violet-breasted sunbirds, but male has a broader maroon breast band than the former, and both sexes slightly smaller and shorter-billed than the latter.
Stripe-breasted Tit
Melaniparus fasciiventer
Typical tit with a black, white, and gray pattern. The black hood continues as a dark stripe down the center of the underparts. There are white edgings on much of the wing and the outer tail. Found in middle and high-elevation humid forest of the Albertine Rift. Usually in pairs or small groups, readily joining mixed-species flocks. Gives typical tit vocalizations including the classic “dree di-di-di” call and other whistled and chatty calls.
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