Seedsnipe

Andean Seedsnipes ( at. gayi )

• Andean Seedsnipes ( at. gayi )
• Patch Seedsnipes ( at. malouinus )
• Pectoral - Seedsnipes ( Th orbignyianus )
• Dwarf Seedsnipes ( Th rumicivorus )

The amount of runners ( Thinocoridae ), also called sand runners, a small family are in the order of the Charadriiformes ( Charadriiformes ). The family includes four species in two genera.

Features

Seedsnipes quail are similar, her little head is supported by a short, thin neck. The short but powerful legs are flightless chicken similar and put in the middle of the body at. They have four toes touching the ground, the rear is much reduced form. The end of the birds is very high, and therefore it seems as if her eyes would stand back far. The beak is flying chicken or finches similar, the lower jaw is slightly thicker than the upper jaw and is wearing a small dewlap. The nostrils are closed by skin cover, they serve as protection against dust and sand. The birds have a digestive system like chickens birds: The spacious Kropf the food is pre-digested, in the gizzard it is finally crushed with the help of swallowed stones. Seedsnipes have long caeca to break down the cellulose contained in the food. Seedsnipes be 19 to 30 inches tall and can reach a weight of 100 to 300 grams.

Seedsnipes are feathered to protect against radiation -tight. The tail is short and spatulate, pointed wings and long. The plumage is brown with scales pattern on the fuselage top, on the bottom it is white to gray. Chest, neck and head are usually from one color, either gray or light brown. With this coloring they are well camouflaged in their habitat. The legs are gray, brown or orange, the beak is light gray. The Thinocorus species have a bright throat which is enclosed by a black ribbon. The eyes of the birds are black.

Way of life

Behavior

The south living Seedsnipes - species migrate northward in autumn, the birds from higher altitudes hike down the mountain. If they are threatened, they crouch or stretch out on the grass and rely on their cryptic to. Some species only fly them when the enemy is right in front of them, accompanied by a chirping Happy Texas Happy Texas Happy Texas. However Seedsnipes are poor fliers, and so they end up flying up again after a short run and mincing away. Your zigzag flight reminiscent of the the Waders. The birds are sociable, they live during the breeding season in groups of 10 to 20 animals together. The dwarf Seedsnipes are the most social of birds of the family.

Nutrition and reproduction

Seedsnipes specializing in plant food. They eat seeds of all kinds, buds and leaves ( can be plucked from small plants), they look for it on the ground and in the undergrowth. The birds often take small stones to him, they crush the feed addition in the gizzard.

Not much is known about the courtship of Seedsnipes, you just know that the males Balzflüge list. The female lays from August to January is usually four, rarely two or three eggs in a self gescharrte or already existing cavity enclosed by sticks and lined with moss and grass. The eggs are pear-shaped, so they can not roll away and have dark spots on an ocher ground. The boys are light gray or beige with black spots and leave the nest immediately after hatching (they are precocial ).

The nest of the patch - level runner was not discovered until 1959. Four eggs lay open in a padded with plant parts nest. The nest of the dwarf height runner was probably the first thing that was ever described, CF Belcher discovered and described it. He could not find the nest in the few square meters breeding area for a long time, when he again visited the nest site he saw no breeding birds:

"She's not back yet, I thought, but suddenly she hissed out under my feet and ran. She must have slept since, for I saw no nest. But there still was a ring of branches - and a small trough. One had an unfinished nest? Had she been about to lay? But why she had previously been so often in this empty saucer of a nest? Then I suddenly had a thought, and I began to scrape away the dry loose earth in the middle of the nest hollow - and really, there were four eggs, which had previously been completely covered, free before my eyes ... to my knowledge the first nest of this kind, had seen any man, or at least Oologe. "

It was later confirmed that this type covered the same when leaving the nest with soil, sand or grass.

Distribution and habitat

Seedsnipes there in the Andes of South America. They come from Colombia and Ecuador Peru and Chile to southern Argentina and Tierra del Fuego before. They prefer higher areas of the mountain range, often over 5000 meters. Always stick to the snow line and walk with this with. The dwarf Seedsnipes is also found in the deserts and steppes of the West Coast ( Atacama Desert).

System

This family belongs to own avifauna of South America and probably have no close relatives more. Fossil remains of the family or of similar families are not known. This makes the relationships in the order Charadriiformes still unclear.

These four species in two genera are divided into:

• Thinocorus Grey -throated Seedsnipes ( T. orbignyianus ), Peru to Tierra del Fuego
• Dwarf Seedsnipes ( T. rumicivorus ), Ecuador to northern Chile

• Andean Seedsnipes or Kordillerenläufer (A. gayi ), Ecuador to southern Chile and southern Argentina
• Patch level runner or runners Magellan (A. malouinus ), southern Chile and southern Argentina to Tierra del Fuego