Picathartes

Yellow-headed Felshüpfer ( Picathartes gymnocephalus )

The Felshüpfer ( Picathartes ), also called stilts crows, form a genus in the same family of Felshüpfer ( Picathartidae ) within the order of perching birds ( Passeriformes ). The genus includes two species.

Occurrence

Both species live in the tropical rain forests of West Africa and Central Africa. The yellow-headed Felshüpfer of Guinea and Sierra Leone to Togo. The Buntkopf - Felshüpfer is distributed from southern Cameroon to northern Nigeria. In Ghana, is the yellow-headed Felshüpfer under protection, since the stock by deforestation, wild caught from zoos or collectors has decreased.

Features

They have long tails, a raven -like black beak, strong long legs and feet and are relatively large, with 38 to 40 centimeters. The plumage of the Yellow-headed rock Hüpfers is dark to light gray on the upper side; on the bottom white. The head is bare and yellow. Characteristic are the two black spots on each side at the back. In the Buntkopf - Felshüpfer the upper plumage is dark to light gray; the underside white. The head is naked, light blue on the forehead and at the back it has a ruby color. Also in the Buntkopf - Felshüpfer to black spots on each side of the back of the head.

Nutrition

The Felshüpfer feed on insects, snails and other invertebrates small animals, tracking them hopping on the forest floor. Occasionally they also eat frogs and mice. In their hunt they jump without the aid of the far wing up to one meter. They often follow the army ants and destroy the startled insects.

Reproduction

Felshüpfer are colony breeders. The cup-shaped nests are built of mud or clay and attached to the walls of caves or overhanging rocks on a cliff. With plant fibers and grasses, the walls are strengthened. The nest interior is lined with plant fibers and grasses. Two eggs are laid in the nests, which are hatched in a period 20 to 22 days.

System

The taxonomic classification of the Felshüpfer was long regarded as controversial. They were initially viewed as crows relatives and classified in the Corvidae family. 1938 Percy Roycroft Lowe created the subfamily Picatharninae and saw the Felshüpfer as a species within the Star family. 1951 Jean Delacour and Dean Amadon came to the conclusion that the Felshüpfer are more closely related to the babblers, as with the starlings and revised the classification of Lowe. They created the tribes Picathartini and put the genus in the subfamily Timaliinae within the family of flycatchers. The studies by David Armitage Bannerman (1948) and William Serle (1952 ) on living birds eventually led in 1952 to the creation of independent family Picathartidae.

Species

Within the family of Felshüpfer ( Picathartidae ) there are two genera with two species.

• Chaetops Swainson, 1832 Kapfelsenspringer ( Chaetops frenatus ) ( Temminck, 1826)
• Orange breast Felsenspringer ( Chaetops aurantius ) ( Layard, EL, 1867)

• Buntkopf - Felshüpfer or gray -necked stilts Crow ( Picathartes oreas ), ( Reichenow, 1899)
• Yellow-headed Felshüpfer or White -necked stilts Crow ( Picathartes gymnocephalus ), ( Temminck, 1825)