The picathartes, rockfowl or bald crows are a small family of two passerinebirdspecies found in the rain-forests of tropical west and central Africa. They have unfeathered heads, and feed on insects and molluscs picked from damp rocky areas. Both species are totally non-migratory, being dependent on a specialised rocky jungle habitat. Families Many, see text A passerine is a bird of the giant order Passeriformes. ... Orders Many - see section below. ... In biology, a species is, loosely speaking, a group of related organisms that share a more or less distinctive form and are capable of interbreeding. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest continent and second most populous after Asia. ... // Long-distance land bird migration Many species of land birds migrate very long distances, the most common pattern being for birds to breed in the temperate or arctic northern hemisphere and winter in warmer regions, often in the tropics or the southern hemisphere. ...
These are lanky birds with crow-like bills, long neck, tail and legs, and strong feet adapted to terrestrial feeding. They are similar in size and structure to the completely unrelated roadrunners, but they hop rather than walk. They also have brightly coloured bald heads. Species See text The true crows are in the genus Corvus; they are large Passerine birds. ... A roadrunner is: in zoology, A roadrunner is one of two species of bird in the genus Geococcyx of the cuckoo family Cuculidae, order Cuculiformes, native to North and Central America. ...
Picathartes breed colonially. The nest is made of mud attached to a cave roof or overhanging rock on a cliff. Two eggs are laid.
The White-necked Rockfowl is found in rocky forest areas at higher altitudes from Sierra Leone to Togo. It has grey upperparts, white underparts and a yellow head with a black patch on each side.
The Grey-necked Rockfowl breeds in southern Cameroon, northern Nigeria and neighbouring areas of central Africa. It has grey upperparts and throat. The underparts are pale orange and the head is violet at the front and red at the back, again with black side patches.
Les picathartes sont des oiseaux élancés de la taille d'un gros pigeon, dotés d'une tête paraissant nue, recouverte de plumes atrophiées, d'un bec long, d'ailes courtes et d'une longue queue.
Les picathartes sont des espèces rupicoles qui fréquentent les terrains rocheux des forêts tropicales humides ou des massifs montagneux, jusqu'à 1 200 mètres d'altitude.
Picatharte du Cameroun, Picathartes oreas Reichenow, 1899, ausi appelé picatharte à tête multicolore, picatharte à tête rouge, picatharte à cou gris.
Contribution to the Bio-ecology of the Grey-necked Picathartes, Picathartes oreas
The ground-dwelling Grey-necked Picathartes (Picathartes oreas), or Rock fowl, nests exclusively on rock-faces, cliffs, and in caves surrounded by dense vegetation.
As the Grey-necked Picathartes feeds on litter fauna and understorey insects, pitfall traps, malaise traps and quadrat sampling are employed to monitor the availability of potential prey at chosen sites based on altitudinal and seasonal variations.
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