Biology:Harwood's francolin

From HandWiki
Short description: Species of bird

Harwood's francolin
Scientific classification edit
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Pternistis
Species:
P. harwoodi
Binomial name
Pternistis harwoodi
Blundell & Lovat, 1899
Synonyms
  • Francolinus harwoodi

Harwood's francolin (Pternistis harwoodi) is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is a grey-brown bird with red bill and tail, and red bare skin around the eyes. Both sexes have similar coloring, although the female is paler in color with a more extensive buff belly.[2]

This francolin is endemic to Ethiopia, having a range restricted to the Ethiopian highlands on either side of the Blue Nile River between Lake Tana and its confluence with the Jamma River, as well as its tributaries between these points. Originally thought to inhabit Typha beds growing along small, shallow watercourses and acacia thickets, studies in 1996 found F. harwoodi in a site with neither of these. It is threatened by habitat loss as population pressures force locals into the marginal scrublands favored by the bird as its habitat. F. harwoodi is heavily hunted for food and is sometimes also caught for sale at local markets; its eggs are also a food source.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2018). "Pternistis harwoodi". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN) 2018: e.T22678815A92789720. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22678815A92789720.en. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22678815/0. Retrieved 17 December 2018. 
  2. Nigel Redman, Terry Stevenson, and John Fanshawe, Birds of the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Socotra (Princeton: University Press, 2009), p. 126

External links

Wikidata ☰ Q1034234 entry