Red-necked Francolin
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| Francolinus afer Müller, 1766 |
The Red-necked Francolin, Francolinus afer also known as Red-necked Spurfowl is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. Formerly classified as a Spurfowl, it is now regarded a member of the Francolinus genus.
The Red-necked Francolin breeds across the central belt of Africa and down the east coast to Tanzania.
It is 25–38cm in length, with a significant size difference between the subspecies, of which there are seven. It is a generally dark francolin, brown above and black-streaked grey or white underparts. The bill, bare facial skin, neck and legs are bright red.
The Red-necked Francolin is a wary species, keeping to deep cover, although it sometimes feeds in open scrub or cultivation if disturbance is limited and there are thickets nearby. The nest is a bare scrape, and three to nine eggs are laid.
Widespread and common throughout its large range, the Red-necked Francolin is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Francolinus afer. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse by Madge and McGowan, ISBN 0-7136-3966-0
