| Red-necked Spurfowl | |
|---|---|
| Red-necked Francolin in Mikumi | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Galliformes |
| Family: | Phasianidae |
| Subfamily: | Perdicinae |
| Genus: | Pternistis |
| Species: | P. afer |
| Binomial name | |
| Pternistis afer (Müller, 1766) |
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| Synonyms | |
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The Red-necked Spurfowl or Red-necked Francolin (Pternistis afer), is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds.
The Red-necked Spurfowl breeds across the central belt of Africa and down the east coast to Tanzania.
It is 25–38 cm 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 Spurfowl 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 Spurfowl is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.