Red-necked spurfowl
| 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) | |
| 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.
References
- BirdLife International (2004). Francolinus afer. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.
- Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse by Madge and McGowan, ISBN 0-7136-3966-0
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Francolinus afer. |
- (Red-necked spurfowl = ) Red-necked francolin - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
- BirdLife Species Factsheet
- IUCN Red List