From Opus
- Balearica pavonina
[edit] Identification
Adult
- Sexes similar
- 104cm
- Mostly black body
- White upper and under wing coverts
- crown of stiff golden feathers
- Red and white cheek patches
West African subspecies
- Lower half of the cheek patch is red
Photo by
Steve GPirang, Western Division, The
Gambia, November 2005
Sudan subspecies
- The red extends into the upper half of the cheek patch.
- Gular sac under the chin is small and dark. The gular sac is similar to a wattle, except that it can be inflated.
- Legs, toes, and bill are black
Juveniles:
- Blackish, upper body feathers are edged rufous
- Lower body feathers are sandy buff
- Brown nape
- Face is feathered and buffy
- Crown is spiky and golden buff.
[edit] Distribution
Sub-Saharan Africa:
Western Africa: Mauritania, Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo (Eastern part), Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya
[edit] Taxonomy
[edit] Habitat
Freshwater marshes, wetter grasslands, and the edges of water bodies.
[edit] Behaviour
[edit] Breeding
Its circular nest platform is built from grasses and sedges within or along the edges of densely vegetated wetlands. 2-5 eggs are laid and incubated by both sexes for 28-31 days.
The diet includes tips of grasses, seeds, insects, and other invertebrates, and small vertebrates.
[edit] References
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
- Avibase
- International Crane Foundation
[edit] External Links
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