- Agelastes niger
Identification
Small ( 42cm. ) Guineafowl. All black with bare red head and upperneck. Centre of crown and nape and bare areas of neck browner. Eye yellow. Bill rather long and slender for a Guineafowl and yellow. Legs and feet yellowish ochre. juvenile blackish with brown head and grey lower breast and belly.
Distribution
South-eastern Nigeria, western Cameroon, southern Central African Republic, northern Congo (Brazzaville), extreme western Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and northern Angola.
Taxonomy
A monotypic species.[1]
Habitat
Mainly dark primary forest but occasionally in long abandoned farmland/ forest edge.
Behaviour
Tends to be in flocks of 8 - 15. Very wary but does come onto forest tracks etc. first thing in the morning.
Voice
Contact call a piping "keet, keet". Resounding, crowing " huhuhuhuhuhu", mainly first thing in the morning.
Diet
Ground feeders, amongst the leaf litter, they eat plants and small invertebrates.
Breeding
The eggs are pale reddish brown, occasionally yellow or violet tinged.
Ref
- 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.
- Answers.com
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black Guineafowl. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black_Guineafowl
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
