Banded ground cuckoo
| Banded ground cuckoo | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Cuculiformes |
| Family: | Cuculidae |
| Genus: | Neomorphus |
| Species: | N. radiolosus
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| Binomial name | |
| Neomorphus radiolosus | |
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The banded ground cuckoo (Neomorphus radiolosus) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in the Chocó of western Colombia and Ecuador. The bird is comparatively bigger, with their larger crests and long tails. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. The banded ground cuckoo is considered to be one of the rarest birds and is constantly threatened by extinction due to habitat loss, specifically the widespread deforestation in both countries.The genus of the Banded Ground-Cuckoo includes five species and four of them are found in the Amazon Basin, and the fifth one ranges throughout Central America.
Nesting[]
Banded Ground-Cuckoo birds build their nests entirely out of leaves, about 5 meters off the ground on understory trees, and lay a single nestling. That single egg they lay is more of a rounded shape, rather than an oval shape like any other fundamental bird egg, and goes from being a white cream color to an egg with a variety of brown spots during their incubation proceeds. Both parents make sure to equally contribute to the nestling's need for brooding/ incubation, care, and protection from any predators.
Acoustic Mimicry[]
It is hypothesized that banded ground cuckoos mimic peccaries acoustically for two reasons. One, because peccaries are able to defend their herd from predators, and mimicking peccaries would trick predators into believing that peccaries are near. Two, because both peccaries and ground cuckoo's benefit from it because it warns the other when predators are near.[2]
References[]
- ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Neomorphus radiolosus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22684473A93031597. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22684473A93031597.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ Amral, F. R. (2017). "Bluffing in the forest: Neotropical neomorphus ground‐cuckoos and peccaries in a possible case of acoustic mimicry". Journal of Avian Biology. 48 (11): 1471–1474. doi:10.1111/jav.01266.
External links[]
- IUCN Red List endangered species
- Neomorphus
- Birds of Colombia
- Birds of Ecuador
- Birds of the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena
- Birds described in 1878
- Taxa named by Philip Sclater
- Taxa named by Osbert Salvin
- Cuculiformes stubs