A rare event - this red-necked spurfowl stood around long enough for me to get a few pictures. It was also part of my re-education on bird names, as it was previously classified as a francolin. Up until a few weeks ago I still called them francolin and in fact I posted a picture of a "francolin", not too long ago - that of course was before my re-education started. I suppose I will have go and correct that post one day.
10 comments:
A very different and interesting looking bird.
Love the photo - it looks so close, I can see every feather!
How large are these birds? Looking at the photo I imagine it to be the same size as a grouse. I also imagine the sound it makes to be a little raucous. Have I guessed correctly - or does it have the elegant vocals of a nightingale?!
Ralph it is the size of a small chicken and its voice is anything but sweet. Very strident
Is it wrong that my first thought is: "He looks DELICIOUS!"?
Roland,it is many years since I ate one of these and they are DELICIOUS - a bit tough if not cooked properly. I gave up hunting over 30 years ago so will probably never eat one again - I prefer to see them in the wild.
When did it change it's name?
I just can't keep up with all the name changes...
Potato Potato... (Well when you write this down it doesn't make sense). And in Afrikaans it is called a Fisant, which confuses the issue even more.
Pamela I am not sure. Bought my first edition of Roberts Birds of Sa in about 1985, so any time after that the name coulf have been changed
Firefly I started out life calling it a pheaasant, then progressed to francolin and now have to adjust to spurwing. The Afrikaans is much simpler - maybe I'll stick to fisant.
All I can say is he reminds me of a lot of different birds, but doesn't actually look like any of them. Sure is a nice photo.
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