The red-crested korhaan or red-crested bustard (''Lophotis ruficrista'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Otididae Bustards, including floricans and korhaans, are large, terrestrial birds living mainly in dry grassland areas and in steppe regions. They range in length from . They make up the family Otididae (, formerly known as Otidae). Bustards are ...

. It is found in

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

, and

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

Description

The red-crested korhaan grows up to in length with a maximal weight of . The feathering of the wings folded on the back is marked by V-formed patterns of a light cream color with some white at the sides. Breast feathers are black. Legs are pale yellow and feet gray.

Taxonomy

One syntype specimen of ''Otis ruficrista'' Smith
Rep. Exped. Centr. Afr., 1836, p.56.
is held in the collections of

National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool in Merseyside, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The mu ...

World Museum World Museum is a large museum in Liverpool, England which has extensive collections covering archaeology, ethnology and the natural and physical sciences. Special attractions include the Natural History Centre and a planetarium. Entry to the ...

, with accession number D56 (male adult). The specimen was collected in the “Country between Latakoo and the Tropic of Capricorn”, South Africa by Andrew Smith. The specimen was purchased at the sale of Smith’s South Africa Museum (Lot 89, 6 June 1838) and came to the Liverpool national collection via the

13th Earl of Derby Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby (21 April 1775 – 30 June 1851), styled Lord Stanley from 1776 to 1832, and Baron Stanley of Bickerstaffe from 1832–4, was an English politician, peer, landowner, builder, farmer, art collector and na ...

’s collection which was bequeathed to the people of Liverpool in 1851. There is
further syntype specimen
in the bird collection at the

Natural History Museum at Tring The Natural History Museum at Tring was the private museum of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild; today it is under the control of the Natural History Museum, London. It houses one of the finest collections of stuffed mammals, birds, reptil ...

Sexual dimorphism

The male has gray-blue head feathering with an area of reddish feathers on the nape. When males attract females, the feathers of their vertex rise to form a crest and those of the throat and neck swell. The females and the immatures have brown rather than gray head feathers.

Habitat

The red-crested korhaan inhabits diverse environments: dry

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

bushveld The Bushveld (from Afrikaans: ''bosveld'', Afrikaans: ''bos'' 'bush' and ) is a Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa. The ecoregion straddles the Tropic of Capricorn ...

, thorny

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

, but sometimes also wet woodland. It is a sedentary rather than migratory bird.

Call

The red-crested korhaan has a very distinct call. Se
The call of the red-crested korhaan

Reproduction

The male attracts females by flying high into the air and dropping down. This behavior has given the red-crested korhaan the nickname suicide bird. Females choose the male who gets closest to the ground without injury.https://travelandthings.co.za/2022/01/birds-the-feathered-kind/ Nests are placed on the ground sheltered by grass or bush. The brood comprises two eggs coloured from olive-brown to pink-beige with dark brown spots. Chicks leave the nest within a few days of hatching to follow the mother. Emancipation occurs after four to five weeks of breeding, but the young remain with their mother for several more months.

References

Literature

* Josep del Hoyo, Andrew Elliot, Jordi Sargatal: ''Handbook of the Birds of the World.'' Band 3: ''Hoatzin to Auks.'' Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 1996, .

External links

* Red-crested Korhaan
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1275843 red-crested korhaan Birds of Southern Africa