#sarothruridae

[herpsandbirds]

hi I just wanted to say i really love seeing all the critters you guys post here, it makes my day :)

do you have any cute flufftails (sarothruridae)? i love those guys soooo much and i want others to see them too

Why thank you kumquat!

Here are a couple of flufftail friends who have been waiting here for you all this time...

Buff-spotted Flufftail (Sarothrura elegans), family Sarothruridae, order Gruiformes, Kakamega Forest NR, Rondo Retreat Centre, Kenya

Photograph by Tong Mu

Buff-spotted Flufftail (Sarothrura elegans), family Sarothruridae, order Gruiformes, found across much of Sub-Saharan Africa

Photograph by Hugh Chittenden 

[animalids]

Red-chested flufftail (Sarothrura rufa)

Photo by Krista Oswald

[stranger-nature]

Birdtober day 12 & 13 - Africa + Spotted/Speckled: White-spotted Flufftail (Sarothrura pulchra)

Combined two prompts to catch up. They ended up working very well together.

The White-spotted Flufftail is an enigmatic little bird of the Sarothruridae family. Little is known of these birds due to their small size and skulky nature. They're said to appear more like mice in the underbrush than birds, that is if you see them at all.

[hello-birdies]

Sarothrura pulchra by Nik Borrow

[dendroica]

Origins of giant extinct New Zealand bird traced to Africa

Scientists have revealed the African origins of New Zealand's most mysterious giant flightless bird – the now extinct adzebill – showing that some of its closest living relatives are the pint-sized flufftails from Madagascar and Africa.

Led by the University of Adelaide, the research in the journal Diversity showed that among the closest living relatives of the New Zealand adzebills – which weighed up to 19 kilograms – are the tiny flufftails, which can weigh as little as 25 grams. The closeness of the relationship strongly suggests that the ancestors of the adzebills flew to New Zealand after it became physically isolated from other land.

This finding mirrors the close relationship between New Zealand's kiwi and the extinct Madagascan elephant birds, published by University of Adelaide researchers in 2014, hinting at an unappreciated biological connection between Madagascar and New Zealand.

Like the better-known moa, the two species of adzebill – the North Island adzebill and South Island adzebill –disappeared following the arrival of early Maori in New Zealand, who hunted them and cleared their forest habitats. Unlike the moa, adzebills were predators and not herbivores.

"The adzebill were almost completely wingless and had an enormous reinforced skull and beak, almost like an axe, which is where they got their English name," says Alexander Boast, lead author and former Masters student at the University of Adelaide. "If they hadn't gone extinct, they would be among the largest living birds."

[otussketching]

Some more watercolour doodles on the South Island Adzebill (Aptornis defossor), a large ground bird from New Zealand's South Island.

Adzebills are best known for their size, predatory habits and strong bill. These birds preyed on small animals, and may have used their beaks to dig out their prey, like weta or tuatara. And while they didn't match the Moa in size, at 80 cm tall and weighing 18 kg.

What were these birds related to? Well, it's complicated. Adzebills are perched within the gruiform group, so they were related to cranes, rails and the like. However, we don't exactly know their relations within that group. Two analyses have been made, and their results were quite different. One found that adzebills were related to the Flufftails (Sarothruridae) of Africa, while another argued that the Trumpeters (Phosphiidae) of South America. Whichever turns out to be correct, both are quite interesting, and have quite the implications on biogeography.

[alonglistofbirds]

[2290/11080] Chestnut-headed flufftail - Sarothrura lugens

Order: Gruiformes Family: Sarothruridae Genus: Sarothrura (flufftails)

Image credit: Birds of the World

[alonglistofbirds]

[2194/11080] Chestnut forest rail - Rallicula rubra

Order: Gruiformes Family: Sarothruridae

Photo credit: Jonathan Slifkin via Macaulay Library

[alonglistofbirds]

[1904/10977] Buff-spotted flufftail - Sarothrura elegans

Order: Gruiformes Family: Sarothruridae Genus: Sarothrura (flufftails)

Photo credit: Zach Visagie via Macaulay Library