White-necked Rockfowl

The white-necked rockfowl, or white-necked picathartes, is a passerine bird of the family Picathartidae that lives mainly in the forests of high, rocky areas of West Africa, from Guinea to Ghana. It is a slender, medium-sized bird with a long neck, legs and tail. Its range is fragmented, with populations often isolated from one another. It generally chooses to live near streams and hills. No subspecies are recognised, though it is thought to form a superspecies with the grey-necked rockfowl. The white-necked rockfowl has mainly blackish upperparts and white underparts. It uses its tail, which is brown and unusually long, for balance, and its hips are highly muscular. Its head is almost featherless, showing intensely yellow skin except for two large black circles behind the eyes. Although these birds are generally silent, several types of call have been recorded.