Yellow-headed Picathartes Picathartes gymnocephalus. Original artwork from Astonishing animals.

2003.
Watercolour and gouache on Arches paper, 425 x 275mm, mounted but not framed, signed and dated by artist.

Page 143 (Picathartes gymnocephalus)
Seeing a yellow-headed picathartes is the highlight of a lifetime for many bird-watchers.
One of the world's rarest birds, it is found only in one of the most remote and inaccessible regions of west Africa. It is also a true relic, an ancient bird that survives only in the high humidity and eternal warmth of the equatorial jungles. An inhabitant of rocky areas, it makes its mud-nest in and around caves and cliffs, rarely venturing more than a few hundred metres from its roost. One reason for this fidelity to its nesting site seems to be the bird's preference for eating insects that have bred in bat guano, which is only found in the caves they nest in. This may also explain its bald head, which if feathered may become matted with bat poo.
Africans who know the bird say that no one should ever disturb a yellow-headed picathartes, otherwise it will lay its egg upon you. I once met an Australian geologist who, when working in west Africa, decided to have a picnic lunch in a grotto inhabited by the birds. He waved away the concerns of his assistants, who stayed outside while he ate, but as he rose to leave, he heard the flutter of wings and felt a terrible, gooey blob fall on his back. It was an egg of the yellow-headed picathartes; but whether it had dropped from a nest, or been an intentional act of revenge for disturbing the bird's peace, he could not say.