The Red-throated Wryneck has a height of 20 cms and weighs around 55 gms. The head is coloured brown while the bill is coloured grey. The Jynx ruficollis has a brown coloured throat, olive legs and a brown coloured back. The eyes are brown.
This bird forages for food on the ground. The Red-throated Wryneck is usually seen hunting for food within the tree foliage. This bird eats insects such as butterflies, bees, wasps, locusts and ants. These invertebrates are usually hawked aerially, killed and then eaten.
Red-throated Wryneck Jynx ruficollis is an ant-eating specialist with adaptations to assist in the mopping up of large numbers of Hymenoptera (Ant) prey. Capable of holding hundreds of ants or ant larvae in each beakful, it is impossible for these birds to control all subsequent movement of prey, resulting in ants crawling around the birds beak and head when delivering food to the chicks.
