Gabon Boubou
Laniarius bicolor
Chunky black-and-white bushshrike. There is a white slash across the wing, and the underparts are pure white. Uses habitats that include marsh, gallery forest and woodland, thick scrub, and mangroves. Found in pairs, which usually skulk, but sometimes hop about in the open. Song is a perfectly synchronized duet in which the male gives a hollow rising whistle and the female a low ratchet. Similar to Tropical Boubou, but easily separated by lack of rufous tones to the underparts and different vocalizations.
Identification
Chunky black-and-white bushshrike. There is a white slash across the wing, and the underparts are pure white. Uses habitats that include marsh, gallery forest and woodland, thick scrub, and mangroves. Found in pairs, which usually skulk, but sometimes hop about in the open. Song is a perfectly synchronized duet in which the male gives a hollow rising whistle and the female a low ratchet. Similar to Tropical Boubou, but easily separated by lack of rufous tones to the underparts and different vocalizations.
Taxonomy
Genus: Laniarius; Family: Malaconotidae; Order: Passeriformes.
- Scientific name
- Laniarius bicolor
- Authority
- (Hartlaub, 1857)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Malaconotidae
- Genus
- Laniarius
Range and habitat
It is found in Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, DRC, Gabon, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are regenerating forest, moist to seasonally dry savannah thicket, coastal scrubland and mangroves, and ravine forests of the Angolan escarpment. In the south of its range it is confined to floodplain systems. Along these rivers and swamps they frequent dense, tangled riparian vegetation, edges of reedbeds, papyrus stands or clumps of water fig on islands.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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