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.
Taxonomy
- 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
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Barau's Petrel
Pterodroma baraui
A pale, mid-sized petrel with white underparts, dark cap, white forehead, and black margins to the white underwing. In flight, also note the distinctive, dark “M” on the gray upperparts. Easy, buoyant flight in calm weather, often gaining height and gliding down towards the ocean surface. Wheels high and steeply in strong weather.
Brown Parrotbill
Paradoxornis unicolor
Dark brown parrotbill with a stout yellow bill and an arching black eyebrow. Like many other parrotbills, shows a strong affinity for high-elevation bamboo thickets, in which it moves about noisily in small flocks. In central China, overlaps with Three-toed Parrotbill, but note present species’ less prominent eyering, duller bill, generally paler-eyed appearance, and a “bristly” face with prominent pale streaks on the cheek. Calls include nasal rising notes and harsh churrs.
White-winged Fairywren
Malurus leucopterus
A small bird with a long blue tail that is held cocked. Breeding males are usually brilliant sapphire blue with bright white wing patches. Females and nonbreeding males are very plain pale gray, and the patch between the eye and bill (lores) is also pale (compared to Purple-backed Fairywren which has very dark reddish lores). This species is typically found in very open and arid country with sparse bushes, where it often perches on the very top of bushes. Its call is a very fast trill.
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