Fiery-breasted Bushshrike
Malaconotus cruentus
A massive arboreal bushshrike of lowland forests. Shaped like a typical bushshrike but oversized, with a giant bill. Throat and breast are orange-red, fading to yellow under the tail. Head is gray with two giant white spectacles around the eyes. The back, wings, and tail are yellow-green with dark spots at the tips of the secondary flight feathers and tail. Locally overlaps with Lagden’s Bushshrike and possibly with Green-breasted Bushshrike and Monteiro’s Bushshrike, but Fiery-breasted is unique in its combination of orange-red breast and bright white spectacles. Gives a series of short, ringing hoots, “kwhop, kwhop,” sometimes spaced out by several seconds.
Identification
The fiery-breasted bushshrike (Malaconotus cruentus) is a species of bird in the family Malaconotidae. It is found throughout the African tropical rainforest. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest.
Taxonomy
Genus: Malaconotus; Family: Malaconotidae; Order: Passeriformes.
- Scientific name
- Malaconotus cruentus
- Authority
- (Lesson, RP, 1831)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Malaconotidae
- Genus
- Malaconotus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
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Melipotes gymnops
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Scaly-breasted Hummingbird
Phaeochroa cuvierii
Rather large, dull-plumaged hummingbird of humid tropical lowlands. Favors forest edge and adjacent clearings with trees, flowering bushes, and gardens. Best field marks are its large size and big white tail corners. Sexes look alike: dull greenish overall with medium-length, straightish black bill, dingy buffy belly, and white spot behind eye (like many hummingbirds). Breast is vaguely mottled and not obviously scaly.
African Penguin
Spheniscus demersus
The only penguin regularly found within its range. A pudgy, flightless, black-and-white seabird with wings modified into flippers. Uncommon and declining, but still easily seen at well-known breeding colonies. It is extremely ungainly on land but is a supreme swimmer in the open ocean, where individuals dive down as far as 60 m in pursuit of small schooling fish. Juveniles are covered in flufflike down, and immatures have a white throat and frequently look scruffy as they molt. Call is a repeated, donkey-like braying: “haaaaaaahh, haaaaaaahh”.
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