Naked-faced Barbet
Gymnobucco calvus
A dark, chunky barbet with a bald face and crown and a pale yellow bill. Overall uniform gray-brown in color with blue-gray or dark gray facial skin. Central Angolan birds have pale throats. Often encountered singly or in small groups, though large congregations can be found, especially around colonial nesting trees. Can be found nesting with other related species, from which Naked-faced Barbet differs in having no feather tufts above the bill. Voice is a sharp “tew” call, sometimes accompanied by a rattle and other harsh notes.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Gymnobucco calvus
- Authority
- (Lafresnaye, 1841)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Lybiidae
- Genus
- Gymnobucco
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Bird Calls
Other Birds
White-breasted Parrotbill
Paradoxornis ruficeps
Chunky parrotbill with a large head and a relatively short tail. Very similar in appearance to Rufous-headed and Pale-billed Parrotbills, but note brighter coloration and whiter underparts. Forages in small flocks, often with other species, in foothill forest bamboo clusters; also in reedbeds and tall grass. Song is a descending series of 4-5 whistles: “wee-dee-dee-dee-dee.” Calls include a loud, sputtering machine-gun chatter.
Short-billed Canastero
Asthenes baeri
Medium-sized, rather nondescript bird, plain dull brown with a tail that is usually held cocked. Note the orange throat patch. Inhabits arid areas with scrub and woodlands, where it forages both in trees and on the ground. The song is a high nasal trill. The similar Sharp-billed Canastero has a longer bill and tail and an indistinct eyebrow.
Tricolored Munia
Lonchura malacca
Small, finchlike bird of weedy and grassy areas in tropical lowlands. Often in small flocks, which associate readily with seedeaters and grassquits. Adult is handsome and striking with rusty upperparts. Black head and underparts are cut by a broad white swath from flanks across the lower breast. Note stout gray bill. Juvenile notably plain, buffy brown overall with stout bluish-gray bill. Note the pointed tail, unlike seedeaters and grassquits. Native to Asia and spreading in New World as an escaped cage bird.
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