Yellow-crowned Gonolek
Laniarius barbarus
A striking black-and-crimson bushshrike with a yellow-orange crown. Juvenile is duller, browner above and yellowish underneath. Singles and pairs forage alone or sometimes in mixed-species flocks in moist or dry savanna using dense tangles, where it prefers thicker trunks but will also hop on the open ground; also uses coastal scrub and mangroves. Calls are variable, but mostly comprise loud ringing whistles answered by clicks, electric buzzing, and grating notes in a synchronized duet.
Identification
The yellow-crowned gonolek is 22 cm (8.7 in) long with a long tail and short wings. The adult is a vividly-coloured bird, although easily overlooked as it lurks in undergrowth. It has solidly black upper parts apart from its golden crown, and scarlet underparts other than a buff-yellow undertail. The legs are dark. Sexes are similar, but juveniles are paler and duller.
Taxonomy
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the yellow-crowned gonolek in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name La pie-griesche rouge du Sénégal and the Latin Lanius Senegalensis ruber. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the yellow-crowned gonolek. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Lanius barbarus and cited Brisson's work. The species is now placed in the genus Laniarius that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816. Two subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Laniarius barbarus
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Malaconotidae
- Genus
- Laniarius
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
This species is seldom seen because it inhabits thick undergrowth from which its calls can be heard. These include whistles and rattles, often sung in duet, with a fluted too-lioo overlapped by a rattling ch-chacha. The yellow-crowned gonolek feeds mainly on insects located in bushes or on the ground. The diet consists mostly of beetles and caterpillars, but birds eggs and nestlings are sometimes taken.<p>It is monogamous and territorial. Some courtship behaviours have been observed with a pair chasing each other through a bush, leaping from branch to branch and emitting metallic twanging sounds. The deep cup-shaped nest is often flimsy and is built in a bush, from rootlets and tendrils. Two, or occasionally three, greyish-green or bluish-green eggs with dark spots are laid.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush
Catharus aurantiirostris
Small, plain-breasted thrush of tropical and subtropical woodland; mainly in foothills, but also in highlands. In winter many birds move to coastal lowlands of west Mexico. Feeds mainly on the ground, but also in fruiting bushes. Sings from low to middle level perches, usually well hidden. Unlike most thrushes, sings year-round, but less often in winter. Told from similar species by mostly to wholly orange bill, narrow orange eyering, and brighter pale legs. Song distinctive: slightly jerky and tinny.
Red Phalarope
Phalaropus fulicarius
The chunkiest and thickest-billed phalarope. Of the three phalaropes, Red is the least likely to be seen inland. Breeding females are brighter and more contrasting than males: note bright body the color of tomato juice, with black cap and white cheek. Males are colored like watered-down tomato juice, with a streaky cap. Also look for yellow bill with dark tip. Nonbreeding is much less colorful: smooth gray above and white below with a black ear patch. Juveniles are dark above and stained with buffy tones; they molt quickly into nonbreeding plumage. Breeds on Arctic tundra. Primarily found on the open ocean during migration and winter; rare inland. Usually in small flocks, but can gather in larger numbers, often in mixed flocks with Red-necked Phalarope. Red is best distinguished by larger size, thicker bill, and slightly paler, smoother-looking upperparts.
Tawny-flanked Prinia
Prinia subflava
A slender, active unstreaked warbler with a long graduated tail that is sometimes cocked. It is mouse-brown above and pale below, with tawny flanks and a distinctive pale eyebrow. Pairs and small groups patrol rank grass, riverine scrub, and thickets in savanna, where they are often on the ground or in the lower levels of vegetation. The species sings a strident “stiiikk” note repeatedly 6-15 times before pausing, but it may sing incessantly for minutes, and it also has a tinnier “stip-stip-stip” call; tone and pitch vary geographically. The similar Pale Prinia is more washed out with whitish flanks, and the very similar-looking River Prinia is local, restricted to riverine fringes in the Sahel, and has a sweeter higher-pitched song.
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