Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike
Chlorophoneus sulfureopectus
A striking gray, yellow, and green bushshrike with a dark eye, an orange chest, and a distinctive yellow forehead and short eyebrow. The juvenile lacks an eyebrow. Singles and pairs occasionally join mixed-species flocks in thornveld and broadleaf woodland, riparian forest, and thickets. The species creeps slowly through the mid-canopy of trees, hunting insects and small vertebrates, and is often first detected by its loud ringing “what-to-tooo-dooo” song and scolding “skeeeeet” calls and clicks. The larger Gray-headed Bushshrike differs from Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike by having a more robust bill, a pale-yellow eye, and no eyebrows.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Chlorophoneus sulfureopectus
- Authority
- (Lesson, RP, 1831)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Malaconotidae
- Genus
- Chlorophoneus
Range and habitat
The orange-breasted bushshrike is widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa (relatively absent from most of Central, Southern and the Horn of Africa). Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, dry savanna and moist savanna. It is not a migrant species.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The bushshrike eats mainly insects, such as beetles, caterpillars, bees, ants, and wasps.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Blue-black Grassquit
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Fairly common little bird of weedy and brushy fields, farmland, and other open grassy areas in tropical lowlands and foothills. Note the very small size, brown plumage, and streaky breast, plus the pointed conical bill. Male’s blue-black breeding plumage is worn only in the summer wet season; molting birds and immatures are patchy blue-black and brown. In song display, male leaps into the air from grass stalk or fence, uttering a short buzzy phrase, repeated over and over.
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