Black-crowned Tchagra
Tchagra senegalus
A gray-brown bushshrike with rufous wings, a bold pale eyebrow, and a diagnostic all-black crown; most races have a distinctive gray belly. Pairs occasionally join mixed-species flocks and skulk in a variety of scrub, tangled thickets, and open woodland, foraging for insects on the ground or in the lower levels of vegetation. The species sings a wonderful melodious up-and-down whistled “whee-cheee-chooo-cheeera” and a variety of other whistles and grating sounds.
Identification
The black-crowned tchagra is a colourful and unmistakable species, 19–22 cm in length. It has a black crown and eye stripes separated by a broad white supercilium. The underparts are pale grey and the upperparts pale brown. The folded wings are chestnut and the tail is black, tipped white. The bill is black.<p>Sexes are similar, but young birds have a brown cap and a pale yellow bill. There are 14 subspecies, varying in size and the colour of the back, underparts and eyestripe.<p>Black-crowned tchagra has a descending whistling song, chee-chee chee cheroo cheroo, and can be readily tempted into sight by imitating this call, presumably because the bird is concerned that there is an intruder in its territory. The male also has a switchback display flight.
Taxonomy
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the black-crowned tchagra in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name La pie-griesche gris du Sénégal and the Latin Lanius Senegalensis cinereus. 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 black-crowned tchagra. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Lanius senegalus and cited Brisson's work. The species is now placed in the genus Tchagra that was introduced by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1831. Nine subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Tchagra senegalus
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Malaconotidae
- Genus
- Tchagra
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Black-crowned tchagra lays two or three heavily marked white eggs in a cup nest in a tree or bush. Both sexes, but mainly the female, incubate for 12–15 days to hatching; the chicks fledge after another 15 days.<p>It is similar in habits to the shrikes, hunting insects and other small prey from a perch in a bush, although it sits less conspicuously than true shrikes.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Pipipi
Mohoua novaeseelandiae
A small, noisy songbird endemic to New Zealand, found on the South and Stewart Islands. Favors myriad forest types. Note brown upperparts with an ashy-gray face and neck, and pale creamy-brown underparts. Often located first by its harsh chattering contact calls and canary-like song. Forms fast-moving flocks in the canopy that will come down to investigate “squeaking.” Associates with other species such as Silvereye and Gray Gerygone in the non-breeding season, forming noisy, continuously chattering flocks. Pipipi is the main host of the parasitic Long-tailed Koel, and so adults can be encountered feeding a much larger Koel chick. Distinguished from Dunnock by lighter underparts; does not feed on the ground. Look for sharp contrast between gray face and lighter underparts and larger size to distinguish from Gray Gerygone.
Chilean Skua
Stercorarius chilensis
Rather large, dark, stocky gull-like seabird with big white wing patches (seen in flight). In summer often seen flying over Patagonian steppe or associating with Kelp Gulls at beaches, dumps, river mouths, and lakes near the coast. Also found well offshore, where it chases other birds to steal their food. Usually seen as singles or small groups. Plumage variable, but always with some orange tones—sometimes bright and extensive, sometimes limited to underwing and base of tail. The only skua likely to be seen in Chile and southern Argentina.
Mallard
Anas platyrhynchos
A large duck, generally common and familiar within its extensive range. Males are distinctive with iridescent green head, yellow bill, chestnut breast, and gray body. Females are mottled brown with orange and black splotches on the bill. Found anywhere with water, including city parks, backyard creeks, and various wetland habitats. Often in flocks, and frequently mixes with other duck species. In North America, females can be tricky to distinguish from American Black Duck, Mottled Duck, and Mexican Duck where ranges overlap. Those species are all darker-bodied than Mallard. A good view of the wing can be helpful, too: white wingbars on the leading and trailing edges of the blue wing patch are bolder on Mallard. Frequently hybridizes with those species, which can be even more confusing. Any bird with extensive white in the tail or curled feathers above the tail has some Mallard genes.
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