Speckled Mousebird
Colius striatus
A geographically-variable, dumpy-bodied, brownish-gray bird with a long, scruffy tail. Differentiated from other mousebirds by its blackish face and gray-brown crest. It is often found scrambling through bushes and tangles, creeping around on short legs. In flight, it flutters rapidly, and its tail seems to drag it down, as if it were too heavy to make it to the next bush. Occurs in small, sociable groups in forest edge, savanna, thickets in grassland, and gardens, feeding on fruit, leaves, flowers, and nectar. After eating, birds may hang upside-down and expose the black skin on their bellies to absorb heat and aid digestion.
Identification
The speckled mousebird is about 35 cm (14 in) long, with the tail comprising approximately half the length, and weighs about 57 g (2.0 oz). It is well-named, because it is dull-mousy brown in overall color on the back and on the head (including a prominent crest). The bill is black on the upper part and is a pinkish color on the lower part. The subspecies mainly differ in the contrast on the head, the throat colour, the amount of barring and the iris colour.<p>The rare white-headed mousebird can be confused with this species, but the differently colored mandibles and the lack of a bare grey orbital patch render the speckled species distinctive.The speckled mousebird is not known for its voice, as songbirds are, although it is a noisy creature. They make a warbling tsu-tsu call while in flight, and are known for their tisk-tisk alarm call while in flight.
Taxonomy
The speckled mousebird was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the mousebirds in the genus Colius and coined the binomial name Colius striatus. Gmelin based his description on the "Coliou rayé" that had been described in 1778 by the French polymath Comte de Buffon from a specimen that had been collected near the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.<p>Seventeen subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Colius striatus
- Authority
- Gmelin, JF, 1789
- Order
- Coliiformes
- Family
- Coliidae
- Genus
- Colius
Range and habitat
It is distributed from Cameroon east to Eritrea and Ethiopia, south through eastern Africa to southern South Africa and it is overspread whole part of Tanzania . Most habitats are suitable for this species, except the rainforests and more arid areas. This mousebird prefers open bushveld habitats. It is widespread in savanna and open woodlands, as well as areas with tangled thickets. It is a common "backyard bird," often seen in urban areas that contain gardens and orchards.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
These are conspicuously social birds, feeding together and engaging in mutual preening. They also accompany each other when they go to ground to dust bathe (also to occasionally to swallow pebbles to assist in grinding up vegetation as they digest it). Upon nightfall, they roost in very tight groups of 20 or so birds and on cold nights they can become torpid. Being in a torpid state could make them easy prey, but the large groups are apparently effective enough to deter most nocturnal predators.<p>The speckled mousebird may breed at any time of the year. The nest is a large (for the bird) and untidy cup made of vegetable and animal material (sometimes including cloth and paper) and is constructed by both the male and female. Clutch size ranges from one to seven eggs (apparently based on latitude), but usually averages 3–4. Nestlings are fed by both parents and also by helpers, which usually are juveniles from previous clutches. The incubation period is fourteen days and the offspring will leave the nest for the first time at about seventeen or eighteen days. After a little over a month, the nestlings will begin foraging for themselves.<p>The speckled mousebird is a frugivore which subsists on fruits, berries, leaves, seeds and nectar, and is fairly strict in its choice of food from area to area.
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Deconychura longicauda
Fairly small, warm brown woodcreeper with buffy spots on breast and vague buffy eyebrow. Note relatively short, straight bill. Very similar to many other species of woodcreepers but smaller than most others in range; tail relatively longer than most other woodcreepers but this is of limited use in field identification. Focus on overall shape, especially the vaguely “pin-headed” look and scruffy feathers on the nape. Generally found in primary forest, usually following a mixed-species flock. Best identified by voice, though not a particularly vocal species. Song is a series of very long, clear slightly rising whistled notes, each note a bit lower-pitched than the one before. Sometimes has brief stutters at the beginning or end of each note.
Pale-throated Pampa-Finch
Embernagra longicauda
Large finch with a long spiky tail. Mostly gray with olive-green wings and tail. Note the bicolored bill (dark above and yellow-orange below) and the broken white eye-ring. Inhabits higher elevations, in dry scrub, rocky areas, and grassy fields with scattered palms. Sings a high, thin “tsi, tsoweee,” repeated continually.
Yellow-vented Green-Pigeon
Treron seimundi
A rather dark green pigeon with black-tipped olive-green wings and a long needle-pointed tail. Both sexes have a white patch low on the belly and a lemon-yellow vent. Pin-tailed Green-Pigeon is similarly long-tailed, but lighter in color with warm tinges of yellowish-orange on the breast and brighter yellow wing feathers. Like many other green-pigeons, generally forages quite high in the forest canopy. Inhabits montane and foothill forests; occasionally in coastal lowlands. Generally uncommon to rare throughout its range. Gives a melodious, jumbled series of resonant and rather high-pitched cooing whistles.
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