Southern Brown-throated Weaver

A large black-and-white hornbill with a huge bill and casque. The plumage is almost entirely black, but for the white on the belly and the sides of the throat. Sexes are alike, except that the female has a white patch around the eye. In flight, note the white tail with a black tip, and the black wings with a thin white bar in the middle and a thick white edge. It inhabits evergreen and deciduous forests and forest edges. Calls include loud and often maniacal-sounding clucking and braying.

A nest parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of African and Black-bellied Firefinches and Brown and Dybowski's Twinspots. Breeding males are glossy black with blue iridescence and a pale brownish panel in the wings. Females and non-breeding males are streaky and brown on the back and pale below, with a bold facial pattern. The bill is whitish and the legs very pale purplish. Found locally in lush woodland, savanna, and cultivated areas. Given current knowledge, can only be confidently identified by mimicked vocalizations. Each male parasitizes only one of the four host species and imitates its vocalizations, often mixing them into a scratchy jumble of high-pitched notes. 

Smartly patterned small brown forest-dweller. Warm russet-brown above with smudgy gray-brown underparts. Clean white eyebrow and throat contrast sharply with an orange-brown “chinstrap” and a warm brown crown bounded by black stripes. Active in dense undergrowth, frequently traveling with other species in mixed flocks. Generally not as bold as other small fulvettas, and does not clamber around in the open on exposed trunks and branches. Song is a melodiously bright and brief “chewee-chewee-peeta!” Calls include an explosive “chom-wit!” and softer whistling and churring.