Oriole Whistler

A large, buff-brown vulture with pale underwing patches and a diagnostic pale rump patch that is best seen in flight. Prefers open savanna and plains, where it breeds in loose colonies in tall trees. It remains Africa’s commonest vulture but is declining rapidly as it is highly susceptible to poisoning. The similar Cape Griffon is larger and paler, with a pale honey-colored eye (visible at close range), and less contrast between the flight feathers and the reminder of the underwing in flight.

Small and slim with a strong rusty-brown wing panel, resembles a small and beautified Greater Whitethroat. The male has a gray hood, white puffy throat, black in front of the eye, conspicuous white eyering, and white mustache. Females best told from Greater Whitethroat by short wings and dark centers to the tertials. Breeds in low bushes and scrub including salt flats; winters in similar habitats as well as tamarisk thickets and oases. Shy, but given its choice of habitat, often has nowhere to really hide. Normally sings from the tops of bushes or in flight, giving tuneful whistles with harsher, rattled notes.

Medium-sized antbird. Males are black with a large white patch on the back and females are brown overall, paler below, with grayish sides of the head. Inhabits the understory of humid forest, including the forest edge and light gaps, and also tall adjacent second growth. Regularly attends army-ant swarms. The song is a loud descending series of “peek” notes, and the call is a rattle.