Bird of the week #14

Bird of the week

The bokmakierie (Telophorus zeylonus) is a bushshrike. This family of passerine birds is closely related to the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, and was once included in that group. This species is endemic to southern Africa, mainly in South Africa and Namibia, with an isolated population in the mountains of eastern Zimbabwe and western Mozambique.

The adult bokmakierie is a 22–23 cm long bird with olive-green upperparts and a conspicuous bright yellow tip to the black tail. The head is grey with a yellow supercilium, and the strong bill has a hooked upper mandible. The underparts are bright yellow with a broad black collar between the throat and breast, which continues up the neck sides through the eye to the bill. The legs and feet are blue-grey. The sexes are similar, but juveniles are a dull grey-green below, and lack the black gorget.

There are four subspecies, differing mainly in colour shade and size.

The bokmakierie has a range of loud whistles and calls, often given by a pair in antiphonal duet, but the most typical is the one that gives this species its name, bok-bok-mak-kik. Levaillant called it bacbakiri based on the local name derived from its call. The Dutch settlers called it bokmakierie.

Unlike the true shrikes, which perch conspicuously in the open, the bokmakierie is shy and skulking. This bird has a typical shrike diet of insects, small lizards, snakes, small birds and frogs. It is preyed upon itself by snakes, mongooses, and large shrikes like the northern fiscal and southern boubou

Bird of the week #11

Bird of the week

Grey Heron South Africa

Grey Herons are commonly found in South Africa, and it may be confused with the Black-Headed Heron (Ardea melanocephala). The main identifying characteristic is to look at the head. The Grey Heron has a black streak on its head whereas the Black-Headed Heron has a solid black head. Feathers are predominantly grey. Wikipedia

Grey Heron
Grey Heron
Heron’s head

Bird of the week #9

Bird of the week

Guineafowl
birds
Guineafowls
Guineafowl sometimes called “pet speckled hens” or “original fowl”) are birds of the family Numididae in the order Galliformes. They are endemic to Africa and rank among the oldest of the gallinaceous birds. Phylogenetically, they branched off from the core Galliformes after the Cracidae (chachalacas, guans, and curassows) and before the Odontophoridae (New World quail). An Eocene fossil lineage Telecrex has been associated with guineafowl; Telecrex inhabited Mongolia, and may have given rise to the oldest of the true phasianids, such as blood pheasants and eared pheasants, which evolved into high-altitude, montane-adapted species with the rise of the Tibetan Plateau. While modern guineafowl species are endemic to Africa, the helmeted guineafowl has been introduced as a domesticated bird widely elsewhere.Wikipedia