Black-backed puffback

Dryoscopus cubla

Photo by Daniel Loumeau (Flickr)

Common name:
black-backed puffback (en); picanço-de-almofadinha (pt); cubla boule-de-neige (fr); obispillo de lomo negro (es); schneeballwürger (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Malaconotidae

Range:
This African species is found from southern Kenya, central D.R. Congo and northern Angola, south to northern Namibia, northern and eastern Botswana, and eastern South Africa down to the Eastern Cape.

Size:
These birds are 16-18 cm long and weigh 19-36 g.

Habitat:
The black-backed puffback is mostly found in dry savannas, dry tropical forests and dry scrublands, also using riverine forests, the edges of moist tropical forests, alien Eucalyptus plantations and rural gardens.

Diet:
They forage on the upper canopy, mainly gleaning insects from the foliage, such as termites alates, beetles, ants and caterpillars, but also take fruits of Salvadora and Acacia buds.

Breeding:Black-backed puffbacks can breed all year round. The nest is built by the female, while the male helps collect material, consisting of a tidy, compact cup made of grass, roots and bark bound together with spider webs and lined with fine grass. It is often decorated with lichen and bark, and is bound to a fork in a tree branch. The female lays 2-3 white eggs with reddish-brown spots, which she mostly incubates alone for 13 days, while the male brings her food. The female feeds the chicks, with the male helping collect the food, and they fledge about 18 days after hatching. The young only become fully independent 3 weeks after fledging and remain in the parental territory until the next breeding season.

Conservation:IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is reported to be frequent to common. The population is suspected to be in decline owing to habitat destruction.

Brubru

Nilaus afer

Photo by Robert Erasmus (Internet Bird Collection)

Common name:
brubru (en); brubru (pt); brubru africain (fr); brubrú (es); brubruwürger (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Malaconotidae

Range:
This species is found in sub-Saharan Africa, from the Sahel down to northern South Africa, but is mostly absent from the lowland rainforests of the Congo river basin.

Size:
These birds are 12-15 cm long and weigh 20-25 g.

Habitat:
The brubru is mostly found in dry savannas and dry tropical forests, also using dry tropical scrublands. They are present from sea level up to an altitude of 2.000 m.

Diet:
They feed on arthropods, which they either glean from the foliage or hawk aerially. They sometimes join mixed-species foraging flocks with other passerines.

Breeding:
These birds can breed all year round, varying among different parts of their range. The breed in solitary pairs, with both sexes helping build the nest, a small, neat cup made of fine plant material such as twigs, tendrils and bark held together with spider web. The nest is often decorated with lichens and placed in a fork in a tree, well camouflaged among the foliage. The female lays 1-3 eggs which are incubated by both parents for 19 days. The chicks fledge 20-22 days after hatching but only become fully independent about 8 weeks later.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has an extremely large breeding range and is described as not uncommon. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Black-crowned tchagra

Tchagra senegalus

Photo by Javier Falco (Salidún)

Common name:
black-crowned tchagra (en); picanço-assobiador-de-barrete-preto (pt); tchagra à tête noire (fr); chagra del Senegal (es); Senegaltschagra (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Malaconotidae

Range:
This species is found in sub-Saharan Africa, from the Sahel down to Angola, Zimbabwe and north-eastern South Africa, also from Morocco to north-eastern Libya and in the southern Arabian Peninsula, in Yeman, Oman and marginally into Saudi Arabia.

Size:
These birds are 19-23 cm long and weigh 35-55 g.

Habitat:
The black-crowned tchagra is mostly found in dry scrublands and savannas, but also in dry tropical forests, rural gardens, plantations and arable land. They are present from sea level up to an altitude of 3.000 m.

Diet:
They hunt insects and other invertebrates, pounding on them from a perch.

Breeding:
Black-crowned tchagras are monogamous and can breed all year round, varying between different parts of their range. They nest on a shallow cup, built in a scrub or small tree up to 2 m above the ground. The female lays 2-3 eggs, which she mostly incubates alone for 12-15 days.The chicks fledge 15-16 days after hatching. Each pair typically raises a single clutch per year.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has an extremely large breeding range and is described as local and uncommon in North Africa and uncommon to locally common in the rest of Africa. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Bokmakierie

Telophorus zeylonus

Photo by Ian White (Flickr)

Common name:
bokmakierie (en); boquemaquire (pt); gladiateur bacbakiri (fr); bubú silbón (es); bokmakiri (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family  Malaconotidae

Range:
This African species is found in south-western Angola, Namibia, southern Botswana and throughout South Africa.

Size:
These birds are 22-23 cm long and weigh around 70 g.

Habitat:
The bokmakierie is mostly, found in open scrublands and savannas, but also in scrubby deserts, plantations, orchards, vineyards and urban gardens and parks.

Diet:
They are opportunistic, mainly eating insects such as beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, bugs, moths, caterpillars, wasps, ants, flies, antlion larvae, mantids, termite alates and stick insects, but also millipedes, centipedes, snails, spiders, earthworms, lizards, small snakes, chameleons, geckos, frogs, small birds and some fruits and berries.

Breeding:
The bokmakierie breeds all year round. Both sexes build the nest, a cup made of small twigs, leaves, roots, tendrils, grass and bark, usually placed in a dense scrub, concealed by thick vegetation. There the female lays 2-6 greenish-blue eggs with red-brown or lilac blotches, which are incubated by both sexes for 14-19 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 15-21 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as widespread. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats. 

Brown-crowned tchagra

Tchagra australis

Photo by Troy Hibbitts (The Hibbitts)

Common name:
brown-crowned tchagra (en); picanço-assobiador-de-coroa-castanha (pt); tchagra à tête brune (fr); chagra coroniparda (es); dorntschagra (de)


Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Malaconotidae


Range:
This species is found in sub-Saharan Africa, from Guinea and Sierra Leone to southern Sudan and Kenya, and south to Namibia, Botswana and northern South Africa. Within this region they are only absent form the more dense rainforests of the Congo basin.


Size:
These birds are 17-18 cm long and weigh 33-36 g.


Habitat:
The brown-crowned tchagra is mostly found in dry savannas and dry scrublands, but also in dry tropical forests, second growths, arable land and rural gardens. They may occur from sea level up to an altitude of 2.500 m.


Diet:
They mostly eat adult and larval insects, which they hunt on the ground or from the base of plants. They are know to take Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera and Mantodea and very occasionally small vertebrates.


Breeding:
Brown-crowned tchagras breed in September-March. They are monogamous, solitary nesters, with both sexes building the nest, a shallow cup made of rootlets, fine twigs, coarse grass and leaf stems, cemented with spider web. the nest is usually placed in a fork or horizontal branch of a bush, well concealed by foliage. The female lays 2-4 eggs, which she mostly incubates alone for 14-17 days, while receiving food from the male. The chicks fledge 13-16 days after hatching, but remain with their parents for another 5 months.


Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as locally common. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Crimson-breasted gonolek

Laniarius atrococcineus

Photo by Hans Hillewaert (Wikipedia)

Common name:

crimson-breasted gonolek (en); picanço-preto-e-vermelho (pt); gonolek rouge et noir (fr); gonolek de Burchell (es); rotbauchwürger (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Passeriformes

Family Malaconotidae

Range:

This African species occurs in a band from Angola and Zambia to the northern parts of South Africa, with large populations in Namibia, Botswana and western Zimbabwe.

Size:

These birds are 23 cm long and weigh 40-45 g.

Habitat:

The crimson-breasted gonolek generally prefers arid habitats, especially thornveld, Acacia savanna, semi-arid scrubland and riparian scrub, being largely absent from deserts.

Diet:

These birds mostly glean prey from the leaves and trunks of trees, often also flying to the ground to feed. Their diet is largely composed of ants, beetles and caterpillars, but they also eat fruits.

Breeding:

Crimson-breasted gonoleks breed in August-January, with a peak in October-November. Both sexes construct the nest, a tidy cup made almost entirely of Acacia tree bark lined with grass and rootlets. It is usually bound with spider web to a fork in the main stem of a plant, or occasionally onto a horizontal branch. There the female lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for 15-17 days. The chicks are fed and brooded by both parents and fledge 18-20 days after hatching.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

This species has a very large breeding range and is described as common to locally fairly common. The population is suspected to be increasing as ongoing habitat degradation is creating new areas of suitable habitat.

Four-coloured bushshrike

Telophorus viridis

Common name:

four-coloured bushshrike (en); picanço-quadricolor (pt); gladiateur quadricolore (fr); bubú verde (es); vierfarbenwürger (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Passeriformes

Family Malaconotidae

Range:

This African species occurs in two separate populations, one along the coast of Tanzania and Kenya and the other in Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe and north-eastern South Africa.

Size:

These birds are 19 cm long and weighs 37 g.

Habitat:

This species is found in woodlands with dense undergrowth, especially riparian woodland. It also occurs in wooded drainage lines in thornveld, forest fringes, dune forest and coastal evergreen forest patches.

Diet:

The four-coloured bushshrike mostly eats insects, taking beetles, caterpillars, mantids, wasps and bees from the canopy of trees.

Breeding:

These birds breed in October-December. Both sexes construct the nest, which is an untidy, shallow cup built of fine twigs, rootlets, leaf petioles and grass, sometimes secured with spider web. It is usually placed on a horizontal branch or fork of a thorny tree, but also in tangles of creepers. The females lay 1-3 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 13-14 days. The chicks are fed by both parents until fledging, which takes place 12 days after hatching.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least concern)

This species has a very large breeding range and although the population size is yet to be quantified they are common in large parts of their range. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.