Dryoscopus is a genus of bird in the Malaconotidae or bushshrike family. Its members are known as puffbacks. The six species, all of fairly uniform appearance and habits, are native to various parts of sub-Saharan Africa.[2] The name Dryoscopus is a compound Greek word: drus from the Greek word for "tree" and skopos, meaning "watcher or lookout".[3]
Puffbacks are small, active bushshrikes that show a superficial resemblance to boubous. They however display only rudimentary duetting, have red or reddish irides, are smaller and compact with bouncy flight, and display sexual dimorphism.[4] Characteristically, the long, loose and pale feathers of the male bird's back and rump are puffed out conspicuously during display. At the same time he may fly about, calling loudly.[5] Comparable habits are found in some related genera (cf. Bocagia, Bias, Lanioturdus, Batis and Dyaphorophyia).[6]
Laniarius (top left) vs. Dryoscopus (below and right)
They move about in pairs in the upper strata of trees (Pringle's excepting) and may join mixed-species flocks.[5] They command a varied repertoire of explosive and fricative whistles, percussive clicking sounds, and harsh rasping, churring or tearing sounds.[6] Three species have a rasping alarm call (cubla, senegalensis and pringlii), while the remaining three (gambensis, angolensis and sabini) have a stuttering alarm call. Wing fripping and bill snapping complement vocal communication. The nest is a neat compact cup in the general fashion of bushshrikes, but similar to those of shrike-flycatchers. Courtship feeding is present, and studied species are monogamous and single-brooded.
mid-canopy at tropical forest edge and clearings[4]
Nigeria and Central Africa.
Gallery
Head of male, D. cubla, showing red iris
Displaying male, D. cubla, with raised back and rump feathers
Tit-like foraging habit of male D. cubla
Nest of D. cubla wedged in branches of a sapling
Related Research Articles
Shrikes are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in two genera.
The family Vangidae comprises a group of often shrike-like medium-sized birds distributed from Asia to Africa, including the vangas of Madagascar to which the family owes its name. Many species in this family were previously classified elsewhere in other families. Recent molecular techniques made it possible to assign these species to Vangidae, thereby solving several taxonomic enigmas. The family contains 40 species divided into 21 genera.
The bushshrikes are smallish passerine birds. They were formerly classed with the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, but are now considered sufficiently distinctive to be separated from that group as the family Malaconotidae, a name that alludes to their fluffy back and rump feathers.
The black-backed puffback is a species of passerine bird in the family Malaconotidae. They are common to fairly common sedentary bushshrikes in various wooded habitats in Africa south of the equator. They restlessly move about singly, in pairs or family groups, and generally frequent tree canopies. Like others of its genus, the males puff out the loose rump and lower back feathers in display, to assume a remarkable ball-like appearance. They draw attention to themselves by their varied repertoire of whistling, clicking and rasping sounds. Their specific name cubla, originated with Francois Levaillant, who derived it from a native southern African name, where the "c" is an onomatopoeic click sound. None of the other five puffback species occur in southern Africa.
The black-winged flycatcher-shrike is a species of bird in the flycatcher-shrike genus, Hemipus. It is usually placed in the Vangidae. It is found in the Malay Peninsula and the Greater Sunda Islands. Its natural habitats are lowland forests and sometimes swamps and mangroves. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as being of least concern.
References
↑ "Malacontidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
