Slate-colored boubou

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Slate-colored boubou
Slate-colored Boubou, Serengeti.jpg
Adult in Serengeti, Tanzania
Duet recorded near Kitale, Kenya
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Malaconotidae
Genus: Laniarius
Species:
L. funebris
Binomial name
Laniarius funebris
(Hartlaub, 1863)

The slate-colored boubou or slate-coloured boubou (Laniarius funebris) is a species of bird in the family Malaconotidae. It is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, dry savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and subtropical or tropical moist shrubland.

Lake Bogoria - Kenya Slate-colored Boubou.jpg
Lake Bogoria - Kenya

German naturalist Gustav Hartlaub described the slate-colored boubou in 1863. Two subspecies, funebris and degener are recognised. Within the genus Laniarius its position is unclear, but it does not appear to be closely related to the black-plumaged members of the genus such as Fuelleborn's boubou, Laniarius fuelleborni, with which some authorities had previously considered it conspecific. [2]

The adult slate-colored boubou is 20 cm (8 in) long and wholly dark slate grey. The male and female are very similar. Immature birds have a plumage more barred with tawny brown and black. [3]

The male's call repertoire includes a noisy shhhhh, or strong clicking and coco-weet, with a rising inflexion on the last syllable. [3] The calls differ regionally across the species' range. [4] songs are frequently sung in a duet between the male and female of a mated pair. A 1983 study observed four types of songs sung by males in duets. Researchers concluded that one song type was for mating, two were used to indicate territory, and the final type may have been used to prevent the male boubou's mate from singing alone, which could attract other males. [5] The frequencies with which the male boubou sang the territorial songs vary with the extent of threats from other boubous and with the level of cooperation between mates. [5] A 1992 study of its calls found that a male's likelihood of singing a mating song was correlated with his mate's estradiol levels, rather than his own testosterone levels, suggesting that behavioral cues between a mating pair, rather than hormone levels, are most important in triggering mating songs. [6]

The slate-colored boubou lays a clutch of 2-3 eggs in a nest in a shrub or tree around 1.5 m (5 ft) above the ground. [7]

Related Research Articles

Bushshrike Family of birds

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.

Black boubou Species of bird

The black boubou, Somali boubou, Erlanger's boubou, or coastal boubou is a medium-size bushshrike. It was split from the tropical boubou as a result of DNA sequence analysis, and this change in status was recognized by the International Ornithological Committee in 2008. Two colour morphs are recognized, a predominantly black one, the black boubou, and an extremely rare black and yellow morph which was formerly considered a separate species, the Bulo Burti boubou. The black boubou is found in Somalia and northern Kenya.

Southern boubou Species of bird

The southern boubou is a bushshrike. Though these passerine birds and their relations were once included with true shrikes in the Laniidae, they are not closely related to that family.

<i>Laniarius</i> Genus of birds

Laniarius is a genus of brightly coloured, carnivorous passerine birds commonly known as boubous or gonoleks. Not to be confused with the similar-sounding genus Lanius, they were formerly classed with the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, but they and related genera are now considered sufficiently distinctive to be separated from that group as the bush-shrike family Malaconotidae.

Tropical boubou Species of bird

The tropical boubou or bell shrike is a medium-sized passerine bird of sub-Saharan Africa. This very diverse "species" with its numerous subspecies and morphs has since long posed a taxonomic problem, and recent research suggests it is a cryptic species complex that has now been split into several species.

The black-crowned barwing is a non-migratory bird from Indochina in the family Leiothrichidae. The name Actinodura is derived from Greek words meaning "ray-like tail" while sodangorum came from the Södang tribe which lives in Ngoc Linh and other areas in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos where black-crowned barwings are distributed.

Yellow-breasted boubou Species of bird

The yellow-breasted boubou is a species of bird in the family Malaconotidae. It is found in the Cameroonian Highlands forests.

Swamp boubou Species of bird

The swamp boubou, also known as the Gabon boubou, is a species of bird in the Malaconotidae or bushshrike family. It is native to western and southern Central Africa. In the north of their range, savannah thickets constitute an important part of their habitat, while in the south they are strongly associated with river systems and marshes, for which they are named. The pair bond appears to be maintained by duetting, which in the south is generally synchronous or overlapping. It is most similar to L. major subsp. major, with which it perhaps hybridizes, but the underpart plumage is immaculate white, while the female contributes a ratchet-like note to the duet.

Black-headed gonolek Species of bird

The black-headed gonolek is a species of bird in the family Malaconotidae. It is found in Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Fülleborn's boubou is a species of bird in the family Malaconotidae. It is found in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia, where its typical habitat is humid montane forest, dense undergrowth, secondary growth, forest edges and bamboo groves. The name of this bird commemorates the German physician Friedrich Fülleborn.

Lowland sooty boubou Species of bird

The lowland sooty boubou, also known as the sooty boubou, is a species of bird in the family Malaconotidae. It is found in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist shrubland.

Red-naped bushshrike Species of bird

The red-naped bushshrike or red-naped boubou is a species of bird in the family Malaconotidae, which is native to the dry lowlands of the eastern Afrotropics.

Chuuk monarch Species of bird

The Chuuk monarch, or Truk monarch is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. It is monotypic within the genus Metabolus. It is endemic to the island of Chuuk in Micronesia.

Plain-tailed wren Species of songbird

The plain-tailed wren is a species of songbird in the family Troglodytidae. It has a mostly rufous body with a gray, black, and white striped head. It is found in the Andes of southern Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. Plain-tailed wrens are so-called bamboo specialists and live almost exclusively in chusquea bamboo thickets. Like other wrens, its diet consists mainly of insects with some seeds and berries.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2016). "Laniarius funebris". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22707601A94131484. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22707601A94131484.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Nguembock, Billy; Fjeldså, Jon; Couloux, Arnaud; Pasquet, Eric (2008). "Phylogeny of Laniarius: Molecular data reveal L. liberatus synonymous with L. erlangeri and "plumage coloration" as unreliable morphological characters for defining species and species groups". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 48 (2): 396–407. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.04.014. PMID   18514549.
  3. 1 2 Terry Stevenson; John Fanshaw (2004). Birds of East Africa. A&C Black. p. 470. ISBN   0713673478.
  4. ↑ Wickler, Wolfgang; Sonnenschein, Edith (1989). "Ontogeny of Song in Captive Duet-Singing Slate-Coloured Boubous (Laniarius funebris). A Study in Birdsong Epigenesis". Behaviour. 111 (1/4): 220–33. doi:10.1163/156853989x00673. JSTOR   4534816.
  5. 1 2 Sonnenschein, Edith & Reyer, Heinz-Ulrich (1983). "Mate-Guarding and other Functions of Antiphonal Duets in the Slate-coloured Boubou (Laniarius funebris)". Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie. 63 (2–3): 112–140. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1983.tb00083.x.
  6. ↑ Schwabl, Hubert et Sonnenschein, Edith (1992). "Antiphonal duetting and sex hormones in the tropical bush shrike Laniarius funebris". Hormones and Behavior. 26 (3): 295–307. doi:10.1016/0018-506X(92)90001-C. PMID   1398550. S2CID   9590959.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ Sonnenschein, Edith; Reyer, Hans-Ulrich (1984). "Biology of the Slatecoloured Boubou and other bush shrikes". Ostrich. 55 (2): 84–94. doi:10.1080/00306525.1984.9634759.
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