Yellow-billed shrike

Last updated

Yellow-billed shrike
Yellow-billed shrike (Corvinella corvina corvina).jpg
C. c. corvina
Gambia
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Laniidae
Genus: Lanius
Species:
L. corvinus
Binomial name
Lanius corvinus
Shaw, 1809
With prey at University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana Yellow billed shrike with prey.jpg
With prey at University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

The yellow-billed shrike (Lanius corvinus) is a large passerine bird in the shrike family. It is sometimes known as the long-tailed shrike, but this is to be discouraged, since it invites confusion with the long-tailed shrike, Lanius schach, of tropical southern Asia. The yellow-billed shrike is a common resident breeding bird in tropical Africa from Senegal eastwards to Uganda and locally in westernmost Kenya. [2] It frequents forest and other habitats with trees.

Contents

Description

The yellow-billed shrike is 32 cm (13 in) with a long, graduating tail and short wings. The adult has mottled brown upperparts and streaked buff underparts. It has a brown eye mask and a rufous wing patch, and the bill is yellow. Sexes are largely similar, but females have maroon patches on the flanks, while males have rufous parches; these patches are only visible when the bird is in flight, displaying, engaging in territorial disputes, or preening. Immature birds show buff fringes to the wing feathers. The legs and feet are black, and the beak is yellow, even in juveniles. It is a noisy bird, with harsh swee-swee and dreee-too calls. [2]

Distribution

The species is resident in tropical Africa, south of the Sahara and north of the equator, but is not present in the Horn of Africa. It is present in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, and Uganda. [1] It makes localised movements, but these have been little studied. [2]

Ecology

This is a conspicuous and gregarious bird and a cooperative breeder, always seen in groups, often lined up on telephone wires. The nest is a cup structure in a bush or tree into which four or five eggs are laid. Only one female in a group breeds at a given time, with other members providing protection and food. [2]

The yellow-billed shrike feeds on insects, which it locates from prominent look-out perches in trees, wires, or posts. [3] They also sometimes eat small frogs, reptiles, and mice, but are not known to eat other birds or to form larders. [4]

Status

C. corvina is common in some areas and less so in others. No evidence has been found of any substantial decline in its populations, so the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of least concern. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beautiful sunbird</span> Species of bird

The beautiful sunbird, formerly placed in the genus Nectarinia, is a sunbird. It is native to tropical Africa, its range extending from Senegal and Guinea in the west to Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya in the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African grey woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The African grey woodpecker is a species of bird in the woodpecker family Picidae. Is a widespread and frequently common resident breeder in much of Sub-Saharan and equatorial Africa. It is a species associated with forest and bush which nests in a tree hole, often in an oil palm, laying two to four eggs. It is a common bird with a very wide range, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masked shrike</span> Migratory bird in the family Laniidae

The masked shrike is a species of bird in the shrike family, Laniidae. It breeds in southeastern Europe and at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, with a separate population in eastern Iraq and western Iran. It is migratory, wintering mainly in northeast Africa. Although it is a short-range migrant, vagrants have occurred widely elsewhere, including northern and western Europe. It is the smallest member of its genus, long-tailed and with a hooked bill. The male has mainly black upperparts, with white on its crown, forehead and supercilium and large white patches on the shoulders and wings. The throat, neck sides and underparts are white, with orange flanks and breast. The female is a duller version of the male, with brownish black upperparts and a grey or buff tone to the shoulders and underparts. The juvenile has grey-brown upperparts with a paler forehead and barring from the head to rump, barred off-white underparts and brown wings аpart from the white primary patches. The species' calls are short and grating, but the song has melodic warbler-like components.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African paradise flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The African paradise flycatcher is a medium-sized passerine bird. The two central tail feathers of the male are extended into streamers that commonly are more than twice as long as the body. The female tail feathers are of moderate length and without streamers. The upper parts of the male body, wings, and tail are boldly coloured in chestnut or rusty shades, but the underparts and the head are variably grey to blue-gray, with the head of the mature male being darker, commonly glossy black with greenish highlights. The beak and other bare areas, including a wattle ring round the eye, match the colour of the surrounding feathers. The female coloration is similar, though not so showy and glossy and with the head paler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-bellied paradise flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The red-bellied paradise flycatcher, also known as the black-headed paradise flycatcher, is a medium-sized passerine bird of the family of monarch flycatchers. It is native to intra-tropical forests of Africa. The male bird is about 17 cm (7 in) long and has a black head, a mainly chestnut body, and a tail with streamers nearly twice as long as the body. The colouring is somewhat variable across the bird's range. Both females and juveniles lack the tail streamers and are a duller brown colour. It is closely related to the African paradise flycatcher, and the two can hybridise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-bellied hyliota</span> Species of bird

The yellow-bellied hyliota is a species of Hyliota. It is found in Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taita fiscal</span> Species of bird

The Taita fiscal or Teita fiscal is a member of the shrike family found in east Africa from southeastern South Sudan, southern Ethiopia, and western Somalia to northeastern Tanzania. Its habitat is dry open thornbush and acacia and other dry open woodland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black coucal</span> Species of bird

The black coucal is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It has a wide distribution in Africa south of the Sahara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African cuckoo</span> Species of bird

The African cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa where it migrates within the continent, generally arriving and breeding in any one locality during the rainy season. A fairly common bird, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African green pigeon</span> Species of bird

The African green pigeon is a species of bird in the family Columbidae, and one of 5 green pigeon species in the Afrotropics. The species has a wide range in Sub-Saharan Africa with around 17 accepted races.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-throated bee-eater</span> Species of bird

The red-throated bee-eater is a species of bird in the family Meropidae. This species is found in tropical Africa, in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, and Uganda. It has a wide range and large total population, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey-headed batis</span> Species of bird

The grey-headed batis is a species of bird in the wattle-eyes family, Platysteiridae, it was previously classified with the Old World flycatchers in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in eastern and central Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Short-winged cisticola</span> Species of bird

The short-winged cisticola, also known as the siffling cisticola, is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is found in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey-backed fiscal</span> Species of bird

The grey-backed fiscal is a species of bird in the family Laniidae. It is found in Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are dry savanna and subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mackinnon's shrike</span> Species of bird

Mackinnon's shrike, also called Mackinnon's fiscal, is a songbird species of the family Laniidae. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and moist savanna. It is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN.The population of this species is increasing, which is thought to be due to the degradation of nearby habitat. Its common name and Latin binomial commemorate Archibald Donald MacKinnon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somali fiscal</span> Species of bird

The Somali fiscal is a species of bird in the family Laniidae. Other common names include the Karoli fiscal, the Somali fiscal shrike and the Somali shrike. The bird is found in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia in the Horn of Africa, as well as in Kenya in the African Great Lakes region. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African shrike-flycatcher</span> Species of bird

The African shrike-flycatcher or red-eyed shrike-flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Vangidae. It is monotypic within the genus Megabyas. It is found in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copper sunbird</span> Species of bird

The copper sunbird is a species of passerine bird in the family Nectariniidae. It is native to tropical Africa, its range extending from Senegal and Guinea in the west to South Sudan and Kenya in the east, and southwards to Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magpie shrike</span> Species of bird

The magpie shrike, also known as the African long-tailed shrike, is a species of bird in the family Laniidae. It is native to the grasslands of eastern and southeastern Africa, where its natural habitats are dry savannah, moist savannah, and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. It has a very wide range and is common in places, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern fiscal</span> Species of bird

The northern fiscal is a member of the shrike family found through most of Sub-Saharan Africa. It used to be grouped with the southern fiscal. Together they were called the common fiscal. The fiscal gets its English and Afrikaans common names from its black and white 'suit-and-tie' appearance reminiscent of the taxman (‘fiscal’).

References

  1. 1 2 3 BirdLife International (2016). "Corvinella corvina". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22705103A94000483. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22705103A94000483.en .
  2. 1 2 3 4 Lefranc & Worfolk 2013, pp. 169–171.
  3. Lefranc & Worfolk 2013, p. 169.
  4. Lefranc & Worfolk 2013, p. 39.

Cited books

Further reading