Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"

I present to you a bird I know well and am very fond of – a Grey-headed Bushshrike, Malaconotus blanchoti. In Afrikaans we call it a 'Spookvoël' or Ghost-bird, for its far-carrying, mournful, hooting calls. It is a reasonably common species, occurring in woodlands and thickets in savannah over sub-Saharan Africa, absent mainly from dry deserts and heavy forests.

The grey-headed bushshrike is a member of the Malaconotidae, the bushshrike family. This family used to be included in the shrike family, the Laniidae, but evidence has revealed that the bushshrikes are not closely related to them. Instead, they're part of a mostly oriental grouping of birds, the Malaconotoidea, which includes eight families, three of which have African members, the others being restricted to Asia and Australia. The bushshrikes proper number about fifty species and are restricted to the continent of Africa. The family is diverse with most members fairly small, and inhabiting well-vegetated country, from semi-arid bush to lush forest. They have shrike-like bills with hooked tips, and most are hunters of small critters, mainly invertebrates, but the largest ones, like the greyheaded bushshrike, may take small vertebrates such as lizards, frogs, birds or even mice. Unlike true shrikes, they never impale their prey on thorns. Some members of the family may eat fruit or berries, but they're mostly predatory. The family is notable first for the beautiful or at least interesting calls of most of its members, and second for the beautiful plumage displayed by some, especially the more forest-living species. These are amazing for how well they can hide amidst the foliage in spite of their bold and bright colours. Most of them are skulking and difficult to see, but a couple, mainly those living in drier, more open terrain, are much bolder in showing themselves.

The Greyheaded Bushshrike is one of the largest species in the family; only a couple of others in the same genus are larger. It has, for its size, a large head and a very robust bill, with a notch in addition to the hooked tip. It uses this powerful bill for ripping and tearing its prey, and can even draw blood from a human hand if caught. It reaches 25 cm/10" in overall length. Males and females look alike. It is one of the more secretive bushshrikes, keeping itself inside fairly dense cover, but it may allow itself to be approached fairly closely. Its hunting method is to creep and hop about the twigs and branches, using its large eyes to search for any suitable critter, which it will grab in its bill if spotted. Though mostly eating insects, it is notorious for often catching the chicks of other birds, and will also feed on other vertebrates including chameleons and small snakes. Mostly hunting at low heights in bushes and small trees, it will occasionally drop down to catch something on the ground.

While a formidable hunter, this bird is even better known for its characteristic calls, which many people have heard without even knowing the identity of the bird who makes it. The typical territorial call is a low, prolonged hoot, on one tone, neither rising nor falling. This is the ghost-like 'hoo' call from which it got its Afrikaans name. But the birds have some other calls as well. Most endearing is the one I see and hear them frequently uttering in my garden. This call is preceded by two slow but quite loud bill-claps, then it will bow its head down to its chest and utter a short, soft 'oop'. This 'clack, clack – oop' will be repeated many times, and probably is used for maintaining contact within a mated couple, though mostly when I hear the call, I only see a single bird giving it. But it's too soft to carry far and thus not very well-suited for proclaiming territory.

Like other bushshrikes, these breed in the spring and summer, when insect prey is abundant. They are monogamous and the male and female have a close bond. They make rather small, flimsy-looking nests of twigs, lined with rootlets and other fibrous plant material. In it, the female lays two to four buff, spotted eggs. The chicks are well-camouflaged and lie down flush when alone, making them hard to spot. Both sexes help rear them, and they fledge in about twenty days.

Though not abundant, the greyheaded bushshrike occurs widely enough and in sufficient numbers that it can't be considered endangered.

Willem

27.03.23 Front Page

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