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!"

Today we take a peek at a lovely little forest birdie that likes to keep to itself. This is a White-starred Robin, Pogonocichla stellata. It inhabits the dark and gloomy understory of mountain mist-forest and moist, temperate forests in Southern and Eastern Africa, as far north as Kenya and Uganda.
Like many birds outside Europe called 'robins', it is not a real robin. It used to be classified in the thrush family, but present-day classifications put it in the flycatcher-and-chat family, the Muscicapidae. Still, that's the case for the European robin too! With the white-starred robin, it is actually a member of a subfamily called the 'African forest robin assemblage', which also includes a strange trio called the Palm Thrushes. The white-starred robin's scientific name means 'Starred Beard-Thrush'. I don't know where the 'beard'-part comes from. It is the only member of its genus.

White-starred robins inhabit forests with well-developed ground-level vegetation, and are therefore usually found closer to the forest edges than to the deep, dark interior where there's little undergrowth. In the high Ruwenzori mountains, they sometimes venture above the forest itself, into clumps of bamboo or in mountain heathland. In seasonal climates, they migrate down to lower lying regions in winter. Lower altitudes are warmer, so the birds manage to escape the cold that sometimes afflicts the higher mountain forests.

While not often seen, this robin's calls contribute to the relaxed ambiance of these forests. It is not an ostentatious song, but a series of short, sweet whistled notes, repeated over and over, mixing with the calls of the forest thrushes, trogons and turacos. The territorial song is sung by both males and females, and its exact pattern varies regionally, as do the alarm and contact calls.

While it's easy to locate by ear, to see it takes patience. The robin's olive-green back blends in with the vegetation of the undergrowth, and with its usual skulking demeanour, that's what you're mostly going to see. But if it turns towards you and lifts its body, you will be struck by the bright golden-yellow colour of its belly. The white 'stars' of its name you'll see only rarely; it can expose these white patches at will, by moving away the longer, concealing grey face feathers. Both the bright belly and the white 'stars' are used by robins displaying to each other. An adult male, noting the presence of an intruder robin, will hop or fly to a higher perch to display its bright underparts. If the intruder does not acknowledge the territory-owner, the owner will move closer while simultaneously flashing its white star-spots. This is usually enough to settle the matter. Birds also often splay out their tail feathers, showing bright yellow patches on a dark grey background. They apparently also have white patches on their throats, which they can display similarly to their white face-stars, but I haven't even been able to find a photo showing this. Males are slightly larger than females, but otherwise the sexes look the same. There are races outside southern Africa with somewhat different coloration.

As you can see in my painting, this robin eats insects, such as caterpillars or beetle grubs, cockroaches, flies, bugs, and other insects and invertebrates. Like flycatchers, is has long, stiff bristles at the side of its mouth that helps trap critters and guide it towards the mouth cavity. It may feed by gleaning insects from amongst the leaves and twigs of the understory or more rarely the canopy; or by hopping on the ground and flicking leaves aside like a thrush; it also can fly out from a perch to catch insects in flight. In the equatorial forests, it sometimes follows columns of driver ants, picking up critters that flee from them, but staying on perches above the ants so as to be safe from them. It also eats small amounts of fruit. It may even catch and eat tiny frogs, such as the squeakers that inhabit the same forests.

White-starred robins build nests different from those of their closest kin. Other robins generally build open, cup-like nests, but white-starred robins build closed, dome-shaped nests with a side entrance. It is made of dead leaves, rootlets and moss, and lined with fine grass and plant fibers. It is situated on the ground, in a concealed spot, such as next to a fallen tree trunk, or sometimes higher up in a hollow in a bank or amidst a tangle of roots of a strangler fig. The female typically lays two or three eggs, on consecutive days. She builds the nest alone, and also incubates the eggs herself. Her nest may be parasitized by either red-chested or emerald cuckoos, or predated by shrews, rodents, monkeys or egg-eating snakes. If all goes well, the chicks hatch in 16 to 18 days. When they leave the nest, young birds have a dull, spotted plumage; after that they assume a pattern similar to that of adults, but with dull green underparts and whitish bellies streaked green. The bright yellow colours are only attained when the birds are about a year or two old. Under ideal conditions, they can live over ten years.

At present, these robins are common in suitable habitat, which exists widely over southern and eastern Africa. But they are dependent on the continued existence of this forest habitat, which we humans should protect to safeguard them and the many other plants and animals that occur there.

Willem

31.07.23 Front Page

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