Colours of Wildlife: Bokmakierie
Created | Updated Dec 24, 2017
Bokmakierie
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!"
This time I have for you a charming and colourful birdie! This is a Bokmakierie, Telophorus zeylonus. It is actually a species of bush shrike, and fairly closely related to the Black-Fronted Bush Shrike. It is very unlike that species in being bold, confiding, and easily seen where it occurs. Also, while most bush shrikes inhabit dense forest, woodland or thicket country, bokmakieries live in more open regions, including grassland, scrubby fynbos and sub-desert plains, provided there are at least some shrubs and/or trees not too far away. It also frequents suburban gardens. But it seems to actively avoid forests or areas with many big trees. The species only occurs in Southern Africa, mostly in South Africa itself, but also in the western parts of Namibia and in southwestern Angola. There is an isolated population in the Chimanimani Mountains of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. This bird is about the size of a thrush, always with an alert bearing. It lives mostly on insects and other invertebrates, but occasionally catches small frogs and lizards. It mostly seeks its food on the ground, amidst the underbrush, under fallen leaves, or on suburban lawns.
A Voice Worthy of a Name and Acclaim
The name 'Bokmakierie' comes from one among the many different calls given by this bird. 'Bokmakierie' is not quite exactly what it says … it's more like 'bok-bok-chit'. But there are many other calls… my big bird book gives them as 'too-oo-oo, too-oo-oo' (which the male sings), 'teeu-teeu' (the response by the female), 'pheoo' (male), 'puka-puka-puka-puka' (female) and 'wit, wit, wit, wit, wit' (both). Of course this doesn't really give you any indication of what the calls actually sound like, but for that we have the internet! Just type 'bokmakierie calling' into youtube and you'll get the thing itself. As in many other bush shrike species, these calls are often duets, where the male calls and the female answers so rapidly that it sounds like a single bird singing. For bokmakieries, synchronising their calls is what keeps the bond between the birds tight. It's almost like dancing. The better the partners know each other, the more in tune with each other they are and the better they follow each other's moves.
They don't start out with this vocal virtuosity. Young birds give rather awkward, off-key calls, often omitting some of the notes. They have to practice, and their parents even encourage them and give them cues. But unlike human children being pushed into practicing the piano, they have no choice but to become proficient, else they'll never get a mate.
But having acquired mates, bokmakieries use the calls to maintain and strengthen the pair bonds, and perhaps also to make sure they're on cue when it's time to breed. In the breeding season the pairs call most actively, and you can use their calling to determine where their nests are. The birds call out in the open, perched on a shrub, low tree or garden fence, and if there's one, its mate can't be far away. The nest is quite bulky, made of grass and herb leaves, lined with fine animal hairs, grasses and rootlets. It is well-concealed in a dense shrub or low tree. In it the female lays up to six pale bluish or greenish eggs, with reddish and greyish speckles. The male and female both brood the eggs and feed the young. They also keep the nest hygienic by eating or removing the chicks' faeces, which are enclosed in a membranous sack. During the period when they have vulnerable chicks, they keep themselves quiet and inconspicuous. The chicks start out naked and blind, but fledge in about eighteen days. They accompany their parents for a while before striking out on their own. The juvenile is duller in coloration than its parents, and lacks the black collar; it gets these only upon reaching adulthood.
Bokmakieries are abundant, widespread and adaptable, and in no present danger of extinction.
