#grey-green bushshrike

[alonglistofbirds]

[1559/10977] Bocage's bushshrike - Chlorophoneus bocagei

Also known as: grey-green bushshrike

Order: Passeriformes Suborder: Passeri Superfamily: Malaconotoidea Family: Malaconotidae (bushshrikes)

Photo credit: Nik Borrow via Macaulay Library

[witchstone]

Hey Cara have you seen any interesting birds lately? Xx

hi!!! i have!! i've had a really good run these last few months what with all the odd things showing up this winter. but i think the first mention here was the massive brown eagle that i saw cruising over the house yesterday that, qf, i have absolutely no idea what it was. i know all the raptors you expect to get in the greater area, and this just wasn't any of those??? my best guess is a juvenile african fish eagle with browner than usual markings, but i'm not convinced

i've been seeing green twinspots in the garden the whole winter - never seen them here before since they're usually heavy forest birds. saw a martial eagle out on the outskirts of the municipality a few weeks back

also had a really nice sighting of a tambourine dove in the garden last week! used to hear them a fair bit earlier this year, but not for a while and actually seeing them is more uncommon

more birds under the cut lol i don't want this to get too bulky

had some REALLY great views of a grey cuckooshrike in a forest up north who just...really wasn't shy in the slightest. deep sea creature of a bird, look a that eye. there was also a black cuckooshrike hanging around

not the greatest photograph, but finally managed to track down an orange-breasted bushshrike in the same forest! i've seen them before, but well over ten years ago. i've been desperately trying to get a sighting + photo for well over a year now, but they kept teasing me with their sombre "what to dooooo" call

(also in the same forest. it was a good day) but the rare spotted ground-thrush!! this was the bird i was really hoping to see and photograph. despite being rare i've actually seen quite a few of them

the worst photograph of the best bird ever, the narina trogon! (again, in the same forest) she was really obliging, but i was unable to get a better picture with how dark it was that day. look at that rusty colour descending into red!

a grey sunbird at my local nature reserve a few weeks back!! i've technically seen one before, but it wasn't a great sighting and all i got was an unidentifiable ass shot

i hear them and see them rather frequently, but i had some amazing views of this grey-headed bushshrike in the late afternoon sun in the garden. he was being so obliging and i got some fantastic photographs. best part was when i was reviewing them later and realised in some of them he had a whole mouse in his beak

this is a HEAVILY condensed version bc i'm really lucky to see interesting birds pretty regularly!

[witchstone]

okay, birds seen at home in june round up! comes to a total of 62 species, which is oddly high for the middle of winter. the highlight was the green twinspot, which i’d only got my first ever sighting of two weeks earlier. presumably it had only found its way to our garden because of the heavy rains and flash floods (and the tornado what the fuck) a few days prior - they’re forest birds, whereas our area is more broad-leaf woodland.

full list and photos under the cut!

bar-throated apalis, black-collared + crested + white-eared barbet, cape batis, dark-capped bulbul, green-backed camaroptera*, yellow-fronted canary, fork-tailed drongo, crowned eagle*, southern black flycatcher, african dusky flycatcher, african paradise flycatcher (odd for this time of year), egyptian goose, gymnogene, southern hadeda, purple-crested loerie. speckled mousebird, black-headed oriole, rose-ringed parakeet*, black-backed puffback, red-capped robin-chat, cape glossy + black-bellied + red-winged starling, collared + greater double-collared + olive + amethyst + white-bellied sunbird, olive + kurrichane thrush, golden-rumped tinkerbarbet, southern black tit, spectacled + village weaver, cape white-eye, cardinal + golden-tailed woodpecker, red-eyed + tambourine* dove, brown-hooded kingfisher, red-backed + bronze mannikin, klaas���s cuckoo*, lesser honeyguide, grey-headed bushshrike*, familiar chat, southern grey-headed sparrow, woolly-necked stork, sombre greenbul*, green woodhoopoe, cape wagtail, southern boubou, black sparrowhawk, african palm swift, green twinspot, black cuckooshrike?, black-headed heron, little sparrowhawk?, pied crow, african goshawk

* = call heard, no visuals, ? = i’m reasonably sure it was that, but not 100%

dark-capped bulbul, taken at a nature reserve up the hill

eurytela dryope

not sure yet. maybe a mocker swallowtail judging by the body?

olive sunbird my beloved

the green twinspot!! absolutely not a great photo, but i was surprised to get a pic at all tbh. either a female or juvenile

bosduival’s tree nymph

souther hadeda. chicken sized rats and the worst dawn chorus you’ve ever heard

golden-tailed woodpecker

gold-spotted sylph. have never seen one before in my life, but it was hanging around the laundry

southern black tit!