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Telophorus sulfureopectus
(Orange-breasted bush-shrike)
Oranjeborsboslaksman [Afrikaans]; uHlaza (also applied
to Grey-headed bush-shrike) [Zulu]; Oranje bosklauwier [Dutch]; Gladiateur
soufré [French]; Orangewürger, Orangebrustwürger [German];
Picanço-de-peito-laranja [Portuguese]
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned
fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates) > Tetrapoda
(four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Reptilia (reptiles) >
Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria >
Dinosauria
(dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) >
Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves
(birds) >
Order: Passeriformes
> Family: Malaconotidae
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Orange-breasted bush-shrike, Kruger National Park,
South Africa. [photo Trevor Hardaker ©] |
Orange-breasted bush-shrike, KwaZulu-Natal, South
Africa. [photo
Johan van
Rensburg ©] |
Distribution and habitat
Occurs in many areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding much
of the western Coast and the DRC. In southern Africa it is fairly common across
Zimbabwe, Mozambique, parts of Botswana and the Caprivi Strip, extending into
Swaziland, the Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern
Cape. It generally prefers riparian woodland, as well as wooded drainage lines
in savanna, miombo (Brachystegia) woodland, avoiding evergreen forest.
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Distribution of Orange-breasted bush-shrike in southern Africa,
based on statistical smoothing of the records from first SA Bird Atlas
Project (©
Animal Demography unit, University of
Cape Town; smoothing by Birgit Erni and Francesca Little). Colours range
from dark blue (most common) through to yellow (least common).
See here for the latest distribution
from the SABAP2. |
Food
It mainly eats insects, doing most of its foraging in the
canopy of trees, gleaning insects from leaves and branches. The following food
items have been recorded in its diet:
Breeding
- Both sexes construct the nest, which is an untidy, shallow cup built of
fine twigs, rootlets, leaf petioles and grass, sometimes secured with spider
web. It is usually placed on a horizontal branch or fork of a thorny tree,
but also in tangles of creepers.
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Orange-breasted shrike in its nest, Sericea
farm, South Africa. [photo Warwick Tarboton ©] |
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- Egg-laying season peaks from October-December.
- It lays 1-3 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 13-14
days.
- In one observation the chicks were cared for by both parents, leaving
the nest after 12 days.
Threats
Not threatened, in fact widespread across sub-Saharan
Africa. s
References
-
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts
- Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker
Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
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