home   about   search

biodiversity explorer

the web of life in southern Africa

Telophorus viridis (Gorgeous bush-shrike) 

Konkoit [Afrikaans]; iNgongoni [Zulu]; Bonte bosklauwier [Dutch]; Gladiateur quadricolore [French]; Vierfarbenwürger [German]; Picanço-quadricolor [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

Telophorus viridis (Gorgeous bush-shrike) 

Gorgeous bush-shrike,  Nkwaleni Valley, just north of Eshowe in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.. [photo Hugh Chittenden ©]

Distribution and habitat

Occurs in two separate populations - one along the coast of Tanzania and Kenya and the other in Mozambique, Zimbabwe's eastern Highlands, Limpopo Province, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. Although fairly common it is quite difficult to see, as it skulks around in dense undergrowth, giving away its away it presence with its distinctive call. It usually occupies woodlands with dense undergrowth, especially riparian woodland. It also occurs in wooded drainage lines in thornveld, forest fringes, dune forest and coastal evergreen forest patches.

Distribution of Gorgeous 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.  

Predators and parasites

Nestlings have been recorded as prey of Accipiter badius (Shikra).

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.
  • 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. 

 

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.

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:

  • Insects
    • beetles
    • caterpillars
    • mantids
    • wasps
    • bees

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.
  • 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.