Speckled Mousebird
Colius striatus
Bush and suburbia. Brown wings and upper tail; light brown crested head and underparts; mask and upper mandible black; lower mandible white; legs black.
Mousebirds
LC
Not Endemic
Description
Common resident. Identified by dull-brown coloration and bill, black upper mandible, white lower mandible and black mask. The call is a rasping ‘zwit-wit’. Flocks, which fly in straggling groups, frequent dense bush, scrub, forest fringes and suburbia in the moister regions.
Quick Facts
Size
30-35 cm - M
Names
A: Gevlekte Muisvoël
Z: iNdlazi
Ss: Mmasehlothwana Wa Leramantsho
G: Braunflügel-Mausvogel
Bird Family
Fruit-eating birds with crested heads, soft, hair-like plumage and long, stiff tails. They usually occur in parties of about a dozen birds that maintain contact by call. When feeding they clamber about, mouse-like, in bushes. Immatures resemble adults, but are duller and shorter-tailed.
Distribution
Gallery
Behaviour
Breeding
Habitat
Flocks, which fly in straggling groups, frequent dense bush, scrub, 'forest' fringes and suburbia in the moister regions.
