It is wonderful and refreshing to know that after working at Londolozi for 4 years there are still new birds out there in the bush to be seen. The White-breasted Cuckooshrike was one of them. Luckily, I got my first view of one last week. A single bird fluttering around in the upper reaches of a Leadwood. As soon as I saw it I knew exactly what it was! I also knew that I had never seen one. My tattered Newman’s Bird book bares testimony to the number of times I have paged through it, studying the potential ‘lifers’. I know exactly what birds I have not seen and which I still have a chance of seeing in this area…I never thought I had a chance with this one here at Londolozi!
The white-breasted cuckooshrike mainly eats caterpillars, gleaning them from the trunk, branches and leaves of trees, occasionally joining mixed-species foraging flocks. It also takes advantage of termite alate emergences, hawking them on the wing.
Cuckooshrikes are closely related neither to the cuckoos nor to the shrikes. Some of the species also bear a superficial resemblance to cuckoos, and have a similar undulating flight. The grey colouration has led to one of their other names, the greybird. In some parts of the world they have also been known as caterpillar-birds, a name derived from their diet. They are in fact thought by some to be closely related to the Old World orioles (Oriolidae), although they differ strongly in some morphological characteristics
Birds of the World describes this birds distribution as “uncommon south from Malawi and rare in South Africa. This population is suspected to be in decline owing to habitat destruction, but it is not considered threatened at present.”
eBird distribution map of the White-breasted Cuckooshrike. I have coloured in the approximate position of Londolozi with a red circle. This map gives a good idea as to the rarity of this species in the area. Map taken from – http://ebird.org
I was delighted at not only being able to see this magical bird, but to get one or two photos of it as it flew around in search of prey.
So if one considers that in the last few weeks we have seen a Narina Trogon (reports are that there were two seen the other day) and now a White-breasted Cuckooshrike, Londolozi continues to produce some wonderful bird sightings in addition to the plethora of other wildlife .
Written and photographed by Adam Bannister
Thank you Adam! We have birders coming with us in May to Pioneer Camp. Your updates on the Trogon and Cuckooshrike (even though we won’t be there in spring) lend an air of excitement to our trip talk.
Great stuff! Well done Ad! P.S no pressure on finding the Trogon in May
Thank you for the posting, and what a wonderful surprise to be able to mark off another bird on your lifers list. Good luck with the Trogon!
15-18 October 2013
Seen at Groenkloof Nature Reserve by several people.
Incredible sighting in this part of SA.
Regards. Sheleph