Speckled Mousebird (Colius striatus cinerascens) - 6 July 2013. Gibb's Farm, Karatu, Arusha Region, Tanzania.



A small flock of these interesting birds was foraging in the hedge behind our lodge. Mousebirds are placed in their own order, the Coliiformes. This is the only order of birds confined to Sub-Saharan Africa. Although they are superficially passerine-like, they do not have the typical passerine foot structure. They sometimes hang from a branch with all four toes pointing forward, as seen here. This toe arrangement is called syndactylous and the only other birds with syndactylous toes are the swifts. Notice the soft hairlike body feathers suggesting a small rodent. All Mousebirds have a very long tail, longer than the body. Sexes are alike.

Numerous races have been described and they can be divided into three groups. This is presumably C. s. cinerascens which occurs over most of Tanzania and which is a member of the "Leucotis Group." However, there are four or five other races in that group attributed to Tanzania.

Digiscoped with Panasonic DMC-LX5 | Nikon FieldScope III | 30XWA | hand-held (no adapter).
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