- Indicator maculatus
Identification
18 cm (7 in); Forms a species pair with Scaly-throated Honeyguide.
Overall yellowish olive-green, dusky lores and area around the eye. No streaking on the head, sub-moustachial area unmarked and more yellow. Chin, throat and breast light olive green with buffish centres to the feathers - making it look "spotted". Belly and undertail coverts sparsley streaked.
Wings as upperparts with thin yellowish margins to the coverts, secondaries and tertials. Primaries black.
Tail blackish central feathers, outers white with narrower black terminal band than Scaly-throated Honeyguide.
Eye black, bill black with yellowish horn bases to both mandibles, legs dark grey.
Distribution
Africa. Gambia to western Nigeria. Cameroon to extreme western Uganda, down to Burundi and across to northern Angola.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 2 subspecies[1]:
- I. m. maculatus;
- I. m. stictithorax:
- southern Cameroon to northern Angola, south-western Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and south-western Uganda
Habitat
Dense, lowland forest clearings, riverine forests and overgrown agricultural land.
Behaviour
Solitary.
Diet
They have a very varied diet. Searches out beeswax sites, and also takes caterpillars, butterflies, beetles, and spiders and probably fruit as well.
Breeding
They parasitize the nests of the Buff-spotted Woodpecker.
Vocalisation
They have a longer trill than Scaly-throated Honeyguide
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Apr 2018)
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Spotted Honeyguide. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 12 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Spotted_Honeyguide
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
