- Rhodophoneus cruentus
Telophorus cruentus
Identification
Length 22-24 cm. A brown bushshrike with a reddish-pink central breast.
Adult male: The reddish-pink patch extends from chin to throat and central breast. The male of the southern subspecies (R. c. cathemagmenus) has a black gorget separating the pink throat from the pink breast-patch
Adult female: Throat white with a black gorget.
Juvenile: Whitish throat, breast mottled with black and pink.
Distribution
Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Tanzania.
Taxonomy
Four subspecies are recognized in this species:[1]
- R. c. cruentus
extreme southeastern Egypt, northeastern Sudan, Eritrea, and northern Ethiopia
- R. c. kordofanicus
- Sudan (western Kordofan)
- R. c. hilgerti
- Extreme southeastern South Sudan, southern and eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, and northern and eastern Kenya
- R. c. cathemagmenus
Gill and Donsker (2010)[2] place this species in the genus Telophorus.
Habitat
Arid to semi-arid scrub, thicket and previously cultivated lands.
Behaviour
Often found in pairs, usually in dense cover, but sometimes uses a high perch when singing.
Vocalisation
A loud duet; tsuee tsuueee.
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/
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2010. IOC World Bird Names (version 2.7). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Rosy-patched Bushshrike. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 6 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Rosy-patched_Bushshrike
