Africa Wild

Amoli wrote: Agile and active, but secretive; constantly changes posture and jerks or swings tail
Territorial pairs counter-sing and interact with excited bowing, side-to-side movements and tail-jerking.

This shrike is extremely nimble and restless, its penetrating whistles often being the first sign of its presence, although it is not a shy species.

The species was first collected by William John Burchell in 1811 near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers.

He named it atrococcineus meaning 'black/red', finding the striking colour combination quite remarkable.

The generic name Laniarius was coined by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot and was meant to call attention to the butcher-like habits of the group.

In South West Africa its colours reminded Germans of their homeland flag and it therefore became the Reichsvogel ("Empire bird").

A really beautiful bird

Now , do you know how he came onto being all dressed in black and red ?

Well , it goes all the way back , back to the beginning , when the Great Spirit called all the birds together , so that he could give them their singing voices and coats and colouring . Remember , at that time , all the birds still looked the same , all with dull looking coats .
And so , all the birds were standing in a line , and one by one received their voices and coats . The nightingale was right in front , and he received a beautiful voice . Then the canary , and so on . And all the song-birds received their voices , and the larks , and the sparrows , and the peacock received a beautiful coat , but did not worry too much about a voice , and so on , etc etc .

Now this specific shrike is a very little busybody . Always scratching around in the undergrowth , and is easily side-tracked , so that while standing in line , he saw something interesting to do , and off he went , hopping around , scratching , pecking away and so that eventually , when all the birds had received their " gifts " , he was called to receive his .
But , by the time he arrived back , the Great Spirit had already given out all the voices , except one broken voice . It was quite harsh , with a little " qwip-qwip " type whistling sound , and wasn't very nice at all .
Now , the little shrike was quite sad about this , because he was hoping to be able to sing with the best , but here he only got this horrible sounding voice , and he cried .
And all the coats and beautiful coloured feathers had been handed out , and when the Great Spirit looked in his box , he saw right at the bottom , just two pieces of left-overs . Black and red . And he gave this to the little fellow .

So , that is how the crimson-breasted shrike received his brilliant red and black colouring , and his harsh voice . And to this day , he still goes off into the undergrowth , he is much easier to see and recognise

Lisbeth wrote: Why didn't he dress up the LBJs with some bright colors?

Hmmmm..... There were so many of them that all looked alike , that even the Great Spirit could not distinguish between them .
So, he decided to leave them as they were and said : " In future you will all be known as Little Brown Jobs " .

agree nice story

and what about the yellow and black

Toko wrote:
The entire underparts are brilliant crimson except for a yellow morph that occurs occasionally which has lost the ability to transform the yellow food carotinoids into red Astaxanthin based on a gene defect.
Pilanesberg

If you are referring to the yellow and black Shrike - Toko posted this. It is still called a crimson-breasted though, if I am correct.

okie wrote:A really beautiful bird

Now , do you know how he came onto being all dressed in black and red ?

Well , it goes all the way back , back to the beginning , when the Great Spirit called all the birds together , so that he could give them their singing voices and coats and colouring . Remember , at that time , all the birds still looked the same , all with dull looking coats .
And so , all the birds were standing in a line , and one by one received their voices and coats . The nightingale was right in front , and he received a beautiful voice . Then the canary , and so on . And all the song-birds received their voices , and the larks , and the sparrows , and the peacock received a beautiful coat , but did not worry too much about a voice , and so on , etc etc .

Now this specific shrike is a very little busybody . Always scratching around in the undergrowth , and is easily side-tracked , so that while standing in line , he saw something interesting to do , and off he went , hopping around , scratching , pecking away and so that eventually , when all the birds had received their " gifts " , he was called to receive his .
But , by the time he arrived back , the Great Spirit had already given out all the voices , except one broken voice . It was quite harsh , with a little " qwip-qwip " type whistling sound , and wasn't very nice at all .
Now , the little shrike was quite sad about this , because he was hoping to be able to sing with the best , but here he only got this horrible sounding voice , and he cried .
And all the coats and beautiful coloured feathers had been handed out , and when the Great Spirit looked in his box , he saw right at the bottom , just two pieces of left-overs . Black and red . And he gave this to the little fellow .

So , that is how the crimson-breasted shrike received his brilliant red and black colouring , and his harsh voice . And to this day , he still goes off into the undergrowth , he is much easier to see and recognise

Just where I found it....

okie

Still complaining about that harsh voice

one of the "ice on the cake"
Kruger - 24.10.2009

Retz's Helmet-Shrike/Bagadais de Retz
Mrs doesn't need a long time in the bathroom... in the morning

Retz's Helmet-shrike