Description
15 cm. Adult Lilian’s lovebirds have a largely green body, with an orangey-red forehead and throat, blending into salmon-pink on the crown, face and upper breast. It has green uppertail coverts. The hooked bill, suited to feeding on seeds, is bright red, and its eyes are dark red to brown with a white eye-ring. Sexes are similar.
Juveniles are generally duller than adults, with a slight black wash on the cheeks and a black base to the bill.
Similar species: Differs from Rosy-faced Lovebird in reddish bill and green (not blue) back and rump. Slightly smaller than the similar Rosy-faced Lovebird.
Distribution
Isolated populations of Lilian’s lovebirds occur along the Zambezi Valley in Mozambique and into Zimbabwe, northwards along the Luangwa River into Zambia and southern Tanzania, and along the Shire River into Malawi.
Habitat
It is locally common to abundant, generally preferring mature Mopane (Colosphermum mopane) woodland and riparian forest, especially with fig (Ficus) trees.
Diet
Eats mainly grass seeds, but it may also feed on agricultural crops, flowers and fruit. It is highly sociable and gregarious, foraging on the ground in flocks of up to 600 birds.
Breeding
Its breeding habits are little known in the wild - it is thought to be a monogamous, loosely colonial nester. Typically nests in natural tree cavities (especially in Colosphermum mopane (Mopane). Egg-laying season is from about January-April. It lays about 4-5 white eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 22 days. The chicks are cared for by both parents, staying in the nest for about 44 days.
Call
Their high-pitched, twittering call can be heard in flight or when perched on a tree.
Status
Locally common resident. Classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List.
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. A notable feature of passerines is the arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back) which facilitates perching. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders, with over 5,000 identified species. It has roughly twice as many species as the largest of the mammal orders, the Rodentia. It contains more than 110 families, the second most of any order of vertebrates (after the Perciformes).
Passeriformes may be small, medium-sized or large birds. Most passerines are smaller than typical members of other avian orders. One of the smallest, the Pygmy Tit (Psaltria exilis) from Indonesia is about 4 cm long, whereas one of the largest, the Common Raven (Corvus corax) may reach almost 70 cm.
The foot of a passerine has three toes directed forward and one toe directed backward, called anisodactyl arrangement. This arrangement enables the passerine birds to perch upon vertical surfaces, such as trees and cliffs. The toes have no webbing or joining, but in some cotingas the second and third toes are united at their basal third. The hind toe joins the leg at the same level as the front toes. In other orders of birds the toe arrangement is different.
The leg arrangement of passerine birds contains a special adaption for perching. A tendon in the rear of the leg running from the underside of the toes to the muscle behind the Tibiotarsus will automatically be pulled and tighten when the leg bends, causing the foot to curl and become stiff when the bird lands on a branch. This enables passerines to sleep while perching without falling off. This is especially useful for passerine birds that develop nocturnal lifestyles.
Most passerine birds develop twelve tail feathers. Certain species of passerines have stiff tail feathers, which help the birds balance themselves when perching upon vertical surfaces. Some passerines, specifically in the family Ploceidae, are well known for their elaborate sexual ornaments, including extremely long tails. A well-known example is the Long-tailed Widowbird.
Except the Corvidae family's members, all these birds utter beautiful and various songs, with melodious phrases and liquid notes. It is very pleasant to hear them in the early morning when the spring is coming.
Passeriformes often are insectivorous during the nesting period, but usually, they consume both insects and seeds, and also fruits and berries in autumn.
Numerous families have rather dull plumage, often grey, brown or blackish on the upperparts. The underparts may be paler with darker spots, streaks or specks.
However, several Passeriformes show bright-coloured plumages.
Male and female often differ. The male has brighter colours than the female which incubates the eggs, and needs to be almost invisible at nest. The young are very similar to the female until the first moult.
During the breeding season, the Passeriformes become aggressive and territorial, defending strongly their area and the nest-site. They perform courtship displays by singing, flying, the male strutting close to the female, playing with the brighter colours of his feathers in order to expose the best parts of the plumage.
They live in pairs during the breeding season, but they are seen in mixed flocks outside this period.
Some species migrate after the nesting season, flying southwards for wintering. Others perform some altitudinal dispersions, or move according to the food resources.
Passeriformes usually breeds in spring, except some species living in cold or warm countries where the reproduction may occur at different periods of the year, or even all year round.
The chicks of passerines are altricial: blind, featherless, and helpless when hatched from their eggs. Hence, the chicks require extensive parental care. Most passerines lay coloured eggs, in contrast with non-passerines, most of whose eggs are white except in some ground-nesting groups such as Charadriiformes and nightjars, where camouflage is necessary, and in some parasitic cuckoos, which match the passerine host's egg. Clutches vary considerably in size: some larger passerines of Australia such as lyrebirds and scrub-robins lay only a single egg, most smaller passerines in warmer climates lay between two and five, whilst in the higher latitudes of the northern hemisphere hole-nesting species like tits can lay up to a dozen and other species around five or six.
The nice nest may be situated in tree, bush, hole in tree or crevice in the rock, on the ground among the grass, in reeds, tussocks… The exterior is often made with materials found in the surroundings, in order to make the nest well camouflaged. The interior is lined with soft materials such as fine grasses, feathers, hair, wool or plant down. Usually, the female incubates the eggs while she is fed by the male, but both sexes feed and care the young. The Passeriformes may produce between one and four broods per year.
Passeriformes frequent more often woodlands and forests than plains and deserts. They usually prefer open areas with vegetation, trees, bushes, scrubs, at forest edges. They are able to live in cold mountains or tropical areas, in cities, towns and villages or in plains and deserts. Passeriformes are common almost in the whole world.
Calyptomenidae is a family of passerine birds found in Africa, the Malay Peninsula and Borneo. There are six species the two genera Smithornis and Calyptomena.
The species in this family were formerly included in the broadbill family Eurylaimidae. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2006 found that the species in these two genera were not closely related to the other broadbills. These two genera are now placed in a separate family.
African Broadbill Smithornis capensis.jpg (37.47 KiB) Viewed 583 times
Description: 12-14 cm. A stocky bird with a short tail and a distinctive broad, flat bill. Brown upperparts with black cap, greyish ear-coverts. Mantle and back with broad black streaks. Underparts white with dark streaking. The tail is dark brown as are the flight feathers which also have a silvery grey under colouring. Their white back feathers puff out in flight displays.
Females have a grey crown with black streaks (differs with subspecies).
Juveniles are buff above.
Distribution: It has two separate populations: one in coastal West Africa and the other, larger one in the area from Uganda to southern Africa. Here it occurs in small areas of northern Zimbabwe and Botswana, Mozambique and KwaZulu-Natal.
Habitat: Riverine & coastal forest. It usually occupies coastal evergreen or lowland forest, deciduous thickets or dense woodland.
Diet: Searches under branches, aerially and from the ground for beetles, grasshoppers, bugs, spiders, caterpillars and insect eggs.
Breeding: Both sexes build the nest, which is an oval-shaped structure with a side entrance, made of bark, dry leaves, twigs, grass and rootlets, often held together by strands of spider web. It is not concealed, in fact hangs conspicuously from a low branch of a tree, usually about 1.5-3.0 m above ground. Laying dates vary from country to country, however egg-laying season is usually from October-January. It lays 1-3 white, oval eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 16-17 days, while the male keeps watch outside, signalling danger with a high-pitched call.
Call: Loud prrrrrup rattle given in its short (approx 1m) circular and horizontal display flight. Listen to Bird Call.
Platysteiridae is a family of small stout passerine birds of the African tropics. The family contains the wattle-eyes, batises and shrike-flycatchers. They were previously classed as a subfamily of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae.
These insect-eating birds are found in usually open forests or bush. They hunt by flycatching, or by taking prey from the ground like a shrike. The nest is a small neat cup low in a tree or bush.
The Platysteiridae are arboreal birds, primarily of the woodlands and forests of sub-Saharan Africa. The family is restricted to mainland Africa and the surrounding islands. The shrike-flycatchers and the genus Dyaphorophyia are birds of dense forest, the rest of the wattle-eyes are found in woodland, and the batises range across all habitats except the densest forests of the Congo Basin and the driest deserts. The Pririt Batis and Pygmy Batis are able to live in highly arid environments with some cover, and the White-fronted Wattle-eye favours mangrove forests in Angola. Many species in the family have adapted to human altered habitats. The family has its highest diversity around the equatorial regions, with half the known species being located in Tanzania and almost half also ranging in he Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya.
The family is overwhelmingly sedentary. However there are a few exceptions; the African Shrike-flycatcher is probably an intra-African migrant, as it is absent from some parts of its range during parts of the year. In addition some batis species undertake season migrations as well as some local movements due to changing local conditions.
The Platysteiridae are small to medium sized passerines. They have short legs and an upright stance while perched. The tail length is variable, with the Dyaphorophyia wattle-eyes and batises having short tails and the Platysteria wattle-eyes and shrike-flycatchers possessing longish tails. The bill is flat and hooked at the end, and generally wide with well-developed rictal bristles. With the exception of a few batises the plumage of the family is sexually dimorphic. Overall the family has white undersides and dark, speckled upperparts, with many species sporting a band across the chest. The iris of the batises and the Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher is brightly coloured and used in communication, becoming more brightly coloured when the adults are excited. In the wattle-eyes the supra-orbital wattles above the eyes, which give them their name, are used for communication. In addition the family is highly vocal, giving a range of whistles, harsh calls and duets.
The most important component of the diet of all species is insects, although spiders, millipedes and scorpions are also taken, and there are even records of small lizards being consumed. Amongst the insect prey a number of different types are eaten; beetles, grasshoppers and other Orthoptera, flies, mosquitoes, wasps, termites, mantises and others all being recorded. Prey is taken by members of the family either as individuals or in family groups. The different species and genera use a variety of methods to obtain prey, ranging from foliage-gleaning to flycatching.
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