Yellow-bellied Greenbul
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 8:53 pm
574. Yellow-bellied Greenbul (Formerly known as Yellow-bellied Bulbul) Chlorocichla flaviventris (Afrikaanse Geelborswillie)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Pycnonotidae
Description
The Yellow-bellied Greenbul is a brownish-olive colour above, with a pale yellow mantle and rump and bright yellow below. It has a distinctive white eye-ring and dark red eyes; the bill is slate-coloured, and the legs and feet are grey. The sexes are alike.
Juvenile is duller and paler than adult; eyes initially grey.
Similar species: Distinguished from smaller Sombre Greenbul by the dark reddish eye and the bright yellow underside that includes the throat and vent areas, as well as the underwings (as visible in flight). The thin white eyebrow is prominent. Smaller Sombre Greenbul has greener underparts, olive-grey underwings, whitish eye, without white eye ring, and lacks shaggy crest.
Distribution
Occurs from Kenya and south-eastern DRC through Angola and Zambia to southern Africa. Here it is common across Zimbabwe, Mozambique, northern Namibia, eastern and northern Botswana, Limpopo Province and KwaZulu-Natal.
C. f. occidentalis: nw Angola to w Tanzania south to nw Namibia, n Botswana, n South Africa and c Mozambique
C. f. flaviventris: e South Africa and s Mozambique
Habitat
It generally prefers thick tangled undergrowth, especially in clearings in riverine and coastal forest, miombo and mopane woodland, gardens, mangroves and semi-arid bush.
Diet
Mainly fruit; also insects, seeds and flowers. It forages with other bulbuls in the lower canopy, gleaning food from leaves and branches. Joins mixed-species foraging flocks.
Breeding
The Yellow-bellied Greenbul is monogamous, and builds a very fragile nest of twigs and grass that is often fixed to a branch by spider webs; it is sometimes so flimsy that the eggs can be visible from below! It is typically attached with spider web to the foliage of a sapling, shrub or creeper. Egg-laying season is from September-March, peaking from October to December. The females lays a clutch of between one and three white or cream eggs that are heavily marked with brown and grey, and which hatch after an incubation period of 14 days. Eggs are incubated solely by the female for about 14 days. The chicks are fed and brooded by both parents, leaving the nest after about 16-18 days.
Call
Series of nasal yapping notes sounding like Do you hear, do you hear, I'm here, here, here, the last 4 notes descending and drawn out. Listen to Bird Call.
Status
Common resident, especially in warmer subtropical regions. Sedentary and in pairs or small groups during non-breading season.
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Pycnonotidae
Description
The Yellow-bellied Greenbul is a brownish-olive colour above, with a pale yellow mantle and rump and bright yellow below. It has a distinctive white eye-ring and dark red eyes; the bill is slate-coloured, and the legs and feet are grey. The sexes are alike.
Juvenile is duller and paler than adult; eyes initially grey.
Similar species: Distinguished from smaller Sombre Greenbul by the dark reddish eye and the bright yellow underside that includes the throat and vent areas, as well as the underwings (as visible in flight). The thin white eyebrow is prominent. Smaller Sombre Greenbul has greener underparts, olive-grey underwings, whitish eye, without white eye ring, and lacks shaggy crest.
Distribution
Occurs from Kenya and south-eastern DRC through Angola and Zambia to southern Africa. Here it is common across Zimbabwe, Mozambique, northern Namibia, eastern and northern Botswana, Limpopo Province and KwaZulu-Natal.
C. f. occidentalis: nw Angola to w Tanzania south to nw Namibia, n Botswana, n South Africa and c Mozambique
C. f. flaviventris: e South Africa and s Mozambique
Habitat
It generally prefers thick tangled undergrowth, especially in clearings in riverine and coastal forest, miombo and mopane woodland, gardens, mangroves and semi-arid bush.
Diet
Mainly fruit; also insects, seeds and flowers. It forages with other bulbuls in the lower canopy, gleaning food from leaves and branches. Joins mixed-species foraging flocks.
Breeding
The Yellow-bellied Greenbul is monogamous, and builds a very fragile nest of twigs and grass that is often fixed to a branch by spider webs; it is sometimes so flimsy that the eggs can be visible from below! It is typically attached with spider web to the foliage of a sapling, shrub or creeper. Egg-laying season is from September-March, peaking from October to December. The females lays a clutch of between one and three white or cream eggs that are heavily marked with brown and grey, and which hatch after an incubation period of 14 days. Eggs are incubated solely by the female for about 14 days. The chicks are fed and brooded by both parents, leaving the nest after about 16-18 days.
Call
Series of nasal yapping notes sounding like Do you hear, do you hear, I'm here, here, here, the last 4 notes descending and drawn out. Listen to Bird Call.
Status
Common resident, especially in warmer subtropical regions. Sedentary and in pairs or small groups during non-breading season.