From Opus

Photo by Alan Manson
Location: Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

Coracina caesia

[edit] Identification

Length 25-27 cm, mass 655 g. The plumage is blue-grey; whitish on the forehead and sides of the crown. Females are paler than males, and the lores are black (males) or grey (females).

The White-breasted Cuckooshrike is similar, but larger, with a white (rather than grey) breast and belly.

[edit] Distribution

Patchy from southern South African coastal belt through southeastern and eastern Africa to Ethiopia.

[edit] Taxonomy

Coracina caesia has 2 subspecies: The southern race C. c. caesia is larger than C. c. pura.

[edit] Habitat

Forest, plantations and adjacent woodlands and gardens.

[edit] Behaviour

Resident with some post-breeding movement. Solitary, in pairs or (less often) in small groups. Usually seen moving quietly through the upper branches of forest trees where they glean insects from bark, twigs and leaves.

[edit] References

Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ & Ryan PG (eds) 2005. Robert's Birds of Southern Africa, 7th edition. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. ISBN 0620340533

[edit] External Links