Blue-naped Mousebird - BirdForum Opus

Photo by volker sthamer
Langano, Ethiopia

Urocolius macrourus

Identification

33–36 cm

Ash grey
Crested head
Turquoise-blue nape patch
Black and red bill

Juvenile

No blue on nape
Pink facial skin
Greenish bill

Distribution

Photo by volker sthamer
Langano, Ethiopia, July 2010

Africa in a band between 10°N and 20°N. South of 10°N it occurs to the east of the continent down to the Eastern Zaire borders. In Senegal the species has increased in numbers which is in contrast to its decline across much of the rest of its range. It is thought that the introduction of the non-native neem tree accounts for this success.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Seven subspecies are recognized^[1]:

U. m. macrourus:

south-western Mauritania to Senegambia

U. m. syntactus:

Sahel from Mali, southern Niger, and northern Nigeria east to Sudan, Eritrea, and northern Ethiopia

U. m. laeneni:

Aïr region of Niger

U. m. pulcher:

extreme southeastern South Sudan, southern Ethiopia, and southern Somalia to eastern Uganda, Kenya, and northern Tanzania

U. m. abyssinicus:

Central and southern Ethiopia to north-western Somalia

U. m. griseogularis:

South-western Ethiopia to Sudan, Uganda, eastern Zaire, Rwanda, north-western Tanzania

U. m. massaicus:

Central to coastal Tanzania

Habitat

Dry country in woodland, scrub bush and cultivated areas.

Behaviour

They live in loose clans moving as a group between one bush and another.

Flight

Short bouts on whirring wings interspersed with glides.

Diet

The diet consists primarily of fruit although it also eats buds, leaves and flowers.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Wikipedia
BF Member observations

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Blue-naped Mousebird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 9 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Blue-naped_Mousebird

External Links

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