Northern White-crowned Shrike
Encyclopedia
The Northern White-crowned Shrike or White-rumped Shrike, Eurocephalus rueppelli, is a shrike
found in dry thornbush, semi-desert, and open acacia
woodland in east Africa
from southeastern Sudan
and southern Ethiopia
to Tanzania
. Its binomial name commemorates the German
naturalist
and explorer Eduard Rüppell
.
. The adult has a white crown and rump, black eyestripe, brown back and wings and black tail. The throat, breast and belly are white, and the flanks are brown. The sexes are similar, but the juvenile has a brown crown, white head sides, and grey breast. The flight is parrot-like
.
Several subspecies have been described, but there is extensive individual variation in plumage. Although birds in the north of the range are larger than in the south, the difference is clinal
and the Northern White-crowned Shrike may be monotypic.
The calls are high-pitched squawks, squeaks and chatters, including kek-kek and chee-chee.
s, usually taken from the ground. It also will feed from the backs of large mammals, like an oxpecker
, and occasionally will eat fruit which has fallen to the ground.
The neat thick-walled cup nest is constructed from grass and spider webs in a horizontal tree fork 4–6 m above the ground. The two to four white or lilac eggs are blotched with grey, purple or brown. It is likely that cooperative breeding occurs, given the gregarious habits of this species and the known cooperative breeding of the closely related Southern White-crowned Shrike
.
Shrike
Shrikes are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of thirty-one species in three genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes were also known as "butcher birds" because of their feeding habits...
found in dry thornbush, semi-desert, and open acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
woodland in east Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
from southeastern Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and southern Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
to Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. Its binomial name commemorates the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
and explorer Eduard Rüppell
Eduard Rüppell
Wilhelm Peter Eduard Simon Rüppell was a German naturalist and explorer. Rüppell is occasionally transliterated to "Rueppell" for the English alphabet....
.
Description
The Northern White-crowned Shrike is a 19–23 cm long passerinePasserine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. 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...
. The adult has a white crown and rump, black eyestripe, brown back and wings and black tail. The throat, breast and belly are white, and the flanks are brown. The sexes are similar, but the juvenile has a brown crown, white head sides, and grey breast. The flight is parrot-like
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
.
Several subspecies have been described, but there is extensive individual variation in plumage. Although birds in the north of the range are larger than in the south, the difference is clinal
Cline
Cline, as spelled, is an Irish surname with historical roots in County Roscommon.People bearing the name include:* Catherine Ann Cline , American historian and author* Edward Cline , American screenwriter and director...
and the Northern White-crowned Shrike may be monotypic.
The calls are high-pitched squawks, squeaks and chatters, including kek-kek and chee-chee.
Behaviour
The Northern White-crowned Shrike is gregarious, occurring in groups of up 12 birds. It hunts from an exposed perch, feeding mainly on large insectInsect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, usually taken from the ground. It also will feed from the backs of large mammals, like an oxpecker
Oxpecker
The oxpeckers are two species of bird which make up the family Buphagidae. Some ornithologists regard them as a subfamily Buphaginae within the starling family Sturnidae but they appear to be quite distinct. Oxpeckers are endemic to the savanna of Sub-Saharan Africa...
, and occasionally will eat fruit which has fallen to the ground.
The neat thick-walled cup nest is constructed from grass and spider webs in a horizontal tree fork 4–6 m above the ground. The two to four white or lilac eggs are blotched with grey, purple or brown. It is likely that cooperative breeding occurs, given the gregarious habits of this species and the known cooperative breeding of the closely related Southern White-crowned Shrike
Southern White-crowned Shrike
The Southern White-crowned Shrike is a species of bird in the Laniidae family.It is found in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe....
.