Hypocolius | Hypocoliidae

Zijdestaart | Hipocolio

A family of one species, and not for want of looking: the hypocolius has no living close relative. The plumage is soft and plain ash-grey, almost unmarked, with a long tail ending in a black band and primaries tipped black and white that only show in flight; the male adds a black mask carried back round the neck as a band. The bill is short and faintly hooked, made for fruit: dates and the berries of toothbrush tree and salt tree make up nearly the whole diet. Outside the breeding season they wander the oases in parties of ten to fifty, dropping silently into a tree, stripping it and moving on. The flight is undulating and the posture on a branch strikingly upright.