Mousebirds | Coliidae

Muisvogels | Pájaros ratón

The six species of this family — the only family in the order — occur solely in Africa south of the Sahara; nowhere else in the world is one found, and outside the continent the group is known only as a fossil. They are small birds with a short, compact body, a heavy, short and slightly curved bill and a stiff, tapering tail two to three times the length of the body, pressed against the branch as a prop while climbing. The plumage is soft and hair-like, dull grey or brown and finely barred in several species; the crest is almost always raised and the bare skin around the eye and bill base is bright red or blue in some of them. The legs are short and strong and all four toes can be swung forward, so the bird grips thin twigs in any posture and works through them hanging and moving sideways. They live in noisy parties that follow one another in a weak, straight-line flight, eat fruit, flowers, buds and leaves, and roost pressed together in a bunch, the body temperature dropping sharply on cold nights. The nest is a loose, shallow cup of twigs in a bush; the young leave it before they can fly and clamber about in the branches.