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Honeyguide Greenbul | Baeopogon indicator
Witstaartbuulbuul | Bulbul Indicador
The Honeyguide Greenbul is a canopy greenbul of Central African forest that recalls a honeyguide in flight thanks to its white outer tail feathers. In the region it occurs only in northern Angola and north-western Zambia. Its rich, whistled song is a characteristic sound of the forest.
Voice
A rich whistled song of soft, clear notes, often a descending series, wee-oo… tew-tew-tew, which sounds thrush-like and carries far; the bird sings from the high canopy. Also a nasal, plaintive nyeeh and a dry chuk.
Recording: Jaap van der Waarde — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
18–20 cm. Olive-green above, with a greyish head and neck. The throat and breast are grey, the belly paler grey to whitish, the flanks olive-grey and the undertail-coverts yellowish. The tail is olive-green in the centre, with largely white outer feathers that stand out when the bird flies off or spreads its tail. The iris is often pale in adults, dark in juveniles. The bill is dark and fairly short, the legs grey. The sexes are similar.
Confusion species
Lesser Honeyguide Indicator minor and Scaly-Throated Honeyguide Indicator variegatus also have white outer tail feathers, but a short stubby bill, a different silhouette and a different way of perching; Scaly-throated also has a scaly throat. Swamp Palm Bulbul Thescelocichla leucopleura has white tail corners rather than white outer feathers, a white throat, and lives in groups in palm swamps. Little Greenbul Eurillas virens and Slender-Billed Greenbul Stelgidillas gracilirostris have plain tails without white.
Habitat
The canopy and upper strata of moist forest, gallery forest, forest edges and tall secondary forest, also dense riverine forest and evergreen forest patches in miombo, from the lowlands to about 2000 m. It eats mainly fruit and visits fruiting trees, at times together with other greenbuls and starlings.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
In the region in northern Angola, from Cabinda and Uíge to Cuanza Norte and the Lunda provinces, and in north-western Zambia in the evergreen forest patches around Mwinilunga. Beyond the region from Sierra Leone east through the forests of West and Central Africa to Uganda and western Kenya, and south to southern DR Congo.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
All year. In Zambia the mushitu forests around Mwinilunga and Ikelenge are the best site. Listen for the whistled, descending song from the canopy and wait for the bird to fly off: the white outer tail feathers then clinch the identification. Check the bill, as honeyguides show the same tail pattern.
Conservation status
Not threatened; widespread and fairly common in Central African forest. In the region its habitat is limited to small forest patches, which are shrinking through logging and cultivation.
Scientific name
Baeopogon indicator | (Verreaux & Verreaux, 1855)
Verreaux & Verreaux described the species in 1855 as Criniger indicator; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Baeopogon was introduced in 1860 by Heine. Baeopogon comes from the Greek baios, 'small', and pōgōn, 'beard' — for the short bristles at the base of the bill. indicator is Latin for 'guide, one that points out'; greenish above and greyish below, with its white tail the bird looks like a large honeyguide (Indicator) (Keith et al. 1992). The specimen the first description was based on came from Gabon.