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Kretschmer's Longbill | Macrosphenus kretschmeri
Kretschmers langsnavelzanger | Picolargo de Kretschmer
Kretschmer’s Longbill is an inconspicuous, olive forest bird of the coastal and montane forests of East Africa, with a long bill and a loud voice. In the region it reaches only northern Mozambique, where it was established fairly recently in the coastal forests of Cabo Delgado and Nampula.
Voice
A loud, clear series of whistles, often accelerating and falling in pitch, such as choo-choo-choo-chee-chee, and also rapid, chattering phrases. Pairs sometimes duet.
Recording: Kileo Jumah — CC0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
14 cm. A fairly large longbill with a long, straight, dark bill and a medium-length tail. The head is grey to olive-grey, the back and wings olive-green, the tail brownish olive. The throat is greyish white, the breast and flanks greyish olive, the belly and undertail coverts pale yellow. The eye is reddish-brown. The bird moves slowly and deliberately through dense foliage.
Confusion species
Fischer’s Greenbul Phyllastrephus fischeri of the same coastal forest has a shorter bill, a pale eye-ring, a white throat and a rufous-brown tail. Lowland Tiny Greenbul Phyllastrephus debilis is smaller, with a grey head and a short bill. Yellow-Bellied Greenbul Chlorocichla flaviventris is larger, with entirely yellow underparts and a white eye-crescent. Eastern Nicator Nicator gularis is much larger and has yellow wing spots.
Habitat
Dense lianas and understorey of dry coastal forest and moister montane forest, especially forest edges and secondary growth. It forages in pairs or with mixed flocks in the middle stratum, taking insects from dead leaves and liana tangles.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
In the region only in northern Mozambique: the coastal forests of Cabo Delgado (including Quirimbas National Park) and Nampula province. Beyond the region in south-eastern Kenya and eastern Tanzania, from the coastal forests to the Eastern Arc mountains.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Year-round. In Mozambique a rarity of little-visited northern coastal forests; the best chance is in Quirimbas National Park. Listen for the loud whistled series in liana tangles and wait for the bird to show itself.
Conservation status
Not threatened; locally fairly common in Tanzania. The coastal forests of East Africa are, however, heavily fragmented, and the Mozambican population is small and depends on the survival of the remaining forests.
Scientific name
Macrosphenus kretschmeri | (Reichenow & Neumann, 1895)
Reichenow & Neumann described the species in 1895 as Phyllostrephus kretschmeri; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Macrosphenus was introduced in 1859 by Cassin. Macrosphenus comes from the Greek makros, 'long', and sphēn, 'wedge' — for the long, tapering bill. kretschmeri honours the German physician and ornithologist Eugen Franz Kretschmer (1868–1894), who collected birds in East Africa. The specimen the first description was based on came from Kibosho, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.