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Lowland Tiny Greenbul | Phyllastrephus debilis
Slanke loofbuulbuul | Bulbul Chico Costero
Lowland Tiny Greenbul is the smallest greenbul in the region: a warbler-like little bird with a grey head, olive-green back and pale eye that lives in dense lowland forest and coastal thicket in Mozambique. It is heard more often than seen; the rapid, rattling song from the thicket is usually the first sign.
Voice
The song is a rapid, dry rattle that starts abruptly, chip-chip-chrrrrrrrrr, often followed by a few higher, chattering notes. The call is a nasal cheh and a dry chik.
Recording: Lynette Rudman — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
13–14 cm. Small and slim, with a fairly thin, straight bill. Head and nape are grey, the back, wings and tail olive-green, the tail with a yellowish wash. The throat is dingy white, the breast pale grey, the belly and undertail-coverts pale yellow. The eye is strikingly pale, greyish white to pale yellow, giving the face a staring expression. The bill is dark with a paler lower mandible, the legs grey. The sexes are alike; juveniles are greener on the head and have a darker eye.
Confusion species
Fischer's Greenbul Phyllastrephus fischeri is much larger and browner, with a white throat and a long bill. Yellow-Streaked Greenbul Phyllastrephus flavostriatus is much larger, with a long bill and fine yellow streaks on the breast, and often flicks one wing. Grey-Olive Greenbul Phyllastrephus cerviniventris is larger and browner, with a rufous-brown tail. Its size and behaviour also recall a warbler, but the pale eye and grey head are decisive.
Habitat
Understorey and middle stratum of lowland and coastal forest, dense thicket, riverine forest and the edges of dry evergreen forest; mostly below 800 m. It lives in pairs or small groups, often in mixed foraging flocks, and gleans warbler-like among the leaves for insects; it also eats small fruits.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
In Mozambique common in the central lowlands: mainly in Sofala (including Gorongosa, Cheringoma, Dondo) and eastern Manica, north into Zambézia and further along the northern coast, south into northern Inhambane. In Zimbabwe scarce in the lowland forest of the extreme east (Haroni-Rusitu). Beyond the region along the East African coast to south-eastern Kenya.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
All year. Good places are the lowland forests of Sofala, for example around Gorongosa and in the Cheringoma forests, and in Zimbabwe the Haroni-Rusitu area. Listen for the rattling song and then search the mid-level foliage for a small bird with a grey head and a pale eye.
Conservation status
Not threatened; fairly common in suitable habitat. Clearing and burning of lowland forest and coastal thicket in Mozambique, and in Zimbabwe the loss of the last lowland forest, are local threats.
Scientific name
Phyllastrephus debilis | (Sclater, 1899)
Sclater described the species in 1899 as Xenocichla debilis; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Phyllastrephus was introduced in 1832 by Swainson. Phyllastrephus comes from the Greek phullon, 'leaf', and a form of strephō, 'to turn' — 'leaf-turner', for the way these birds search foliage for insects. debilis is Latin for 'weak, feeble' — for the small, slight build of this greenbul. The specimen the first description was based on came from north of Inhambane, Mozambique.