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Stripe-Cheeked Greenbul | Arizelocichla milanjensis
Streepwangbuulbuul | Bulbul del Mulanje
The Stripe-Cheeked Greenbul is the mountain greenbul of the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, the adjacent mountains of Mozambique and Mulanje in Malawi. It is a noisy inhabitant of montane forest with a grey head and fine white streaks on the cheeks, and one of the characteristic birds of the forests of Bvumba and Nyanga.
Voice
One of the best-known sounds of the Zimbabwean montane forest. A harsh, grating chrrr, a repeated chook and a jerky song of short, dry notes ending in a trill, chook-chook-chirrirrirr. Pairs and groups often keep calling for long periods.
Recording: Niall Perrins — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
19–21 cm. The head is grey from crown to nape, with fine white streaks on the ear-coverts and a narrow, broken white eye-ring; the lores are darker grey. The throat is pale grey. The upperparts are olive-green and contrast clearly with the grey head. The underparts are olive-yellow, greyish on the breast and yellowest on the belly and undertail-coverts. Wings and tail olive-green. The bill is black, the eyes dark, the legs grey-brown. The sexes are alike; juveniles are duller, with an olive tinge to the head.
Confusion species
Sombre Greenbul Andropadus importunus is uniformly olive with a conspicuous pale eye and no grey head, and lives mainly lower down, in coastal forest and thicket. Yellow-Bellied Greenbul Chlorocichla flaviventris is brownish olive above with bright yellow underparts and a white half eye-ring above the eye, and occurs in lower-lying forest and thicket. Yellow-Streaked Greenbul Phyllastrephus flavostriatus is slimmer, with a long thin bill and a characteristic flicking of one wing. On Mulanje, Black-Browed Mountain Greenbul Arizelocichla fusciceps differs in its dark crown with a blackish brow and unstreaked cheeks.
Habitat
Montane and submontane evergreen forest, mainly the mid-stratum and canopy, also forest edges, wooded ravines, bramble scrub and gardens or plantations next to forest, roughly from 1000 m upwards. It eats fruit, berries and insects and visits fruiting trees, exotic ones included.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
In Zimbabwe in the Eastern Highlands: Nyanga, Stapleford, Bvumba and Chimanimani. In Mozambique in the adjacent highlands of Manica (including Tsetserra and the Chimanimani) and on Gorongosa. In Malawi only on Mulanje. The species does not occur outside the region.
- Resident
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
All year. The forests of Bvumba and Nyanga are the most reliable sites; walk the forest edge and listen for the grating calls and the trilling song. Look for the grey head with white cheek streaks above the olive-green back; in dense foliage that contrast is often visible before the streaks themselves.
Conservation status
Near Threatened because of its small, fragmented range in a few mountain massifs. In Zimbabwe and Mozambique montane forest is lost to logging, fire, plantation forestry and cultivation; on Mulanje and Gorongosa the forest is better preserved within protected areas. Locally the species is still common.
Scientific name
Arizelocichla milanjensis | (Shelley, 1894)
Shelley described the species in 1894 as Xenocichla milanjensis; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Arizelocichla was introduced in 1905 by Oberholser. Arizelocichla comes from the Greek arizēlos, 'conspicuous, distinct', and kikhlē, 'thrush'. milanjensis refers to the Mulanje massif (formerly Milanji) in southern Malawi, where the first specimen was collected. The specimen the first description was based on came from Mulanje, Malawi.