Red-faced Mousebird ( Urocolius indicus, family: coliidae)

red faced mousebird kruger national park birds The Red-faced Mousebird (Latin name Urocolius indicus) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 426 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 199 also a picture of the Red-faced Mousebird on page 161. The Red-faced Mousebird belongs to the family of birds classified as coliidae. According to the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology the Red-faced Mousebird is also known by these other names: Red-faced Coly.

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Red-faced Mousebird is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park. It is however a common resident

In terms of distribution of the Red-faced Mousebird in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Red-faced Mousebird : see above distribution map.

The Red-faced Mousebird.

Identification assistance for this avian species ...

The Red-faced Mousebird is a bird about the same size as a starling. The height of the Red-faced Mousebird is about 32 cms and its weight is about 55 gms

The male and female Red-faced Mousebird have the same plumage and colours

  • Head is blue, grey.
  • Eye is grey.
  • Bill is pink.
  • Throat is chestnut.
  • Back is blue, grey.
  • Legs are pink.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Red-faced Mousebird feeds in tree and shrub foliage mainly

Fruits

Seeds

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Red-faced Mousebird is monogamous unless its mate dies. In the event of a partner dying Urocolius indicus will seek out a new mate

The nesting habit of Red-faced Mousebird is to create the nest in branches of a tree or shrub. The bird lays eggs which are red in colour and number between 1 to 7

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Red-faced Mousebird are: woodlands . The Red-faced Mousebird is also at home in wetland and bushveld areas.

You will normally see the Red-faced Mousebird in flocks.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Intshili

Zulu ... umTshivovo

Afrikaans ...Rooiwangmuisvol

German ... Rotzgel-Mausvogel

Portuguese ... Rabo-de-junco-de-faces-vermelhas

French ... Coliou quiriva

Dutch ... Roodwangmuisvogel

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 426

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za