Profile
In flight
Tropical Birds
Speckled Mousebird
Colius striatus
- common
- 38 km/h
- Starter
- Least Concern
Sunbathes in tight clusters to warm up, all facing the same direction. The most widespread mousebird. Creeps like a mouse.
- Population
- Not quantified; BirdLife DataZone factsheet (successfully rendered via reader-proxy this pass) explicitly states "global population size has not been quantified" but describes the species as widespread, common, and with an increasing population trend
- Habitat
- Open bushveld, savanna, open woodland edges and clearings, tangled thickets, hedges, abandoned cultivation, parks and gardens/orchards; avoids dense rainforest and arid desert, from sea level up to roughly 2,100-2,800 m elevation
- Fun fact
- Speckled Mousebirds roost huddled together in tight social clusters of about 20 birds and can drop into a torpid, energy-saving state on cold nights — an adaptation unusual among birds.
- Range
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Central, Eastern and Southern Africa from Cameroon and Eritrea/Ethiopia in the north, south through East Africa and Tanzania to South Africa; largely sedentary with only local altitudinal movements
- Diet
- Primarily frugivorous/herbivorous — ripe and unripe fruits, berries, leaves, buds, blossoms, flowers, seeds and nectar; occasionally takes insects (ants, termites) and clay-earth
- Size
- 0.35 m
- Lifespan
- 11.5 years
