A highly distinctive, clearly delineated chest band arcs across his chest to the base of his bill, in the process forming a broad necklace.

Meet the Bokmakierie

The bokmakierie (Telophorus zeylonus) is a species of bushshrike. Adult birds are 22–23 cm long with olive-green upperparts and a conspicuous bright yellow tip to their black tail. The head is grey with a yellow supercilium, and the strong bill has a hooked upper mandible. The underparts are bright yellow with a broad black collar between the throat and breast, which continues up the neck sides through the eye to the bill. The legs and feet are blue-grey.

“Bokmakierie Bushshrike (Telophorus zeylonus)” by berniedup is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Both sexes are similar, however, juveniles are a dull grey-green below and lack the black forget.

There are four subspecies, differing mainly in color shade, and size.

“File:Bokmakierie.jpg” by Rudolph Botha is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

An African bird, this species is found in southwestern Angola, Namibia, southern Botswana, and throughout South Africa.

You are most likely to find bokmakierie in open scrublands and savannas, but also in scrubby deserts, plantations, orchards, vineyards, and urban gardens and parks.

These birds are well-known opportunists, mainly eating insects such as beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, bugs, moths, caterpillars, wasps, ants, flies, antlion larvae, mantids, termite alates, and stick insects, but also millipedes, centipedes, snails, spiders, earthworms, lizards, small snakes, chameleons, geckos, frogs, small birds as well as some fruits and berries.

The bokmakierie is a bird that breeds all year round. Both sexes build a cup-shaped nest made from small twigs, leaves, roots, tendrils, grass, and bark, usually placed in dense scrub, concealed by thick vegetation. Within the female lays 2-6 greenish-blue eggs with red-brown or lilac blotches, which are incubated by both sexes for 14-19 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 15-21 days after hatching.

This species has a very large breeding range and is described as widespread. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

“Bokmakierie (Telophorus zeylonus)” by berniedup is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

You can watch and listen to this bird right here in the video below: