Stripe-cheeked Greenbul Arizelocichla milanjensis Scientific name definitions

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Stripe-cheeked Greenbul (Stripe-cheeked)

c. 19 cm; male 33·2–46·6 g, female 34·6–47·4 g. A medium-large, brightly coloured greenbul with conspicuously marked ear-coverts. Adult has grey head and neck, conspicuous white shaft-streaking beneath eye and, particularly, on ear-coverts, conspicuous white crescent above eye, remainder of eyering narrower, paler and less contrasting; upperparts, including wings and tail, olive-green; chin and upper throat pale grey, lower throat and rest of underparts dull greenish olive, darker on breast and flanks, yellower on belly; iris pale grey or brown; bill black; legs grey, greyish brown or brown. Sexes alike, female on average smaller than male. Juvenile is as adult, but greener on crown, eye grey-brown.

Olive-headed Bulbul (Arizelocichla striifacies)

c. 19 cm; male 39–50 g, female 37–47 g (nominate), male 37–46·5 g, female 44·2–48·3 g ( olivaceiceps). A medium-large, brightly coloured greenbul with conspicuously marked ear-coverts, notable for racial variation in eye colour. Adult nominate race has top of head and neck bright olive-green, uniform with rest of upperparts (brighter than nominate), sides of face contrastingly blackish, streaked white on cheeks and ear-coverts, no white eyebrow, chin olive-washed pale grey, underparts olive-yellow (brighter than nominate), bill black, eye pale bluish grey, reddish brown or, rarely, yellow, and legs and feet grey to brown or sepia with yellow or white soles. Sexes alike, female on average slightly smaller than male. Juvenile has dull-streaked greenish cheeks and ear-coverts, duller greyish-washed breast and belly, sepia bill with yellow gape, dark brown or sepia eye, and light dusky-grey legs. Race <em>olivaceiceps</em> resembles nominate, but is somewhat darker and greener above (though not as dull as formerly conspecific A. milanjensis), greener, less yellow, below, with eye yellow in S of range but chestnut in N.

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Stripe-cheeked Greenbul (Stripe-cheeked)

Olive-headed Bulbul (Arizelocichla striifacies)

Stripe-cheeked Greenbul (Stripe-cheeked)

Highlands of SE Malawi (Mt Mulanje), extreme E Zimbabwe and WC Mozambique.

Stripe-cheeked Greenbul (Stripe-cheeked)

Montane and submontane forest, riverine forest, adjacent scrub and thicket and, locally, plantations; found in both forest interior and edge habitats. Prefers wetter and more luxuriant forest than A. fusciceps in areas of overlap. Mainly 760–1850 m but descends to lower elevations during cold periods, moving down to 600–900 m on Mt Mulanje (Malawi) and to 350 m at Haroni-Rusitu (Zimbabwe).

Olive-headed Bulbul (Arizelocichla striifacies)

Montane and submontane forest, riparian forest, adjacent scrub and thicket and, locally, in exotic plantations; found in both forest interior and edge habitats. Mainly 900–2145 m in E Africa and 1100–2000 m (rarely 2250 m) in Malawi, commonest at 1500–1800 m in Eastern Arc forests of Tanzania; descends to lower elevations during cold periods, moving down to 150 m in Usambaras, to 250 m in Ulugurus (Tanzania).

Stripe-cheeked Greenbul (Stripe-cheeked)

Mainly resident; seasonal movements to lower altitudes during cold or dry seasons (Feb–Aug) in at least some parts of range, as on Mt Mulanje, in Malawi, and in Zimbabwe.

Olive-headed Bulbul (Arizelocichla striifacies)

Mainly resident; seasonal movements to lower altitudes during cold or dry seasons in at least some parts of range, as in Tanzania (Usambaras and Ulugurus). One record from Pugu Hills (at 300 m), in coastal Tanzania, c. 200 km from nearest known breeding population.

Stripe-cheeked Greenbul (Stripe-cheeked)

Comparatively few published data, but diet and foraging behaviour presumably much like A. striifacies, but in Zimbabwe of nine sets of stomach contents examined, two contained small fruits alone, four mainly fruit and some insects, and four insects alone.

Olive-headed Bulbul (Arizelocichla striifacies)

Omnivorous. Fruits, seeds; also arthropods, worms; also small vertebrates, including chameleons (Chamaeleo) and frogs (of genus Arthroleptis). Large range of fruits recorded (25 species in Malawi), e.g. Loranthus, Lantana, Ficus, Rapanea and Sapium; in Tanzania Celtis gomphophylla (Ulmaceae), Euclea, Teclea and members of Rubiaceae recorded as eaten; in SE Kenya, recorded feeding on fruits of Allophylus abyssinicus (Sapindaceae), Canthium oligocarpum (Rubiaceae), Maesa lanceolata (Myrsinaceae), Rapanea melanophloeos and Xymalos monospora (Monimiaceae), among others. Arthropods taken include beetles (Coleoptera), earwigs (Dermaptera), butterflies and caterpillars (Lepidoptera). Occurs both singly and in small vocal parties; many sometimes gather at fruiting trees. Occasionally joins mixed-species flocks; sometimes attends Dorylus ant swarms. Forages mostly in middle and upper strata, but can be found at all levels. Gleans insects from branches and foliage, also in short aerial sallies. Sometimes shy and skulking, but can be bolder; attracted to fruiting bushes at or shortly beyond forest margin.

Stripe-cheeked Greenbul (Stripe-cheeked)

Olive-headed Bulbul (Arizelocichla striifacies)

In N Malawi (<em>olivaceiceps</em> ) song up to 4–5 measured notes, “cho, cha, chip, cho, chip”, “cherp, cho, cher, chip”, “cherp, chorp, chip” or merely “were-chop”; in E Africa (nominate  ) three measured notes, then three run together, ending with double note rather than a trill, “chip-chop-chop, peechopee, chochop”, also prolonged monotonous “piku-piku-piku-piku-piku…” and slower “qua quee-qua, qua quee-qua”. Contact call (nominate) is a loud rapidly repeated “ookeri” or “u-ki-rii”.

Stripe-cheeked Greenbul (Stripe-cheeked)

Recorded in Nov–Dec (in breeding condition in Aug) in Mozambique, and Oct–Mar (mainly Nov–Dec) in Zimbabwe. Monogamous; territorial. Nest a thin, neat rounded cup made of roots, grass, tendrils, twigs, bark fragments, and dead and skeletonized leaves, decorated externally with Usnea moss, lichens and cocoons, lined with fine grass, plant fibres and roots of tree-ferns, external diameter 12–13 cm, depth 6·5–8 cm, internal diameter 6·5 cm and cup depth 3 cm; typically built 3–5 m above ground, usually in vertical fork at top of well-foliaged subcanopy sapling, or in horizontal fork near end of branch, or well concealed between creeper stems. Clutch two eggs, sometimes one, white or off-white heavily marked purplish black and red-brown, concentrated at large end, size 24·3–26 mm × 17·5–18·1 mm; incubation by female alone; no information on incubation and fledging periods. Nests sometimes destroyed by baboons.

Olive-headed Bulbul (Arizelocichla striifacies)

Recorded in Oct, Dec–Feb, May and Jul in E Africa (birds in breeding condition and dependent juveniles in Jul–Aug, nestbuilding in Nov, in Tanzania); Sept–Oct in Malawi. Monogamous; territorial. Nest a thin, neat rounded cup made of roots, grass, tendrils, twigs, bark fragments, and dead and skeletonized leaves, decorated externally with moss, lichens and cocoons, lined with fine grass, plant fibres and roots of tree-ferns, external diameter 9–13 cm, depth 6·5–8 cm, internal diameter 6·5 cm and cup depth 2–3 cm; built 2–7 m above ground (mean 2·6 m in one study), usually in vertical fork at top of well-foliaged subcanopy sapling, or in horizontal fork near end of branch, or well concealed between creeper stems. Clutch two eggs, sometimes one; incubation by female alone; no information on incubation and fledging periods.

Stripe-cheeked Greenbul (Stripe-cheeked)

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Generally rather common and population believed to be stable, but range comparatively small (estimated at just 73,400 km²). Found in Mount Mulanje Forest Reserve, in Malawi, and Chimanimani National Park, in Zimbabwe.

Olive-headed Bulbul (Arizelocichla striifacies)

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Generally rather common, but marked declines have been reported locally, e.g. in NE Tanzania. In Malawi, at least, densities vary considerably, highest in N, where at least five pairs/10 ha recorded; abundance much lower in areas where A. nigriceps is also present. In Tanzania, maximum density in Eastern Arc mountains c. 30 birds/km², while another study recorded 138 individuals/100 ha in Udzungwa Mts. Found in Arusha and Udzungwa National Parks, and Amani Nature Reserve, in Tanzania, and Nyika National Park, in Malawi, as well as in numerous forest reserves across its range.