Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike Campephaga phoenicea
Male Red-shouldered Cuckoo-shrike, Shai Hills, Ghana, May 2011 - click for larger image

Ghana & Ethiopia

The Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike is distributed south of the Sahara and north of the Equator from Senegal to Eritrea. For a distribution map see Birdlife International. It is found in patches of forest, gallery forest, woodland and thickets in savanna where it feeds on caterpillars and other insects in the upper and mid-storeys.

Male Red-shouldered Cuckoo-shrike, Mole, Ghana, June 2011 - click for larger image The male is glossy blue-black with a large red shoulder patch which can sometimes be orange or yellow. The black bill has yellow or pinkish gape wattles which can be seen in photos 1 and 6. The female, seen here in photos 3 to 5, is greyish olive-brown above with darker scalloping. The wings are edged yellow and underparts are whitish with dark, crescent-shaped bars.

Female Red-shouldered Cuckoo-shrike, Shai Hills, Ghana, May 2011 - click for larger image The song is a jumble of high-pitched, scratchy notes.

Female Red-shouldered Cuckoo-shrike, Shai Hills, Ghana, May 2011 - click for larger image

Female Red-shouldered Cuckoo-shrike, Shai Hills, Ghana, May 2011 - click for larger image
Red-shouldered Cuckoo-shrike, Lake Langano, Ethiopia, January 2016 - click for larger image
Red-shouldered Cuckoo-shrike, Lake Langano, Ethiopia, January 2016 - click for larger image
Previous Page Back to Index Next Page

If you do not see a menu on the left, you may have arrived at this page from another site. Please click Home to get to my main page.
Fatbirder's Top 1000 Birding Websites

Valid HTML 4.0 Transitional