Red-Faced Mousebird
Urocolius indicus
Habitat
Mid-canopy
Diet
FruiNect
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
53 g
About This Species
This slender, long-tailed bird with a fluffy grey crest and red face moves through mid-canopy scrub, thicket and garden vegetation across southern Africa, typically in small, chattering flocks that clamber acrobatically among branches. It feeds mainly on fruit, berries and flower buds, and flocks often sunbathe conspicuously on exposed branches in the early morning with feathers fluffed out. Listen for its harsh, chattering contact calls as a flock moves between feeding bushes.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- A distance of 10-15 metres usually allows good views of a feeding or sunbathing flock without causing it to bolt into denser cover.
- Wildlife protection laws differ across the countries within its range, so specific rules on disturbance or capture should be checked locally rather than assumed uniform.
- Because it often raids garden and orchard fruit, resist any temptation to handle or relocate birds found near cultivated plants; observe from a distance instead.
LCAvesColiiformesColiidae
Seasonal Activity
210,897 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Coliiformes
- Family
- Coliidae
Traits
- Diet
- FruiNect
- Foraging
- Mid-canopy
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 53 g
Photo
(c) Paul Hoekman, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Paul Hoekman
CC-BY-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.