Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS

THE PLANTAIN-EATERS

(Family Musophagida)

Plantain Eaters Species

The Plantain-eaters are for the most part very noisy birds, going about in pairs or small, perhaps family, parties, and keeping much to the tops of the highest forest trees, though not infrequently coming down to the dense tangle of shrubs and creepers.

They are in general shy, restless birds, found in proximity to water, either tidal or inland, and feeding on fruits such as tamarinds, bananas, plum-like fruits, and occasional insects, worms, snails, and even young birds. Of the Blue Plantain-eater {Schizorhis zonura) as observed in the Victoria Nyanza region, Sir Harry Johnston says: “But for the bird's noisy habits its coloration would be very protective, as when he keeps still amongst the branches he cannot be distinguished from their brown, gray, black, and white, while the lemon-colored beak looks like a ripe fruit.

”During the intense heat of midday or when rain is falling they are fond of secreting themselves within the dense canopy of leaves and boughs just below the tree-tops, and at such times their crests are recumbent; but when they are approached the crest is immediately erected and they run along the branches peering at the intruder and uttering their usual harsh cries.

If not much alarmed, they fly to a short distance, with crests still erect and the tail more or less elevated, where they assure themselves of their safety. The nesting habits are not very well known, as it is extremely difficult to discover the nests of birds haunting the dense forests, but from such information as we have it appears that they construct a slight platform of sticks, much like the ordinary nest of a Dove, and usually at no great height from the ground.

It has been said that some of the species deposit the eggs in holes in trees, but this appears to lack confirmation. The eggs, apparently two or three in number, are greenish or bluish white, so far as known.

 

 

previous bird species next bird species