Exploring Pigeon Valley: Male Black Cuckooshrike

This is the 114th in an ongoing series that highlights the riches of Pigeon Valley, the urban nature reserve in the heart of Glenwood. The focus of this article is on the male Black Cuckooshrike

Of the roughly 980 bird species we encounter in South Africa, a major proportion are sexually dimorphic – in simple terms, the males and females look different.

For example, last year I reported on the female Black Cuckooshrike, a colourful bird with almost no black, in contrast to the male, which is usually fully black. In fact we have various bird species where the bird is completely or almost completely black.

Locally, we have the Southern Black Flycatcher, the Fork-tailed and Square-tailed Drongos, and the Black Cuckoo, which we distinguish primarily by shape and size.

Also read: Exploring Pigeon Valley: Autumn transition

Then there is the male Black Cuckoo-Shrike, which is easiest to identify through its movement – unlike the drongos and flycatchers, the birds do not fly from a perch to hawk an insect and then return. Rather, they move along branches, occasionally flying to another branch.

However, the bird I saw today was even easier to identify – a minority of the males have a stunning gold patch on the shoulder, and there it was. Once you get a better look, you can see three other features – an orange line at the mouth (the ‘gape’), a blue sheen over the black, and a rounded end to the tail.

Also read: Exploring Pigeon Valley: Return of the Spotted Ground-Thrushes

This particular bird was very obliging and relaxed as it moved around the trees at the top of Pigeon Valley, finding caterpillars and insects. These are not common birds, so this was a great start to May.

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