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Speckled Mousebird
Colius striatus
7.01367, 38.4741
Field Notes
Description:
Over 30 cm in length; mainly thanks to long and broad tail. The birds observed are plain brown in body with well distinguished white cheeks, black mask around the eyes, some creamish crest and red legs. The bill is always in two colors, lower mandible cream, and upper blackish. They are most often seen in groups, and dashing around bushes like if playing...
Habitat:
Very common in most of sub-Saharan Africa; and often seen in dense trees and shrubs. They were very common in urban and peri-urban Awasa, in parks, banks of the neighboring lake Awasa, where I've had a load of occasions to observe them sunning in trees..
Notes:
Lake Awassa (or Hawassa) is a part of main Ethiopian Rift Valley series of lakes, situated at some 1700 m of altitude. Like most of Rift lakes in Ethiopian highlands, this is an endorreic lake (landlocked mass of water having no outlet and not connected to the sea), and as such surrounded by marshes that regulate its levels through evaporation. Because of marshes and its forested shores, the lake is known as birdwatcher's paradise - very rich with various waders. Unfortunately, many of these marshes, or at least those of an easy access to visitors are very polluted by plastic garbage - mainly plastic bottles and bags...
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