I have never quite made up my mind how this beautiful bush-shrike’s name should be pronounced. I favour stressing the penultimate syllable with a long “…eeee…”, and fading away on the final note. Rather like the “Cock-a-doodle..” of “Cock-a-doodle doo”. The name is born of the song which can be written as Bok-bok makeer. Thank you to Charles Hesse and www.xeno-canto.org for the recording.

JNB 20Jul14 Bokmakerie 05

Try it for yourselves; Bokmakierie. And at last the family Malaconotidae will show up on a 10,000 Birds search.

JNB 20Jul14 Bokmakerie 06

The Malaconotidae are Bush-Shrikes, a family endemic to the continent of Africa and were split from the Laniidae Shrikes after it was shown that they were sufficiently different to warrant a new branch. Many of them are brightly coloured, particularly the Telephorus genus but can often be quite shy. The Bokmakierie, Telephorus zeylonus, is not a confiding bird, but is probably the boldest of his retiring genus.

JNB 20Jul14 Bokmakerie 01

This individual was seen during a recent visit to Walter Sisulu Botanic Gardens near Johannesburg, South Africa.

JNB 20Jul14 Bokmakerie 07

If you enjoyed this post and would like to see more great images of birds, go to our 10,000 Clicks section where you will find our big (and growing) gallery page here at 10,000 Birds.

 

 

Written by Redgannet
Redgannet worked for more than 35 years as a flight attendant for an international airline. He came to birding late in his career but, considering the distractions, doesn't regret the missed opportunities. He was paid to visit six continents and took full advantage of the chance to bird the world. He adopted the nom de blog, Redgannet, to avoid remonstrations from his overbearing employer, but secretly hoped that the air of mystery would make him more attractive to women. Now grounded, he is looking forward to seeing the seasons turn from a fixed point.