Species guide
Speckled Mousebird: how to recognise it
A bird of Africa. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © Marie Delport · CC BY-NC · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Colius striatus
- Family
- Mousebirds
- Size
- About 30–36 cm
- Habitat
- Gardens, scrub and woodland edges
- Found in
- Africa
The key marks
A slender grey-brown bird with a long tail, a short crest and a pale face patch. It creeps through branches like a mouse.
Voice
A cheerful, whistled “chee-chee”.
Good to know
Flocks huddle tightly together on a branch at night to save warmth.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in gardens, scrub and woodland edges. It is especially common in Kenya. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.