Grey Cuckoo-shrike

Coracina caesia

Other Names

  African Grey Cuckoo-shrike   Échenilleur gris   Waldraupenfänger   Orugero Gris   Mörk gråfågel     Averla cuculo grigia

World: Africa - in the east from southern Sudan and Ethiopia S through East Africa, Mozambique to the Cape. A disjunct population exists in Cameroon.

Kenya: Common and local in highland forest between 1600-3000m.

Cuckoo-shrikes are neither Cuckoos nor Shrikes (they're not even closely related to either family). Nor are they nest parasites, in fact most Kenyan Cuckoo-shrikes nest high in the tree-tops in shallow nests made of plant material bound with spider webs. They are primarily insectivorous, gleaning insects and their larvae from the surface of leaves, but may also eat some fruits. The Grey Cuckoo-shrike is quiet and unobtrusive and very easily overlooked. It may perch motionless for long periods high in the forest canopy.

The sexes are very similar however the males have blackish lores and chin while the females (as with the individual pictured above) have grey lores and a pale chin.