Speckled mousebird

speckled mousebird, coliou rayé, pajaro raton comun, Nicolas Urlacher, wildlife of Kenya, birds of Kenya
Names and consrervation status
speckled mousebird, coliou rayé, pajaro raton comun, Nicolas Urlacher, wildlife of Kenya, birds of Kenya
Lake Naivasha
speckled mousebird, coliou rayé, pajaro raton comun, Nicolas Urlacher, wildlife of Kenya, birds of Kenya
Lake Naivasha
speckled mousebird, coliou rayé, pajaro raton comun, Nicolas Urlacher, wildlife of Kenya, birds of Kenya
Lake Naivasha
speckled mousebird, coliou rayé, pajaro raton comun, Nicolas Urlacher, wildlife of Kenya, birds of Kenya
Lake Naivasha

speckled mousebird, coliou rayé, pajaro raton comun, Nicolas Urlacher, wildlife of Kenya, birds of Kenya
Lake Naivasha
speckled mousebird, coliou rayé, pajaro raton comun, Nicolas Urlacher, wildlife of Kenya, birds of Kenya
Lake Naivasha
speckled mousebird, coliou rayé, pajaro raton comun, Nicolas Urlacher, wildlife of Kenya, birds of Kenya
Lake Naivasha
speckled mousebird, coliou rayé, pajaro raton comun, Nicolas Urlacher, wildlife of Kenya, birds of Kenya
Lake Naivasha

The speckled mousebird is a frugivore which subsists on fruits, berries, leaves, seeds and nectar, and is fairly strict in its choice of food from area to area.These are conspicuously social birds, feeding together and engaging in mutual preening. They also accompany each other when they go to ground to dust bathe (also to occasionally to swallow pebbles to assist in grinding up vegetation as they digest it). Upon nightfall, they roost in very tight groups of 20 or so birds and on cold nights they can become torpid. Being in a torpid state could make them easy prey, but the large groups are apparently effective enough to deter most nocturnal predators.

 

These creatures may breed at any time of the year. The nest is a large (for the bird) and untidy cup made of vegetable and animal material (sometimes including cloth and paper) and is constructed by both the male and female. Clutch size ranges from one to seven eggs (apparently based on latitude), but usually averages 3–4. Nestlings are fed by both parents and also by helpers, which usually are juveniles from previous clutches. The incubation period is fourteen days and the offspring will leave the nest for the first time at about seventeen or eighteen days. After a little over a month, the nestlings will begin foraging for themselves.

 

Source : Wikipedia