Abyssinian Scimitarbill

Appearance

The bird is all black with a blue-purple iridescence which covers their whole body and especially the back of the head. The bird's beak is bright orange to red and is characteristically curved and pointed. It is slightly longer than the length of its head and is built to probe into cracks and crevices for insects. It can be differentiated from other wood hoopoes by its all black legs and shorter tail, which is about the length of the bird’s body excluding its head.

Distribution

The bird is found commonly in open bushed, and dry savanna habitats and is an uncommon resident in thorn srubs in low altitudes below 1400m.

There are two subspecies which occupy different ranges of Africa. The "Rhinopomastus minor minor" occurs on the eastern edge of Africa Ethiopia to Somalia and Kenya, and "Rhinopomastus minor cabsanisi" occurs further west in Sudan to Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. The species has a breeding range is around the equator with minimum to maximum latitudes of -9.01 to 11.78 degrees.

The species has a combined total of around 20,000km2 of territorial range, although this area is largely fragmented. While the population is declining, it appears to be at a rate of only 5% over three generations and therefore the bird is considered to be of least concern.

Reproduction

The bird is a monogamous solitary nester. The age of their first breeding is on average 1.23 years with an average clutch size of 2 eggs. The adults have an annual survival rate of 0.66 and the average length of a generatio is 2.89 years. They typically nest in holes or fissures, sometimes excavated by other species. This includes holes in trees and sometimes abandoned beehives that are a height of around 0.5-2m from the ground. The "cabanisi" race has a strong preference for breeding in the dry season.

Food

The bird is insectivorous and eats mostly live insects such as bees, beetles, larvae, caterpillars, ants, flies and wasps. They will also eat seeds and berries. While much research has been done on the species, it has been observed to nest in abandoned beehives, although it does not consume honey or other bee products.

Defense

The greater honeyguide will occasionally parasitize the nest of the scimitarbill. The exact frequency and effect that this relationship has on the species is not fully documented but there are several observations on clutch success rates.

In one case from June to July 2009, a pair raised three young in a nest box at Green park. In another case in June to July 2009, three young were raised by a pair of birds in a nest box at Greenwood Park Estate, Eburru, near Naivasha. In another instance between October 2009 to July 2012, a pair of birds laid a total of 33 eggs over 3 years. However, none of these eggs survived because the greater honeyguide parasitized on the clutches. During the three year period, no scimitarbills hatched, while 7 out of a total of 12 of the parasitic honeyguide eggs successfully fledged. On four cases out of eleven, the scimitarbills ejected all eggs from the nest. Later from August 2012-September 2014, four clutches were laid without any honeyguides, and all but one individual was successfully fledged.