Rosy-patched Bushshrike (Telophorus cruentus) ©WikiC

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. (Exodus 3:2-3 KJV)

This Sunday you get to meet two more families from the Song Birds (Passerines), the Malaconotidae – Bushshrikes Family with 50 members and the Machaerirhynchidae – Boatbills Family with only 2 species.

Orange-breasted Bushshrike (Chlorophoneus sulfureopectus) ©WikiC

The Bushshrikes are smallish passerine bird species. They were formerly classed with the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, but are now considered sufficiently distinctive to be separated from that group as the family Malaconotidae.

This is an African group of species which are found in scrub or open woodland. They are similar in habits to shrikes, hunting insects and other small prey from a perch on a bush. Although similar in build to the shrikes, these tend to be either colorful species or largely black; some species are quite secretive.

Some bushshrikes have flamboyant displays. The male puffbacks puff out the loose feathers on their rump and lower back, to look almost ball-like.
These are mainly insectivorous forest or scrub birds. Up to four eggs are laid in a cup nest in a tree.

Yellow-breasted Boatbill (Machaerirhynchus flaviventer) by Ian

Boatbills or the Machaerirhynchus is a genus of passerine birds with affinities to woodswallows and butcherbirds. The two species are known as boatbills. The genus is distributed across New Guinea and northern Queensland. (Info from Wikipedia)

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Listen to a quartet sing as you watch these two beautifully created families of birds:

“We Shall See Jesus” ~ Margaret Hiebert, Pastor and Jill Osborne and Pastor Jerry Smith

Sunday Inspirations

Birds of the World

• Malaconotidae – Bushshrikes
• Machaerirhynchidae – Boatbills

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• Bushshrike – Wikipedia
• Bush-shrikes – IBC
• Machaerirhynchus – Wikipedia
• Bush-shrikes – Bird Families of the World

Gospel Message

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