Cuckooshrikes | Campephagidae

Rupsvogels | Orugueros

Medium-sized, slender arboreal birds of Africa, Asia and Australasia, represented here by the black cuckooshrikes (Campephaga) and grey species (Ceblepyris). A hallmark of the family is the dense rump plumage with stiff, spine-like shafts, which detach easily; their exact function is uncertain. Cuckooshrikes eat many large, hairy caterpillars that most birds avoid, beating and rubbing each one against a branch to strip off irritant hairs and gut contents before swallowing it. In Campephaga the sexes differ sharply. Males are glossy blue-black, sometimes with a yellow gape or red or yellow shoulder patches, while females are olive-yellow and finely barred, which recalls a cuckoo. Grey species show little difference between the sexes. They forage quietly through the canopy and are easily overlooked, since their calls are mostly soft high trills or whistles. The nest is a small, shallow cup of moss and lichen, camouflaged on a horizontal fork.