Green-backed Honeyguide

About the Green-backed Honeyguide

The green-backed honeybird (Prodotiscus zambesiae), also known as the eastern green-backed honeyguide, green-backed honeyguide and slender-billed honeyguide, is a species of bird in the family Indicatoridae. It is a nest parasite of three white-eye species. It is an insectivore that sometimes eats the waxy shed of scaly insects.

The adult green-backed honeybird of both sexes has ashy-gray, sometimes white, underparts, which is considered an adaptation to its environment. Its upperparts are gray-green, and its outer tail feathers, including the tips, are white. Between the back and the side, it has a white patch that can be raised upright. Its beak and legs are black. In Angola, this species is greener, less golden, and overall darker than in other areas. In Central Ethiopia, it is also darker. The juvenile is duller than the adult. It is greyer, paler, yellower above and yellowish-brown below. Younglings have an orangish mouth opening.

Its upperparts are more greyish compared to the greener Cassin’s honeybird. This closely related species is darker, olive or greenish on its underparts while the green-backed honeybird is paler, especially on its belly. Otherwise, the... Wikipedia →