Red-faced Mousebird
Photo: Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa · CC BY 2.0

Mousebirds

Red-faced Mousebird

Urocolius indicus

LCLeast Concern
Family
Mousebirds (Coliidae)
Order
Coliiformes

Overview

The red-faced mousebird (Urocolius indicus) is a species of mousebird or coly. It is a common in southern Africa from the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), Zambia and Tanzania south to the Cape. Its habitat is savanna with thickets, fynbos scrub, other open woodland, gardens and orchards.
There are a total of five recognized subspecies:

Urocolius indicus mossambicus (Distribution: east Angola to southwest Tanzania and Malawi)
Urocolius indicus lacteifrons (Distribution: western Angola, north & central Namibia and western Botswana)
Urocolius indicus pallidus (Distribution: southeast Tanzania and northeast Mozambique)
Urocolius indicus transvaalensis (Distribution: Central and eastern Botswana and southwest Zambia to Mozambique and South Africa)
Urocolius indicus indicus (Distribution: south and central South Africa)
This bird is about 34 cm (13 in) long, with the tail comprising approximately half the length.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Range and habitat

Sources and further reading

Last updated September 29, 2026.