Telophorus dohertyi
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Doherty's bushshrike (Telophorus dohertyi) is a colourful but skulking species of bush-shrike of the family Malaconotidae which is found in forest habitats in north-central Africa. The common name and Latin binomial commemorate the American collector William Doherty.
A strikingly coloured, medium-sized bush shrike which in the adults is mostly green with a bright red forehead and throat, a broad black breast band and a bright lemon-yellow belly, the tail is black. Young birds are pale green above with finely barred yellow-green underparts.
It is native to the Albertine Rift montane forests and the East African montane forests. Doherty's bush-shrike is a skulking species which is more often heard than it is seen. It is a solitary, skulking species which quietly moves around in dense undergrowth. The loud whistling territorial call is heard in all months of the year. There is a recorded observation of a Doherty's bush-shrike being chased by a black boubou. This species forages by searching dense undergrowth where it gleans from the vegetation and feeds on the ground on arthropods, mainly beetles and grasshoppers.
The breeding... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nyungwe National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 2 | Volcanoes National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 3 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 5 | Aberdare National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Doherty's Bushshrike sighting in Virunga National Park on a given day, based on 42 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 132nd most-seen of the 316 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Doherty's Bushshrike in Virunga National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April–May, July and November–February, the lowest months.
Between 5 and 8 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Doherty's Bushshrike sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Doherty's Bushshrike sightings, Virunga National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Nyungwe National Park (Rwanda, about 30%), Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda, about 20%) and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda, about 10%).
Same family: Malaconotidae
The closest relatives of the Doherty's Bushshrike that you can see in Virunga National Park (family Malaconotidae, Bushshrikes and Allies) are Black-headed Gonolek (about 40%), Northern Puffback (about 10%) and Western Boubou (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Doherty's Bushshrike is recorded against all the birds logged in Virunga National Park (42 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
