Telophorus dohertyi
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
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 |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Doherty's Bushshrike sighting in Volcanoes National Park on a given day, based on 85 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 61st most-seen of the 156 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Doherty's Bushshrike in Volcanoes National Park on a given day, against under 5% in December, the lowest month. That is one of Volcanoes National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 250 mm in April.
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.
2nd of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Doherty's Bushshrike sightings, Volcanoes National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Nyungwe National Park (Rwanda, about 30%).
Same family: Malaconotidae
The closest relatives of the Doherty's Bushshrike that you can see in Volcanoes National Park (family Malaconotidae, Bushshrikes and Allies) are Tropical Boubou (about 30%), Northern Puffback (about 20%) and Western Boubou (about 20%), 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 Volcanoes National Park (85 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.
