View source for Slate-colored boubou

{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Slate-colored boubou
| image = Slate-colored Boubou, Serengeti.jpg
| image_caption = Adult in [[Serengeti]], [[Tanzania]]
| image2 = Slate-coloured Boubou (Laniarius funebris) (022A-WA03044X0020-0012M0).ogg 
| image2_caption = Duet recorded near [[Kitale]], Kenya
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Laniarius funebris'' |volume=2016 |page=e.T22707601A94131484 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22707601A94131484.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Laniarius
| species = funebris
| authority = ([[Gustav Hartlaub|Hartlaub]], 1863)
| synonyms =
}}

The '''slate-colored boubou''' or '''slate-coloured boubou''' ('''''Laniarius funebris''''') is a species of [[bird]] in the family [[Malaconotidae]]. It is found in [[Ethiopia]], [[Kenya]], [[Rwanda]], [[Somalia]], [[South Sudan]], [[Tanzania]], and [[Uganda]]. Its natural [[habitat]]s are subtropical or tropical dry [[forest]]s, dry [[savanna]], subtropical or tropical dry [[shrubland]], and subtropical or tropical moist shrubland.
[[File:Slate-colored Boubou.jpg|thumb|left|Lake Bogoria - Kenya]]
German naturalist [[Gustav Hartlaub]] described the slate-colored boubou in 1863. Two subspecies, ''funebris'' and ''degener'' are recognised. Within the genus ''[[Laniarius]]'' its position is unclear, but it does not appear to be closely related to the black-plumaged members of the genus such as [[Fuelleborn's boubou]], ''Laniarius fuelleborni'', with which some authorities had previously considered it conspecific.<ref name="nguembock">{{cite journal|author1=Nguembock, Billy |author2=Fjeldså, Jon |author3=Couloux, Arnaud |author4=Pasquet, Eric |year=2008|title=Phylogeny of Laniarius: Molecular data reveal L. liberatus synonymous with L. erlangeri and "plumage coloration" as unreliable morphological characters for defining species and species groups|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=48|issue=2|pages=396–407|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2008.04.014 |pmid=18514549}}</ref>

The adult slate-colored boubou is 20&nbsp;cm (8&nbsp;in) long and wholly dark slate grey. The male and female are very similar. Immature birds have a plumage more barred with tawny brown and black.<ref name="birdseastafrica">{{cite book|author1=Terry Stevenson |author2=John Fanshaw |title=Birds of East Africa|publisher=A&C Black|year=2004|pages=470|isbn=0713673478|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jcN1OCKC-bQC&q=laniarius+funebris&pg=PA470}}</ref>

The male's call repertoire includes a noisy ''shhhhh'', or strong clicking and ''coco-weet'', with a rising inflexion on the last syllable.<ref name="birdseastafrica"/> The calls differ regionally across the species' range.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Wickler, Wolfgang |author2=Sonnenschein, Edith |year=1989|title=Ontogeny of Song in Captive Duet-Singing Slate-Coloured Boubous (''Laniarius funebris''). A Study in Birdsong Epigenesis|journal=Behaviour|volume=111|issue=1/4|pages=220–33|jstor=4534816|doi=10.1163/156853989x00673}}</ref> songs are frequently sung in a duet between the male and female of a mated pair.  A 1983 study observed four types of songs sung by males in duets.  Researchers concluded that one song type was for mating, two were used to indicate territory, and the final type may have been used to prevent the male boubou's mate from singing alone, which could attract other males.<ref name="mateguarding">{{cite journal|title=Mate-Guarding and other Functions of Antiphonal Duets in the Slate-coloured Boubou (Laniarius funebris)|author1=Sonnenschein, Edith  |author2=Reyer, Heinz-Ulrich |name-list-style=amp |year=1983|doi=10.1111/j.1439-0310.1983.tb00083.x|journal=Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie|volume=63|issue=2–3|pages=112–140}}</ref>  The frequencies with which the male boubou sang the territorial songs vary with the extent of threats from other boubous and with the level of cooperation between mates.<ref name="mateguarding"/>   A 1992 study of its calls found that a male's likelihood of singing a mating song was correlated with his mate's [[estradiol]] levels, rather than his own [[testosterone]] levels, suggesting that behavioral cues between a mating pair, rather than hormone levels, are most important in triggering mating songs.<ref name="Schwabl">{{cite journal|title=Antiphonal duetting and sex hormones in the tropical bush shrike Laniarius funebris|author=Schwabl, Hubert et Sonnenschein, Edith|journal=Hormones and Behavior|volume=26|issue=3|pages=295–307|doi=10.1016/0018-506X(92)90001-C|year=1992|pmid=1398550|s2cid=9590959}}</ref>

The slate-colored boubou lays a clutch of 2-3 eggs in a nest in a shrub or tree around 1.5&nbsp;m (5&nbsp;ft) above the ground.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Sonnenschein, Edith |author2=Reyer, Hans-Ulrich |year=1984|title=Biology of the Slatecoloured Boubou and other bush shrikes|journal=Ostrich|volume=55|issue=2|pages=84–94|doi=10.1080/00306525.1984.9634759|s2cid=84104093 }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1302947}}

[[Category:Laniarius|slate-colored boubou]]
[[Category:Birds of East Africa]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1863|slate-colored boubou]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Gustav Hartlaub|slate-colored boubou]]
[[Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot]]