There were so many colourful birds in Uganda, sunbirds, orioles, bee eaters, kingfishers, one more beautiful than the other (see my blog post Birds, birds, birds), but for some reason none of these stunning little creatures became my favourite.

I fell for the speckled mousebird.

Just look at its punk hairdo! And its confident countenance! And notice the tail, sooo long it didn’t even fully fit in the photo 🙂 And it looks so chubby with its fluffy chest.

Wikipedia says that it is a dull-mousy brown bird, well, I suppose it is, but it certainly doesn’t sound like a compliment. Who wants to be called dull-mousy brown? Its poor voice is also mentioned in the article. Reading this quite negative description gave me even more reason to make it my favourite.

Have you ever seen a bird with a cooler expression, showing off its acrobatic skills to possible onlookers?

It is a very social bird, they like to be together, often very close together, as you can see.

The runner-up to become my favourite was one with a somewhat long and complicated name, Rüppell’s long-tailed starling. With its shimmering feathers it looks like a living gem. But it doesn’t at all have the charm of the speckled mousebird, in my opinion – beauty isn’t everything!