CreatureData

White-headed mousebird

Colius leucocephalus Reichenow, 1879

LCLeast Concernbirds

The white-headed mousebird (Colius leucocephalus) is a species in the family Coliidae, order Coliiformes. Recorded adults weigh 34 g to 37.8 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

White-headed mousebird (Colius leucocephalus)
Photo: Francesco Veronesi from Italy · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the white-headed mousebird

Weight
34 g – 37.8 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Frugivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
shrublandsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
3src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the white-headed mousebird live?

Not recorded

What is the white-headed mousebird?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The white-headed mousebird (Colius leucocephalus) is a bird belonging to the mousebird family, Coliidae. It is found only in east Africa where it occurs in southern Somalia and parts of Kenya with its range just extending into southern Ethiopia and northern Tanzania. It inhabits arid bushland up to 1,400 metres above sea-level.

It is 32 cm long with the long, graduated tail accounting for over half of this. The plumage is mainly greyish with black and white barring on the back, neck and breast. It has a white crest, crown and cheeks. There is a white stripe down the back which becomes visible when the bird flies. Around the eye is a patch of dark, bare skin. The bill is bluish-white above and buff below. In juvenile birds, the throat and breast are buff. The northern subspecies (C. l. turneri) is darker than the southern form (C. l. leucocephalus).

The contact call is a scratchy chattering and the bird also has a descending song.

From the Wikipedia article “White-headed mousebird” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White-headed_mousebird&oldid=1380595693), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the white-headed mousebird endangered?

The white-headed mousebird is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the white-headed mousebird classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderColiiformes
  5. familyColiidae
  6. genusColius
  7. SpeciesColius leucocephalus Reichenow, 1879
Other names and names in other languages (33)
  • White-headed colyEnglish
  • WHMOEnglish
  • كولي أبيض الرأسArabic
  • ocell ratolí capblancCatalan
  • myšák bělohlavýCzech
  • coli penwynWelsh
  • Hvidhovedet MusefuglDanish
  • WeißkopfmausvogelGerman
  • Weißkopf-MausvogelGerman
  • blankakapa musbirdoEsperanto
  • Pájaro ratón cabeciblancoSpanish
  • valgepea-hiirlindEstonian
  • valkolakkihiiroFinnish
  • Coliou à tête blancheFrench
  • קוליוס לבן-ראשHebrew
  • bjeloglava mišjakinjaCroatian
  • fehérfejű egérmadárHungarian
  • Uccello topo testabiancaItalian
  • シロガシラネズミドリJapanese
  • baltagalvis pelėpaukštisLithuanian
  • WitkopmuisvogelDutch
  • hvitkronemusfuglNorwegian
  • czepiga białogłowaPolish
  • rabo-de-junco-de-cabeça-brancaPortuguese
  • Белоголовая птица-мышьRussian
  • myšovec bielohlavýSlovak
  • Beloglavi koliSerbian
  • vithuvad musfågelSwedish
  • Akbaş FarekuşuTurkish
  • Ak Başlı FarekuşuTurkish
  • чепіга білоголоваUkrainian
  • 白头鼠鸟Chinese
  • 白頭鼠鳥Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the white-headed mousebird

Other species in the same genus Colius.

CompareWhite-headed mousebird vs Speckled mousebirdWhite-headed mousebird vs White-backed mousebirdWhite-headed mousebird vs Red-backed mousebird

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the white-headed mousebird?

An adult white-headed mousebird weighs 34 g – 37.8 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the white-headed mousebird endangered?

The white-headed mousebird is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the white-headed mousebird?

The white-headed mousebird (Colius leucocephalus) belongs to the family Coliidae in the order Coliiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). White-headed mousebird (Colius leucocephalus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-headed-mousebird

MLA

“White-headed mousebird (Colius leucocephalus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-headed-mousebird.

BibTeX
@misc{white_headed_mousebird_2026,
  title = {White-headed mousebird (Colius leucocephalus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-headed-mousebird},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}