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Photo: Steve Garvie from Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source ↗
Common Scimitarbill
Swartbekkakelaar · Rhinopomastus cyanomelas
A slender, glossy blue-black relative of the wood-hoopoes, told by its strongly curved black bill. Unlike the noisy wood-hoopoe it moves quietly, alone or in pairs, hitching along branches and probing bark crevices for insects. It is a year-round resident of woodland across the park.
Log your Common Scimitarbill sighting — free →How to identify it
Like a small wood-hoopoe but with a strongly down-curved black bill; usually alone or in pairs.
Listen for its call
A run of clear whistled "wip-wip-wip" notes.
Where to see it in Kruger
Broadleaved and acacia woodland, working over trunks and branches alone.
Did you know
Its sharply curved beak works like a tool to dig insects out of cracks in the bark.
Often confused with
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