Blue-naped Mousebird

The blue-naped mousebird (Urocolius macrourus), also formerly called the blue-naped coly (Colius macrourus) is a species of bird belonging to the family Coliidae within the order Coliiformes. They are the sister group to the clade Eucavitaves, which contains the families Leptosomiformes (the cuckoo roller), Trogoniformes (trogons), Bucerotiformes (hornbills and hoopoes), Piciformes (woodpeckers, toucans, and barbets) and Coraciformes (kingfishers, bee-eaters, rollers, motmots, and todies). The species is found in the wild in the drier regions of West Africa to East Africa, as well as Sahel. It is one of the remaining six species of mousebirds. The term "mousebird" comes from its habit of running along branches in a way that resembles the scurrying of a mouse. == Taxonomy == There are a total of six recognized subspecies: Urocolius macrourus macrourus (Distribution: Senegambia to east Ethiopia) Urocolius macrourus syntactus (Distribution: Sahel from Mali, southern Niger, and northern Nigeria east to Sudan, Eritrea, and northern Ethiopia) Urocolius macrourus laeneni (Distribution: Aïr Massif, in NC Niger.) Urocolius macrourus pulcher (Distribution: extreme South East South Sudan, Eastern Uganda, Kenya, extreme South Ethiopia, Southern Somalia and Northern Tanzania.) Urocolius macrourus abyssinicus (Distribution: Central and Southern Ethiopia, and Northern Somalia South to about Beledweyne.) Urocolius macrourus griseogularis…