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black-fronted bush shrike

black-fronted bush shrike

9.7
A small bright African bird with a black face and a musical song
  • noun
  • South African
translation icon : buitre de frente negra
  • The black-fronted bush shrike is admired for its vivid plumage and melodic song throughout the African woodlands.

Examples

  • Unlike other shrikes, the black-fronted bush shrike prefers dense vegetation for nesting and feeding.

  • Birdwatchers traveled to the reserve hoping to spot a black-fronted bush shrike among the trees.

  • The black-fronted bush shrike is known for its striking appearance.

  • There are many black-fronted bush shrikes in the savannah.

  • Birdwatchers traveled to the reserve hoping to spot a black-fronted bush shrike among the trees.

  • The black-fronted bush shrike is admired for its vivid plumage and melodic song throughout the African woodlands.

  • Unlike other shrikes, the black-fronted bush shrike prefers dense vegetation for nesting and feeding.

Synonyms

Chlorophoneus nigrifrons
vsblack-fronted bush shrike
  • Specialized
9.9

A small African bird with a black forehead that sings loudly in woodlands

is the common descriptive name highlighting bright colors and musical calls

Surface Forms

Morphology

black-fronted + bush + shrike

The phrase is a transparent descriptive compound: 'black-fronted' denotes having a black front/face and 'bush shrike' names a type of shrike associated with bushy habitat, so the overall meaning ('a bush shrike with a black front') is directly derivable from the parts. Such attributive compounds are cross-linguistically common and follow regular English compounding patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Black-fronted bush shrike gets its name from how it looks and where it lives: black-fronted because it has a 'black front' or face, bush because it lives in thick bushes, and shrike because it is a small singing bird. So the name helps you remember it is a bright African bird with a black face that sings in the bushes.