Alternative name: Blue Crested Flycatcher[1]
- Elminia longicauda
Identification
15–18 cm (6-7 in)
Male
- Cobalt blue upperparts and throat
- Lighter below
- Long tail
Females and immatures
- Grey
- Narrow band of blue on edges of wing and tail-feathers.
Distribution
Equatorial Africa
Western Africa: Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Angola
Eastern Africa: South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi
Taxonomy
Sometimes considered a superspecies with the White-tailed Blue-Flycatcher, E. albicauda.
- The alternative name Blue Crested Flycatcher may lead to confusion with Blue-crested Flycatcher, Myiagra azureocapilla.
Subspecies
This is a polytypic species[1] consisting of two subspecies[1]:
- E. l. longicauda:
- E. l. teresita:
- Cameroon and Gabon east across northern Democratic Republic of the Congo to southern Central African Republic, southwestern South Sudan, Uganda, and western Kenya
Habitat
Open secondary forest, mangrove, swampy or riverine forests, and wooded savannas, cleared and abandoned fruit and cocoa plantations.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet consists almost entirely of insects such as bees, ants, flies, termites and beetles, which can be hawked or gleaned.
Breeding
They construct a compact, cup-shaped nest. The clutch contains 1-2 white eggs which are incubated by the female. Both parents feed the young, with assistance from non-breeding adults or immatures in the group.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Answers.com
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved March 2019)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) African Blue Flycatcher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/African_Blue_Flycatcher
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.