Alternative name: Red-bellied Paradise-flycatcher
- Terpsiphone rufiventer
Includes Annobon Paradise-Flycatcher
Identification
17cm
Long tail streamers (nearly as long as the bird itself)
Male: black head, chestnut plumage, black wingbar
Female: drabber than the male and lacks the tail streamers
Juveniles - plain brown
Black-headed Paradise-Flycatcher (Terpsiphone rufiventer) is closely related to African Paradise-Flycatcher (Terpsiphone viridis), and hybrids occur with the underparts a mixture of black and red.
Distribution
West and central and east Africa, south of the Sahara.
Western Africa: Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola
Eastern Africa: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia
African Islands: Gulf of Guinea Islands, Bioko (Fernando Po), Annobon, São Tomé and Príncipe
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 11 subspecies[1]:
- T. r. rufiventer: Senegal and Gambia to Guinea-Bissau and western Guinea
- T. r. nigriceps: Sierra Leone to Togo and south-western Benin
- T. r. fagani: Benin and south-western Nigeria
- T. r. tricolor: Bioko (Gulf of Guinea)
- T. r. smithii: Pagalu (Gulf of Guinea)
- T. r. neumanni: South-eastern Nigeria to southern Cameroon, Gabon, Cabinda and northern Angola
- T. r. schubotzi: South-eastern Cameroon and south-western Central African Republic
- T. r. mayombe: Congo and western Zaire (Lukolela, Mayombe and Ubangi)
- T. r. somereni: Forests of western Uganda
- T. r. emini: South-eastern Uganda to extreme western Kenya and north-western Tanzania
- T. r. ignea: Eastern Central African Republic to southern Zaire, north-eastern Angola and north-western Zambia
Smithii from Annabon, an island in the Gulf of Guinea, is sometimes split as full species, Annobon Paradise-Flycatcher.
Habitat
Moist savannah woodland.
Behaviour
Breeding
Two eggs are laid in a tiny cup nest in a tree.
Diet
The diet includes insects.
Vocalisation
Call: a sharp zweet.
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Avibase
- Wikipedia
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Black-headed Paradise-Flycatcher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 13 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-headed_Paradise-Flycatcher
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
