- Malaconotus lagdeni
Identification
Length 25-26 cm.
Adult: Has an all-grey head with a pale eye; wing coverts are blackish with yellow edges; tail olive with yellow tip. Underparts yellow; West African forms have orange-washed throat and breast.
Juvenile: Upperparts grey-brown; underparts paler with whitish throat; flanks are faintly barred.
Similar species
Grey-headed Bushshrike occupies drier savanna and woodland habitat and wing-coverts are olive-green rather than blackish. The yellow-phase Fiery-breasted Bushshrike (which is rare) has pale lores, plain wing-coverts and a black sub-terminal band on the tail.
Distribution
Disjunct: Sierra Leone to Togo; also eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and western Uganda.
Taxonomy
Malaconotus lagdeni has two subspecies:
- M. l. lagdeni
- Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Ghana
- Throat and breast with orange wash
- M. l. centralis
- Albertine Rift Mountains
- Throat and breast yellow
Habitat
Canopy of mid-altitude and montane forests.
Status
Classified as Near Threatened in the 2008 IUCN Red List.1
Behaviour
Vocalisation
A low single-note whistle, similar to that of the Grey-headed Bushshrike.
References
- BirdLife International (2008) Species factsheet: Malaconotus lagdeni. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 12/8/2008
- Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154
