- Terpsiphone viridis
Identification
17cm with 17cm long tail streamers.
Male - black head, neck and underparts, chestnut wings and tail, white wingbar.
Female - browner tint to the underparts, no wingbar and no tail streamers.
Young birds are similar to the female but duller.
The male African Paradise Flycatcher comes in two distinct forms a rufous morph and a white morph. They may even change colour from rufous to white and can sometimes be seen part way through the change with a mixture of white and rufous feathers. The dark head and blue eye are common to both forms. The female always retains the rufous colouring.
Distribution
Widespread throughout Africa (south of the Sahara Desert) and the Middle East
Western Africa: Mauritania, 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: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Swaziland
Middle East: Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman
Taxonomy
There are 10 subspecies.[1]
- T. v. viridis:
- Senegal and Gambia to Sierra Leone
- T. v. speciosa:
- T. v. ferreti:
- T. v. restricta:
- T. v. kivuensis:
- T. v. suahelica:
- T. v. ungujaensis:
- T. v. plumbeiceps:
- Southern Angola to western Zaire, south-western Tanzania and north-eastern South Africa
- T. v. granti:
- T. v. harterti:
- Southern Arabian peninsula
Habitat
Evergreen, coastal and riverine forests.
Behaviour
Breeding
The clutch consists of 2-3 eggs which are laid in a tiny cup nest in a tree.
Diet
The diet includes insects.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Wikipedia
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) African Paradise-Flycatcher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/African_Paradise-Flycatcher