From Opus

Malaconotus lagdeni

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Distribution

Disjunct: Sierra Leone to Togo; also eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and western Uganda.

[edit] 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

[edit] Habitat

Canopy of mid-altitude and montane forests.

[edit] Status

Classified as Near Threatened in the 2008 IUCN Red List.¹

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Vocalisation

A low single-note whistle, similar to that of the Grey-headed Bushshrike.

[edit] References

1. BirdLife International (2008) Species factsheet: Malaconotus lagdeni. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 12/8/2008
2. Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154

[edit] External Links