From Opus

Photo by megan perkins
Mole National Park, Ghana, February 2011

Pachycoccyx audeberti

[edit] Identification

36 cm. Grey above, lores white, wings blackish, tail barred brown and black, white below, eye ring yellow, iris brown. Bill blackish or yellow.

[edit] Distribution

Sierra Leone through Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon to Congo and Zaire, Kenya and Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.

[edit] Taxonomy

Three subspecies are recognized, audeberti, brazzae, and validus. It is monotypic within the genus Pachycoccyx.

[edit] Habitat

Woodlands, lowlands, and riverine forests.

[edit] Behaviour

The diet includes insects, mainly hairy caterpillars.

Brood parasitic; hosts are Helmetshrikes (Prionops). Incubation 13 days, nestlings evict host eggs and chicks. Fledges in 28 days.

[edit] External Links