From Opus

Photo by andy wilkes
The Gambia, January, 2012

Platysteira cyanea

Identification

14cm
Male

• Glossy black above
• White below
• Black breast band
• White wingbar
• Fleshy red wattles above the eye
  

Female

Female
Photo by Sidor
Maasai Mara, Kenya, September 2006

• Grey-black upperparts
• White wing bar
• Red wattles
• Small white chin patch
• Maroon throat and breast
• Black breast band
• White belly
  

Young males : paler and greyer than female

Distribution

West, central and northeast Africa
Western Africa: 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, DRC and Angola.
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

Taxonomy

Subspecies^[1]

There are 3 subspecies:

• P. c. cyanea:

• Senegal to Gabon, Angola, Central African Republic and Zaire

• P. c. aethiopica:

• South-eastern Sudan (Boma) and Ethiopia

• P. c. nyansae:

• Southern Sudan to northern Zaire, Kenya, Uganda and north-western Tanzania

Habitat

Gallery forest, primary and secondary Guinea savanna woodland, mature mangrove woodland, river banks, gardens and Farmland.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes insects.

Breeding

It builds a cup nest made from lichen and cobweb, placed low in a bush or tree.

Vocalisation

A ringing whistling call.

References

1. 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.
2. Avibase
3. Wikipedia
4. BF Member observations

• List of references

External Links