Alternative name: White-headed Black Chat; Arnott's Chat
- Myrmecocichla arnotti
Identification
Male is black with white crown and white on the shoulder; tail and rump being completely black separate it from other similar birds.
Female is mostly black including crown but with black-speckled white on breast and throat.
Distribution
Africa
Western Africa: DRC, Angola
Eastern Africa: Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa
Taxonomy
Subspecies[1]
There are 2 subspecies
- M. a. harterti:
- M. a. arnotti:
- eastern Angola and southeastern Tanzania (east of the Eastern Arc Mountains) south to northern and northeastern Botswana, northern and western Mozambique, and northeastern South Africa
Ruaha Chat was formerly considered conspecific.
Habitat
Dry forests.
Behaviour
In Rwanda they don't inhabit miombo woodland like across the border in Tanzania but human habitations and nest in roofs.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Birdforum Member observations
- Birdforum thread mentioning the possible split of "Ruaha Chat" (in post 356)
- Sinclair et al. 2002. Birds of Southern Africa. Princeton Field Guides, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. ISBN 0-691-09682-1
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Arnot's Chat. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 18 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Arnot%27s_Chat
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
