Blue-mantled crested flycatcher facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Blue-mantled crested flycatcher |
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| Female photographed in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Trochocercus
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| Species: |
cyanomelas
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| Subspecies | |
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See text |
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The blue-mantled crested flycatcher or African crested flycatcher (Trochocercus cyanomelas) is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae found in eastern and south-eastern Africa.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
Taxonomy and systematics
The blue-mantled crested flycatcher was originally described in the genus Muscicapa and some authorities have also classified it in the genus Terpsiphone. Alternate names for the blue-mantled crested flycatcher include blue-mantled flycatcher, blue-mantled paradise-flycatcher, Cape crested-flycatcher and crested flycatcher.
Subspecies
Five subspecies are recognized:
- T. c. vivax - Neave, 1909: Found from Uganda and north-western Tanzania to south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern and western Zambia
- East African crested flycatcher (T. c. bivittatus) - Reichenow, 1879: Originally described as a separate species. Found from Somalia to eastern Tanzania
- T. c. megalolophus - Swynnerton, 1907: Originally described as a separate species. Found from Malawi and northern Mozambique to Zimbabwe and eastern KwaZulu-Natal (north-eastern South Africa)
- T. c. segregus - Clancey, 1975: Found in eastern Northern Province and western KwaZulu-Natal (north-eastern South Africa)
- T. c. cyanomelas - (Vieillot, 1818): Found in south and south-eastern South Africa
Diet
Like all members of the monarch flycatcher family, the blue-mantled crested flycatcher is insectivorous.
