White-crested Helmetshrike
Prionops plumatus
A sociable, cartoon-like, black-and-white helmetshrike with a grayish crest and a piercing yellow eye and eye-wattle. Groups fly with a labored flight action, showing a conspicuous pied pattern. Close-knit parties of 5 to 10 birds forage restlessly in mixed- or single-species flocks in broadleaf woodland and arid savanna, looking for insects at middle and lower levels. Groups give strange ratcheting and ringing calls, including clicks and whistles.
Identification
The white-crested helmetshrike (Prionops plumatus), also known as the white helmetshrike, is a species of passerine bird in the Vanga family Vangidae, formerly usually included in the Malaconotidae.
Taxonomy
Genus: Prionops; Family: Vangidae; Order: Passeriformes.
- Scientific name
- Prionops plumatus
- Authority
- (Shaw, 1809)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Vangidae
- Genus
- Prionops
Range and habitat
It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, dry savanna, moist savanna, and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Luminous, short-tailed parrot with a cherry-red throat and breast, green upperparts, and finely hooked orange bill. Also note the spiky feathers making up the green-and-blue crown. Endemic to the Polynesian Cook Islands, where it is native to Rimatara and introduced (or reintroduced) to others, including Atiu, where it occurred historically. Forages in a variety of wooded island habitats, including coconut plantations. Gives a variety of high-pitched calls, including a gratingly shrill and garbled screech.
Copper Seedeater
Sporophila bouvreuil
Very small finchlike bird with a short bill. Males are unmistakable—mostly cinnamon with a black cap, wings, and tail. Females are brown above and pale below. Both sexes have a white wing spot. Females are difficult to separate from female Pearly-bellied Seedeaters, but they are less gray overall than Pearly-bellied. Found in savannas and grasslands where it is often seen in flocks with other seedeaters.
Black-throated Parrotbill
Suthora nipalensis
Small black-and-orange parrotbill of mid- to high-elevation broadleaf forests. Bright orange overall with a black eyebrow, throat, and wingtips. Cheek patch is gray in eastern birds and orange in western ones. Similar in shape and coloration to Golden Parrotbill; on Black-throated, look out for grayer underparts, a deeper shade of orange, and a thick black brow. Strongly associated with bamboo stands, where it roves about in fast-moving flocks, giving high buzzy calls. Sometimes forms mixed flocks with other species.
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