African Shrike-flycatcher

The African shrike-flycatcher is a small, 16 cm (6.3 in), songbird with an upright flycatcher-like shape and a broad and hooked bill. The plumage varies between the males and females. Males have dark blue-black upperparts and a white throat, breast, belly and rump. The eyes are red coloured, the bill black, and the legs reddish-purple. In contrast the female has a brown head, rufous brown back and tail, and the underparts are white streaked with brown.

It is widespread across the African tropical rainforests from sea-level to 2,150 m (7,050 ft). It ranges from Sierra Leone in West Africa east to Kakamega Forest in Kenya and south to Angola. It can occupy a range of forested habitats, from primary forest, secondary forest, forest edge habitats, and old plantations. Within the forest it can be found in the undergrowth, mid-story and canopy. It is suspected that the species is an intra-African migrant, but the details are poorly understood. For example, it is only present in NE Gabon from November to March, and is only present in Kenya during the non-breeding season.

The African shrike-flycatcher forages in trees for insect prey, which can include beetles, grasshoppers and locusts, and moths and butterflies. Prey is caught on the wing, with the bird flying to a location and hovering before snatching prey. Unlike true flycatchers, the African shrike-flycatcher will hop and even run on branches as well. It will often join mixed-species feeding flocks in the forest canopy, sometimes also in the lower stories of the forest at the forest edge.