White-eyed slaty flycatcher

White-eyed slaty flycatcher
Adult M. f. fischeri
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Passeriformes
Family:Muscicapidae
Genus:Melaenornis
Species: M. fischeri
Binomial name
Melaenornis fischeri
Reichenow, 1884
Synonyms

Dioptrornis fischeri

The white-eyed slaty flycatcher (Melaenornis fischeri) is a small passerine bird of the genus Melaenornis in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is native to the African highlands from Ethiopia and Kenya through Rwanda to eastern Zaire and Malawi. In Kenya, it is mostly absent from the east and the north of the country. It is a highland bird, common in wooded habitats, including gardens.

It is a very distinctive bird normally seen singly or in pairs. White-eyed slaty flycatchers are frequently spotted either hawking for insects or taking them from the ground. They perch with an upright pose on branches, stumps, signposts. The sub-species M. f. toruensis occurs in Rwanda and Burundi and has an inconspicuous eye-ring.

The specific epithet commemorates the German explorer Gustav Adolf Fischer.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Melaenornis fischeri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
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