Paradise Flycatcher sp
Nigeria. 12 December 2004 and 15 August 2006

“Whilst in Abuja [15 August 2006] I took a rather poor photo of a Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone sp [photo 1 below] in the hotel garden.

It was getting pretty dark and I only saw the bird “through the camera” before it flew off and didn’t look properly at the photo until I got back home last night and downloaded it onto my computer. I had assumed it would be an African Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone viridis - which should show pale undertail-coverts - but it looks far more like Rufous-vented Paradise-Flycatcher T. rufocinerea: however, as far as I can find out this would represent quite a large northerly range extension for this Central African endemic.

The bird also looks very like a similarly plumaged Terpsiphone I photographed in December 2004 in the same gardens [photo 2 below], and which again I have not been able to identify with any certainty”.

At the time of writing that note I had no idea at all whether these photos indeed indicated a range extension of rufocinerea, or whether perhaps birds in the Abuja area show intermediate characters of various races of viridis. Another possible explanation was that birds here are hybrids of viridis x rufocinerea - hybridisation is well-known amongst terpsiphone species - though I have to admit I feel uncomfortable reaching for the “hybrid theory” when the birds in question have no obviously outward signs of hybridisation (eg a random scattering of unusually-coloured feathers, or unusual physical characteristics such as the ‘wrong’ tail length or ‘wrong’ soft part colours).

From the literature I also discovered that in terms of ID pointers:

• Viridis: Adult male ferreti/speciosa plumage extremely variable. All have glossy greenish blue-black head with distinct crest. Upperparts, wing and tail have varying amounts of rufous-chestnut or white (rarely glossy blue black).
• Rufocinerea: Adult males have a glossy blue-black head with very slight crest (barely visible in field). Upperparts and tail rufous. Underparts dark greyish-blue. Paler on belly, undertail-coverts rufous.

I put out a query on the African Birding Yahoo Group and asked for comments: email responses are copied below.

1) Terpsiphone sp: Abuja, central Nigeria. 15 August 2006

 

2) Terpsiphone sp: Abuja, central Nigeria. 12 December 2004 (note blue-black head)

Comments:
Doug Newman:“I am not a regular expert on the birds higher up in africa but it certainly looks like the Rufous-vented Paradise Flycatcher I saw in Port Gentil in Gabon in 2002.”

Talatu Tende, Savanna Conservation Nigeria:“It is quite true that this looks like the Rufous-vented Paradise Flycatcher but I believe it is the female of the African Paradise Flycatcher because the crest is very prominent which is lacking in T. rufocinerea.”

Ross McGregor, Department of Oceanography, US:“I’m pretty sure that your paradise fly in Abuja is an African Paradise Fly. Unfortunately I don’t have any field guides currently available, but I just checked some pictures of Paradise Fly’s I caught up on the Jos Plateau and I have pictures of one bird that is very similar to your picture in Abuja.”

3) Jos Plateau, Nigeria. (As a point of interest note greenish blue-black head)

 

4) Jos Plateau, Nigeria. (As a point of interest note greenish blue-black head)

John Barker, Lagos: “Welcome to Nigeria where many things are not quirr what they seem to be! T viridis is extremely variable and I have certainly seen specimens in Nigeria displaying rufous undertail coverts as in your photo. The obvious thought is that this is just a varietal plumage of T viridis. Question is then what is the difference between the two ? T cinerea is described as a forest thicket species that meets (presumably noticably different variety) of T viridis at the forest edge. Certainly one to make me scratch my head from a taxonomic viewpoint.”

UPDATE AUGUST 22nd 2006:
I’d like to thank everyone who’s contacted me. To say that I’ve learnt a lot would be an understatement! Can I also say that I’m just grateful that no-one’s mailed me to tell me brusquely that I’m an idiot and if I’d done some homework I wouldn’t have needed to ask the question in the first place…

Anyway, enough of my rambling. I’m very grateful to Nik Borrow (the acclaimed artist and African bird specialist who co-produced the excellent Birds of Western Africa) for the following mail:

“Thanks for your link. You have raised some interesting points and indeed your photo does superficially look like Rufous-vented Paradise Flycatcher T. rufocinerea. However as the eye wattle is narrow, the crest is less pronounced and the tail shows no elongated central tail feathers I would presume that this individual is a female (or perhaps a young male?). In which case there is no problem with this bird being African Paradise Flycatcher T. viridis. Borrow & Demey’s Birds of Western Africa describe the female as “Upperparts and tail always rufous; less or no white in wing………”. Yes, the undertail coverts are rufous as opposed to greyish or greyish-buff as would be expected in the race ferreti that theoretically would occur in Abuja but this really is a very variable species with numerous permutations the full extent of which are still not fully understood! Perhaps the race speciosa extends somewhat further west than previously thought, in which case there is even less reason to consider your bird anything other than viridis.

Another question to raise is the validity of rufocinerea as a species anyway. The validity of the species has been questioned by taxonomists before. I have just come back from Gabon where apparently ‘pure’ rufocinerea responded aggressively to playback of viridis and the songs sound at least to my ear very similar indeed.”

I’m also very grateful to Pierfrancesco Micheloni (the Italian bander/conservationist working so hard to protect the enormous swallow roost at Ebbaken-Boje, eastern Nigeria) for the following images, which show a ‘typical’ T. rufocinerea (note the “round-headed” look), a Red-bellied (Black-headed) Paradise Flycatcher T. rufiventer neumanni, and two hybrid T. rufocinerea x T. rufiventer neumanni (see the comment below from Nik Borrow).

All were caught and banded at Ebbaken, which is close to the Cameroon border hundreds of miles to the south-east of Abuja.

5) Rufous-vented Paradise Flycatcher T. rufocinerea: Ebbaken-Boje, Jan/Feb 2001

 

6) Rufous-vented Paradise Flycatcher T. rufocinerea: Ebbaken-Boje, Jan/Feb 2001

 

 

7) Red-bellied (Black-headed) Paradise FlycatcherT. rufiventer neumanni: Ebbaken-Boje, Jan 2000

 

T. rufocinerea x T. rufiventer: Ebbaken-Boje, Jan/Feb 2001

 

9) T. rufocinerea x T. rufiventer: Ebbaken-Boje, Jan/Feb 2001

Identification of the above birds as hybrids comes partly from Nik Borrow again, who has given me permission to post a mail to Pierfrancesco Micheloni which he wrote in 2002. Pierfrancesco’s original mail to Nik included a number of photographs, most of which are included above:

“Thanks for the Terpsiphone photos.

Thankyou for the opportunity to see your pictures and I hope that my input has been of some use. There is so much variation and hybridisation within this group and there is always much to learn…”

Photographs 1 and 2 copyright Charlie Moores. Photographs 3 and 4 copyright Ross McGregor. Photographs 5 - 9 copyright Pierfrancesco Micheloni