White-tailed Crested Flycatcher

The white-tailed crested flycatcher (Elminia albonotata) is a species of bird in the flycatcher family Stenostiridae. It has a discontinuous distribution in eastern Africa. There are three subspecies, E. a. albonotata of central Kenya, and Uganda through to south west Tanzania; E. a. subvaerulea, which ranges from southern Kenya to Malawi and E. a. swynnertoni of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The white-tailed crested flycatcher is a small (13 cm) crested flycatcher with a long tail. The wings and crest of are black, the rest of the plumage is grey overall with a white belly, rump and the underside of the tail. The bill is black, the eye dark brown and the legs grey. The call of this species is weak and unstructured. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical evergreen montane forest and surrounding shrubland and bamboo. It is found from 600 m to 1900 m in Tanzania's Udzungwa Mountains, and up to 2700 m elsewhere. Where its range overlaps with the closely related white-bellied crested flycatcher this species is found at higher altitudes and not below 2250 m, where its relative it is absent it ranges as low as 1200 m.