The blue-headed crested flycatcher (''Trochocercus nitens'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Monarchidae The monarchs or monarch flycatchers (family Monarchidae) comprise a family of over 100 passerine birds which includes shrikebills, paradise flycatchers, and Grallina, magpie-larks. Monarchids are small insectivore, insectivorous songbirds with l ...

, native to the African tropical forest.

Taxonomy and systematics

Formerly, some authorities have placed the blue-headed crested flycatcher in the genus ''

Terpsiphone The paradise flycatchers (''Terpsiphone'') are a genus of birds in the family Monarchidae. The genus ranges across Africa and Asia, as well as a number of islands. A few species are migratory, but the majority are resident. The most telling char ...

''. Alternate names include the blue-headed flycatcher and blue-headed paradise-flycatcher.

Subspecies

Two

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognized: * Upper Guinea blue-headed crested flycatcher (''T. n. reichenowi'') - Sharpe, 1904: Originally described as a separate species. Found from Guinea to Togo * ''T. n. nitens'' - Cassin, 1859: Found from Nigeria to southern Sudan, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and northwestern Angola

References

blue-headed crested flycatcher Birds of the African tropical rainforest blue-headed crested flycatcher Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Monarchidae-stub