Grey-backed Fiscal (Lanius excubitoroides) [XC739772]
by GABRIEL LEITE from Pian Upe National Park, Uganda (song)
Grey-backed Fiscal (Lanius excubitoroides) [XC36290]
by Erik Eggenkamp from Juba, South Sudan (call)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Long-tailed Fiscal (Lanius cabanisi), and the two are sometimes united in subgenus Neolanius. Original description first used name "excubitoroides" but within the same publication authors altered this to "excubitorius", in the mistaken belief that "excubitoroides" was preoccupied.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
excubitoroides Prévost and Des Murs, 1847 - Sahel zone of Mauritania and Mali, extreme north-eastern Nigeria, northern Cameroon, south-western and south-eastern Chad and northern Central African Republic east to DRCongo, southern (but not south-west) Sudan and western Uganda.
intercedens Neumann, 1905 - Central Ethiopia (southern and western from L Tana), probably also extreme south-eastern Sudan, south to north-eastern Uganda and western Kenya (west of Elgeyo Escarpment).
boehmi Reichenow, 1902 - South-central Uganda, extreme eastern DRCongo, eastern Rwanda, eastern Burundi, western Tanzania (L Victoria southern patchily to L Malawi) and south-western Kenya (eastern shores L Victoria).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet