Brubru (Nilaus afer) [XC614356]
by Giovanni Boano from JB Marks Local Municipality (near Buffelsvallei), Southern DC, North West, South Africa (call, fly)
Brubru (Nilaus afer) [XC728961]
by Dries Van de Loock from Road past Amboseli sopa lodge, Amboseli Np, Kenya (call)
Subspecies
An enigmatic, monotypic genus which has been placed variously in families Laniidae, Prionopidae and Muscicapidae. Subspecies massaicus intergrades with nominate in north-eastern Uganda (Karamoja); nigritemporalis intergrades with affinis and brubru in south-eastern DRCongo (Katanga), and with solivagus in Zambia (middle Zambezi valley).
Proposed subspecies hilgerti (described from R Kassam, in eastern Ethiopia) synonymized with minor.
The following 10 subspecies are recognised:
afer (Latham, 1801) - Southern Mauritania and Senegal east to Eritrea and north-western Ethiopia, south to north-western and central Cameroon, western and north-western Central African Republic and north-western Uganda; dry-season visitor in coastal Liberia and Ghana.
camerunensis Neumann, 1907 - Cameroon highlands, southern Central African Republic, and northern and north-eastern DRCongo (east to northern end of L Albert).
minor Sharpe, 1895 - South-eastern Sudan, south-eastern Ethiopia, Somalia (except north-east), plateau country in northern and eastern Kenya (south to Kerio valley, Baringo, Isiolo, Tsavo and Taru), and north-eastern Tanzania.
massaicus Neumann, 1907 - North-eastern DRCongo, Uganda, Kenya (except northern and east) and northern Tanzania (Serengeti south to Shinyanga).
affinis Barboza du Bocage, 1878 - Northern Angola and southern DRCongo (Kasai, and Katanga east to Mt Kabobo).
nigritemporalis Reichenow, 1892 - Eastern Angola, southern and south-eastern DRCongo and Tanzania (except far north-western and north-east) south to Zambia (except extreme south-west), Zimbabwe (in middle Zambezi valley), Malawi and Mozambique (except extreme south).
brubru (Latham, 1801) - South-western and western Angola, extreme south-western Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, western Zimbabwe, northern South Africa (western Limpopo south to extreme northern Northern Cape and western Free State) and western Swaziland.
solivagus Clancey, 1958 - Central plateau of Zimbabwe, south-western Mozambique (western Sul do Save), northern South Africa (northern and eastern Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal) and eastern Swaziland.
miombensis Clancey, 1971 - Extreme south-eastern Zimbabwe (around Marhumbini), south-eastern Mozambique lowlands and north-eastern South Africa (coastal KwaZulu-Natal).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet