Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Uganda.
Sierra Leone east, discontinuously, to south-eastern Nigeria, south-western and southern Cameroon, Gabon, northern and south-western PRCongo, southern Central African Republic, northern and eastern DRCongo (south to Itombwe) and western Uganda (Semliki Forest).
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Fiery-breasted Bushshrike (Malaconotus cruentus) [XC855555]
by GO-AWAY-BIRDING with Michael Mills from Belize, Cabinda, Angola (?)
Fiery-breasted Bushshrike (Malaconotus cruentus) [XC405674]
by Mathias D'haen from American University of Central Africa (AUCA), Equatorial Guinea (call)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Sometimes treated as part of the superspecies formed by Grey-headed Bush-Shrike (Malaconotus blanchoti), Monteiro's Bush-Shrike (Malaconotus monteiri) and Lagden's Bush-Shrike (Malaconotus lagdeni). Nominate subspecies of Monteiro's Bush-Shrike (Malaconotus monteiri) has been thought to be a colour morph of present species but is largely sympatric with Lagden's Bush-Shrike (Malaconotus lagdeni), so best regarded as separate species. Geographical variation not understood. Of the five subspecies named, based on extent and depth of orange or red suffusion of breast, and on size (slightly decreasing from west to east), only "nominate" (Sierra Leone east to south-eastern Nigeria), gabonensis (south-western Cameroon and Gabon) and adolfifriederici (PRCongo, southern Central African Republic, northern and eastern DRCongo and western Uganda) possibly worthy of recognition. However, most or all populations exhibit individual variation in amount of yellow/orange/red/scarlet below, and species probably polymorphic, rather than polytypic.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet