Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, Uganda.
Vagrant to Mauritania.
Extreme southern Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia east to southern Chad, southern Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, south to Sierra Leone, northern Ivory Coast, south-eastern Ghana, south-eastern Cameroon, northern PRCongo, northern DRCongo, Uganda and extreme western Kenya.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike (Campephaga phoenicea) [XC268763]
by James and David Bradley from Ntoroko, Ntoroko, Western Region, Uganda (call)
Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike (Campephaga phoenicea) [XC161594]
by Bram Piot from Kavirondo Escarpment, Kenya (call)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Forms a superspecies with Petit's Cuckooshrike (Campephaga petiti) and Black Cuckooshrike (Campephaga flava). Where breeding range overlaps with that of Black Cuckooshrike (Campephaga flava) (in south-western Ethiopia and western Kenya), no intermediate males known. Extralimitally (in central and eastern Kenya), some females have extent of yellow in tail intermediate between that shown by present species and that of typical Black Cuckooshrike (Campephaga flava), suggesting possible incomplete genetic isolation.