Grey-headed Bushshrike (Malaconotus blanchoti) [XC549780]
by Derek Solomon from Hoedspruit, South Africa (call)
Grey-headed Bushshrike (Malaconotus blanchoti) [XC876420]
by Marc Anderson from Bohicon, Bohicon, Zou Department, Benin (call)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Monteiro's Bush-Shrike (Malaconotus monteiri) and Lagden's Bush-Shrike (Malaconotus lagdeni), with Fiery-breasted Bush-Shrike (Malaconotus cruentus) sometimes included in same group. Has been regarded as conspecific with Monteiro's Bush-Shrike (Malaconotus monteiri). All subspecies intergrade at common boundaries and size decreases clinally from north to south.
The following 7 subspecies are recognised:
blanchoti Stephens, 1826 - Senegal east to northern Cameroon.
catharoxanthus Neumann, 1899 - Northern Cameroon east to Ethiopia (northern and west of Rift Valley), Eritrea, Uganda and western Kenya.
approximans (Cabanis, 1869) - Ethiopia (southern and east of Rift Valley), Somalia, Kenya and northern Tanzania.
interpositus Hartert, 1911 - Angola, south-eastern DRCongo (Katanga) and northern and western Zambia (Mporokoso; North-Western Province).
citrinipectus Meise, 1968 - South-western Angola and extreme northern Namibia (Cunene valley and northern Ovamboland).
hypopyrrhus Hartlaub, 1844 - From Rwanda, Tanzania and central and southern Zambia south to north-eastern Namibia (Caprivi Strip), northern and eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique and eastern South Africa (near Durban).
extremus Clancey, 1957 - Coastal South Africa from south of Durban south to St Francis Bay.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet