Northern puffback

{{Short description|Species of bird}}

{{speciesbox

| image = Northern Puffback specimen RWD.jpg

| image2 = Northern Puffback specimen RWD, female.jpg

| image2_caption = male and female

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=Dryoscopus gambensis |volume=2016 |page=e.T22707455A94125177 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22707455A94125177.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}

| genus = Dryoscopus

| species = gambensis

| authority = (Lichtenstein, MHC, 1823)

| synonyms =

}}

The northern puffback (Dryoscopus gambensis) is a species of bird in the family Malaconotidae.

It is found in northern sub-Saharan Africa. It forms a superspecies with the black-backed puffback, which replaces it in eastern equatorial and southern Africa.{{cite book |last1=Sinclair |first1=Ian |last2=Ryan |first2=Peter |title=Birds of Africa south of the Sahara |date=2010 |publisher=Struik Nature |location=Cape Town |isbn=9781770076235 |pages=580–581 |edition=2nd}}

Habitat

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and moist savanna.

Subspecies

There are five accepted subspecies:{{cite web |last1=Fry |first1=H. |date = 2017 |title=Northern Puffback (Dryoscopus gambensis) |website=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher = Lynx Edicions, Barcelona | url = http://www.hbw.com/node/60514 |access-date=13 April 2017}}

  • D. g. gambensis (M. H. C. Lichtenstein, 1823) – Senegambia to coastal Gabon
  • D. g. congicus Sharpe, 1901 – lower catchment of Congo River
  • D. g. malzacii (Heuglin, 1870) – eastern Cameroon to northwestern Tanzania
  • D. g. erythreae Neumann, 1899 – Eritrea to South Sudan
  • D. g. erwini Sassi, 1923Itombwe in eastern DRC

Gallery

File:Dryoscopus gambensis (Malaconotidae) (Northern Puffback) - (male), Mole National Park, Ghana, crop.jpg|Male D. g. gambensis at Mole National Park, Ghana

File:Northern Puffback, Gambia (11131498496), crop.jpg|Male D. g. gambensis in The Gambia

File:NorthernPuffback.jpg|Male D. g. malzacii at Lake Nakuru N.P., Kenya

References