White-crested helmetshrike

The white-crested helmetshrike (Prionops plumatus), also known as the white helmetshrike, is a species of passerine bird in the Vanga family Vangidae, formerly usually included in the Malaconotidae.

White-crested helmetshrike
Subspecies P. p. talacoma in the Kruger National Park, South Africa
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Vangidae
Genus:	Prionops
Species:	P. plumatus
Binomial name
Prionops plumatus (Shaw, 1809)
range

Distribution and habitat

It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, dry savanna, moist savanna, and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.

Behaviour

It is a gregarious bird and is found in small, active parties that are always on the move as they forage among the foliage or on the ground. They chatter noisily to one another as they move through their territory.

Gallery

• 
  P. p. cristatus at Lake Nakuru ― curly-crested and closed wings largely black
• 
  P. p. talacoma in South Africa
• 
  Marakele National Park, Limpopo, South Africa
• 
  In Senegal

External links

• (White-crested helmetshrike = ) White helmetshrike - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.