Gray-headed Broadbill Smithornis sharpei Scientific name definitions

15–18 cm; 34–40·3 g. Male has orange side of forehead, usually blue-grey crown and ear-coverts, crown with slaty mottling, white throat; upperparts  rufescent brown, back and mantle with a few black patches and concealed silky-white feather bases; wings browner; underparts white below, prominent broad orange breastband broken in centre, rest of underparts with black streaks; iris dark brown; upper mandible black, lower mostly yellowish-white; legs and feet olive. Distinguished from S. capensis by larger size, orange on breast; from S.rufolateralis by grey crown and no white wingbars. Female  has less extensive and much duller orange on breast, and crown usually dark grey but sometimes like male’s. Juvenile  has breastband dark brown mixed with orange-buff and overlaid with bold dark streaking, brown crown sometimes streaked with orange, and two narrow orange or orange-buff wingbars. Race <em>zenkeri</em> has crown and ear-coverts more sooty than nominate, but some, especially females, have blue-grey crown, and streaking below typically denser and bolder; eurylaemus is slightly smaller than nominate (but birds of higher altitudes may be longer-winged and heavier), male with more uniform, clearer grey crown, female with darker, more olive-brown, side of breast.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

A rainforest specialist with little tolerance of disturbance; prefers lower and middle storeys and undergrowth. In primary and secondary forest at 800–1800 m on Bioko. In Cameroon favours closed-canopy primary forest and relatively undisturbed secondary forest with partly open understorey, from lowland forest at c. 100 m to mountainsides up to 1950 m, altitudinal range varying locally, and apparently restricted on some mountains surveyed: 850–1950 m on Mt Kupé, 500–800 m on S Mt Cameroon, 1050–1600 m on Mt Nlonako, and 1100–1300 m in Rumpi Hills. In Zaire usually at c. 1000–1500 m, but some records from lower altitudes.

Resident.

Insects. Orthopterans and metallic beetles recorded on Bioko. In Cameroon, recent observations of birds catching grasshoppers, crickets, cicadas (Cicadidae) and a butterfly, and a female seen with bill full of caterpillars during breeding season.

Quiet, high-pitched short whistle, “whee whee” or “huiiii”. In display-flight a loud, rapid, mechanical trill  c. 0·5–0·6 seconds long, starts abruptly  , slows, then accelerates almost imperceptibly before ending abruptly, very similar to that of S. rufolateralis but slightly deeper and slower.

Breeding coincides with the dry season: Nov–Apr in Cameroon, Dec on Bioko, and Feb–Sept in Zaire (few records, season probably as long as for S. rufolateralis). Nest a bag of plant fibres, moss and lichen with long hanging “tail”, lined with dry leaves, or sometimes built entirely of fine black fungal fibres (Marasmius) and dried leaves, or of green moss, or of mosses with old fern strands and lichens; suspended from a small branch 1–16 m above forest floor. Clutch 2 eggs, sometimes 1; incubation and fledging periods unrecorded, but expected to be much as for S. rufolateralis.

Not globally threatened. Poorly known. In parts of Cameroon where it has been studied it is not uncommon, and is apparently evenly distributed throughout the forest. Rare on Bioko. Presence confirmed from only one site in N Gabon and one site in Equatorial Guinea (Mbini); first found in Nigeria in 1995. Status in E Zaire unclear, but published records suggest that it is not uncommon. This species is able to survive in old logged forest, but seems unable to tolerate seriously degraded habitats.