Red-tailed Bristlebill Bleda syndactylus Scientific name definitions

20·5–23 cm; male 36–57 g, female 35–49·5 g. Striking, robust bulbul with strong bill, well-developed rictal bristles. Nominate has side of face olive-green, darker stripe running from base of bill down side of throat, sweeping up onto lower rear edge of ear-coverts; lores dirty olive-yellow, half-moon of bare blue-grey skin above eye (equally wide in front and behind eye); rest of head, and upperparts, olive-green to olive-brown, bright rufous uppertail-coverts and tail contrasting with back; bright yellow below , slightly paler on undertail-coverts, washed olivaceous on breast and flanks; iris red, red-brown or chestnut-brown; bill blue-black or dark brown above, paler grey or bluish below; legs pale blue-grey, red-brown or greyish-pink. Distinguished from other members of genus by tail colour, also voice. Sexes alike, female on average smaller than male. Juvenile is largely russet above and on flanks, with yellow orbital skin, yellow cutting edges of bill and gape, dull yellowish legs. Race <em>woosnami</em> is more intensely yellow below than nominate.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

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.

Lowland evergreen and semi-deciduous forest, gallery forest, dense thicket and forest-savanna mosaic, and old secondary forest; mainly in lowlands, but recorded to 2150 m in E Africa and 1450 m in Liberia.

Resident. Marked site-fidelity recorded in Gabon: 16 of 20 ringed individuals retrapped at same site at least once over a 6-month period following ringing.

Arthropods, including orthopterans, beetles (Coleoptera), mantids, termites (Isoptera), cockroaches (Blattodae), cicadas (Cicadidae), centipedes (Chilopoda), millipedes (Diplopoda) and spiders (Araneae); also frogs and toads, and some fruit. Found in pairs or small family groups; frequently found in mixed-species parties, and regularly attracted by Dorylus ant swarms. Large size and heavy bill enable it to take relatively large prey and to dominate in many interspecific encounters, e.g. around ant columns. Shy and retiring. Forages at or near ground level, rarely above 3–5 m, and keeps largely to undergrowth. Feeds from low vegetation, trunks and fallen wood, and at ground level, turning over leaves and other debris; also makes short aerial sallies. Uses horizontal to vertical perches . Extent of territoriality unclear; more than one pair or family group can be found around ant swarms, where a dominance hierarchy is apparently established, dominance at any one time determined by the pair the home range of which is occupied by the ants; ringed individuals did not follow ants for more than 200 m. Where or when ant swarms are few, may be more strictly territorial.

Song  in W of range a series of melancholy, vibrant syllables on same pitch, ending with “turrrruuuu-turrrruuuu-turrruuuu”; in E a series of 4–5 quavering, descending notes, “kweee-kweee-kweee-kweee”. Calls include nasal “kyow” or “pyeeuw” and hard “chup”. Less vocal than B. canicapillus and B. eximius.

Birds in breeding condition in Mar–Apr, Aug–Sept and Nov and fledgling in Oct in Liberia; dependent juvenile in Jan in Ivory Coast; laying Oct–Dec (breeding condition also Mar, Jul–Aug) in Cameroon, Oct–Mar (peak Jan–Feb) in Gabon, Sept–Oct (breeding condition also Jul) in DRCongo, and Jan, Mar, Jun, Aug and Oct in Sudan; breeding condition Sept–Oct and juveniles Jan–Feb in Angola; nesting recorded Apr–May and Aug, in breeding condition Jan–Feb and Jun and fledgling in Dec in Uganda. Monogamous. Territorial. Nest c. 10 cm in diameter and 5 cm deep, resembles bundle of dead leaves, internal cup shallow or more funnel-shaped, outer layer built from supple twigs and cobwebs, inner layer of large dead leaves, lined with slender twigs, fibres and tendrils, bottom in particular lined with hyphae of Marasmius fungus (helps to bind structure together); placed 1–3·5 m above ground in dense foliage of low understorey bush. Clutch 2 eggs, rarely 1; incubation by female; no information on incubation and nestling periods. Of 14 nests in Gabon, 11 were destroyed, one young fledged from each of the three surviving nests.

Not globally threatened. Variously rare, uncommon or common within its large range. Probably under-recorded in at least some areas as a result of its secretive behaviour and the fact that it is not particularly vocal (compared with B. canicapillus and B. notatus). Estimated densities of 15–18 pairs/km² in Gabon. Occurs in numerous protected areas, such as Sapo National Park, in Liberia, Taï Forest National Park, in Ivory Coast, Kakum National Park, in Ghana, Korup National Park, in Cameroon, Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, in PRCongo, Salonga National Park, in DRCongo, and Semliki National Park, in Uganda.