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Brown-headed Apalis Apalis alticola Scientific name definitions

Peter Ryan
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2006

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

12–13 cm; 10–15 g. A nondescript forest apalis with fairly long tail. Nominate race has crown, lores, cheek and ear-coverts dark brown, upperparts dark grey-brown; tail dark grey-brown with narrow white tip; creamy white below, flanks washed grey; iris orange-brown; bill black; legs pink. Distinguished from A. cinerea by browner head, less white in tail (confined to tips). Sexes alike. Juvenile is washed olive above, has crown and face initially same colour as back, poorly defined buffy supercilium, underparts pale yellow. Race dowsetti male has outermost tail feather and half of adjacent one white, T2-T4 tipped white, female as nominate.

Systematics History

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.

See A. cinerea. Race dowsetti is intermediate between nominate and A. cinerea in amount of white in outer tail. Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

SUBSPECIES

Apalis alticola alticola Scientific name definitions

Distribution

NC Angola, S DRCongo, N Zambia, N Malawi and Tanzania. Presence in SW Kenya disputed (1).
SUBSPECIES

Apalis alticola dowsetti Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Marungu Mts, in SE DRCongo.

Distribution

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.

Habitat

Montane forest and secondary growth. Distribution and habitat use often constrained by competition with other apalises; confined to secondary growth and forest edge where congeners present (e.g. A. cinerea in S Kenya, A. chapini in N Malawi, A. porphyrolaema in NW Zambia), but expands niche to include canopy and middle strata inside forests where congeners scarce or absent; some exceptions, however, as it occurs alongside A. thoracica in forest patches in N Tanzania but excluded to forest edge by that species in S Tanzania and Malawi. Occurs at 1000–2200 m, but altitudinal range affected locally by congeners.

Movement

Little known; presumably mostly resident.

Diet and Foraging

Diet mainly insects and other invertebrates, including small beetles (Coleoptera), caterpillars (Lepidoptera) and spiders (Araneae). Occurs in pairs or family groups. Forages by gleaning leaves and small branches; also hawks insects in flight.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Male song a dry, monotonously repeated “krrip” or “krrip-ip”, lower-pitched and slower than most A. cinerea calls; female may accompany male with higher-pitched, squeaky notes and trills. Countersings to A. porphyrolaema song in S Kenya and to A. chapini in Malawi.

Breeding

Breeds Sept–Feb. Probably monogamous; solitary, territorial throughout year; pairs in small adjacent forest patches defend mutually exclusive territories against A. porphyrolaema in S Kenya and A. chapini in Malawi. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not assessed. Locally common. On Nyika Plateau, in Malawi, pairs occupy forest patches as small as 0·5 ha; in larger forest patches, average density is 0·3 pairs/ha.
Distribution of the Brown-headed Apalis - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Brown-headed Apalis

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Ryan, P. (2020). Brown-headed Apalis (Apalis alticola), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.brhapa1.01
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