Yellow-throated Greenbul Atimastillas flavicollis Scientific name definitions

The Yellow-throated Greenbul is a widely distributed bird of dense woodland and thickets, even gardens, mangroves, and other wooded habitats, but not heavy forest. Its habitat preferences, and frequent habit of puffing out the yellow (or white) throat feathers, usually make this species’ identification straightforward, unlike many forest-based greenbuls. Found principally in the middle and lower strata of woodland, this greenbul usually occurs in pairs or noisy family parties, occasionally with mixed-species flocks, feeding mainly on fruits (occasionally insects); nevertheless, it can be shy and difficult to see well (it share this characteristic with many forest Pycnonotidae). Three reasonably well-marked subspecies are generally accepted: one (with a striking yellow throat and generally dark underparts) in West Africa, from Senegambia to northern Cameroon and northwest Central African Republic; the second (with an almost white throat and largely pale underparts, darkest on the breast and flanks) from north-central Cameroon east to South Sudan and western Ethiopia, and south into the Congo Basin; and the third (with a yellow throat and underparts otherwise also largely pale) from Angola to western Kenya and Tanzania, and south to northern Zambia. Genetic data suggest potential species-level divergences between some of these taxa, and one recent global checklist elected to split the West African subspecies from the other two.