Red-tailed bristlebill

The red-tailed bristlebill (Bleda syndactylus) or common bristlebill, is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is widely present throughout the African tropical rainforest. It prefers primary over secondary forests.^[2]

Red-tailed bristlebill
Ankasa Forest Reserve, Ghana
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Pycnonotidae
Genus:	Bleda
Species:	B. syndactylus
Binomial name
Bleda syndactylus (Swainson, 1837)
Synonyms
Bleda syndactyla Dasycephala syndactyla

Taxonomy and systematics

The red-tailed bristlebill was originally described in the genus Dasycephala (a synonym for Attila).

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized:^[3]

• Gabon bristlebill (B. s. syndactylus) - (Swainson, 1837): Found from Sierra Leone to western Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Angola
• Uganda bristlebill (B. s. woosnami) - Ogilvie-Grant, 1907: Also named Bocage's bristlebill. Found from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to southern Sudan, western Kenya, north-western Zambia

Diet

It is an ant follower.^[2]