Class Aves Family Muscicapidae | Phylum Chordata Order Passeriformes Rank Subspecies | |
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Similar Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher, Melaenornis, African grey flycatcher, Yellow‑eyed black flycatcher, Northern black flycatcher | ||
The white-eyed slaty flycatcher (Melaenornis fischeri) is a small passerine bird of the genus Melaenornis in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is native to the African highlands from Ethiopia and Kenya through Rwanda to eastern Zaire and Malawi. In Kenya, it is mostly absent from the east and the north of the country. It is a highland bird, common in wooded habitats, including gardens.
It is a very distinctive bird normally seen singly or in pairs. White-eyed slaty flycatchers are frequently spotted either hawking for insects or taking them from the ground. They perch with an upright pose on branches, stumps, signposts. The sub-species M. f. toruensis occurs in Rwanda and Burundi and has an inconspicuous eye-ring.
The specific epithet commemorates the German explorer Gustav Adolf Fischer.