The northern puffback is a species of bird in the family Malaconotidae. It is found in northern sub-Saharan Africa. It forms a superspecies with the black-backed puffback, which replaces it in eastern equatorial and southern Africa.
Region
Northern sub-Saharan Africa
Typical Environment
Occurs widely from West Africa eastward across the Sahel and Sudanian zones into parts of Central and northeastern Africa. It favors wooded savannas, riverine thickets, gallery forest edges, and secondary growth, and readily uses dense tangles near water. It avoids open desert and the deepest interior of humid rainforest, instead concentrating along edges and mosaic habitats. It may also persist in parks and large gardens with mature trees and thick understory.
Altitude Range
0–2000 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
A member of the bushshrike family (Malaconotidae), the northern puffback is named for the male’s dramatic display in which he puffs out long white back plumes. It inhabits wooded savannas and thickets across northern sub-Saharan Africa and forms a superspecies with the black-backed puffback, which replaces it farther south and east. Pairs often duet, and males perform conspicuous tail-flicking and wing-snapping during courtship. Despite being quite vocal, it can be surprisingly skulking in dense cover.
Temperament
pair-living and territorial
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats
Social Behavior
Typically found as pairs or small family groups, maintaining territories year-round. Pairs engage in antiphonal duets and conspicuous display, with males puffing back plumes and flicking the tail. Nests are neat cups placed low to mid-level in shrubs or small trees, with both sexes involved in care.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Delivers clear, piping whistles interspersed with sharp clicks and chatters. Pairs often duet, with the female answering the male’s phrases. Alarm calls are harsher, while display includes wing-snaps and rapid series of notes.
Plumage
Male is sharply black above and white below with elongated white back plumes that can be flared during display; wings show white patches. Female is greyer-brown above with paler underparts, often with subtle streaking or mottling and a faint pale supercilium. Both sexes have a stout, slightly hooked bill typical of bushshrikes.
Diet
Primarily hunts insects such as beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, termites, and wasps, as well as spiders and other small arthropods. It gleans prey from leaves and branches, probes into clumps of foliage, and occasionally flies out to snatch prey in short sallies. It may take small snails or other invertebrates and rarely small berries when insects are scarce.
Preferred Environment
Forages in dense thickets, along forest edges, and in the midstory of wooded savanna and riparian scrub. Often works methodically through vine tangles and bushy growth, sometimes accompanying mixed-species flocks along edges.
