Prionops retzii
In South Africa, Retz’s Helmetshrike occurs only in the north-eastern corner of the country, from the escarpment and Lowveld of Limpopo to the extreme north of Kwazulu-Natal, which is a clue to its habitat preference, being for tall woodlands and riverine forests in areas with higher rainfall. North of our borders they’re found widely over Africa south of the Equator and the IUCN considers it to be of least concern.
Retz’s Helmetshrike follows a mainly insectivorous diet, though they’ll also take spiders and other invertebrates as well as the occasional gecko. It lives in territorial family groups numbering up to 10, who all work together to raise the dominant pair’s latest brood – the whole group works at building the cup-shaped nest, incubating the clutch of 3-5 eggs that is usually laid in late spring or early summer, and feeding the nestlings which hatch after about 3 weeks and leave the nest roughly the same length of time after hatching.
DeWetsWild 