It is a locally common[2] to uncommon species, resident and migratory in the west, and an intra-African migrant between equatorial and southeastern Africa.

[3] They are elusive and hard to observe despite their brightly coloured plumage,[4] and their loud, explosive calls are infrequently heard.

They spend much time during mornings and at dusk scratching in leaf litter or around termitaria,[7] or may stand motionless for long periods.

Together the two species form part of a wide-ranging Old World superspecies, which in relatively recent times colonised Africa from the east.

Its breeding habitat in southeastern Africa is deciduous,[15] lowland riparian forest or thicket[3] with intermittent dense understorey and small sub-canopy glades.

[3] A bird found at Minziro Forest in northwestern Tanzania was in heavy moult, suggestive that the area is on the southeastern fringe of the non-breeding range.

[3] Southward migrating birds sometimes overshoot when they follow moist tropical fronts (at night), which may account for their vagrancy in the north-eastern Transvaal and the Zimbabwean plateau.

[15] The bulky, untidy nest[15] is a dome-shape structure composed of small sticks, grass and dry leaves.

[7] It is placed 2 to 4 metres (6.6 to 13.1 ft) above ground in the fork of a sapling, or in the thorny and leafy branches of Acacia, Ziziphus, Ximenia or Dichrostachys.

[15] Egg-laying takes place from November to December[4][9] in southeastern Africa, and the birds fall silent once incubation starts.

They are white or cream in colour,[7] and flecked with grey undermarkings and liver-red to blackish-brown markings near the thicker end.

[5] Concern has been expressed about lighted buildings in coastal Tanzania, which might pose a collision risk, as the birds are nocturnal migrants.