A resident of montane forest in Tanzania and northern Malawi. A survey in Tanzanian forest reserves recorded birds calling from low perches in dense undergrowth.
Birds handled in the Tanzanian survey had relatively faint spotting on the chin and throat. The paper associated this appearance with M. s. stictigula under the taxonomy it cited.
The paper describes the species as resident in montane forest, mainly above 1,200 m. At Nilo and Nguu North reserve sites, two birds called antiphonally from perches below 0.5 m in dense undergrowth, and seven were netted.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.