From Opus

Photo by A. Meir
Eilat, Israel, March 2008

Cercotrichas podobe

[edit] Identification

Glossy black plumage with dark brown feathers on the wings. Unmistakable long tail with white tips on the rear feathers obvious when looking from below. The size is about 18-20 cm the tail is about 12 cm.

[edit] Distribution

Africa and the Middle East
Western Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia
Middle East: Israel, Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

Subspecies melanoptera is not a migrant, but makes annual movements as it can be seen in Asir (southern Saudi Arabia) in the months of May to August and in Jeddah and Yunbu (half way on the western cost of Saudi Arabia) from September until February; it has rare visits to south of Israel during the month of April.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

There are 2 subspecies^[1]:

• C. p. podobe:

• Mauritania to Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and northern Somalia

• C. p. melanoptera:

• Western Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Aden

[edit] Habitat

Dry savanna.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The bird spends most of his time searching the ground for insects.

[edit] Movement

It is a rather active bird, and can be seen from early light until sometime after the sunset. It runs gracefully on the ground, keeping its balance by fanning its long tail up and down.

[edit] Breeding

The breeding starts at January with the male displaying on the ground by cocking his tail, and by sending its melodious song from a high branch in dry scrub.

The nest is usually near the ground; generally the pair incubates about 8 eggs at a time.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Avibase

• List of references

[edit] External Links

• View movie-clip (in Google-Video format) here