From Opus

Photo by CollinBax
Cape Town, South Africa, April 2009

Alternative name: Tinkling Cisticola (beware of confusion with Cisticola rufilatus

Cisticola tinniens

[edit] Identification

Length 12-15 cm

• Grey upperparts heavily streaked with black
• Rufous panel in the folded wing
• Buffish-white supercilium, face and underparts
• Red cap
• Russet brown tail
• Short straight blackish-brown bill with a pinkish base
• Pink brown feet and legs
• Light brown eye
  

Non-breeding adults are browner-backed
Juvenile birds have yellower underparts.

Photo by Mybs
Near Stellenbosch, South Africa, September 2005

[edit] Distribution

Africa
Western Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola
Eastern Africa: Kenya, Burundi, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Swaziland

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

Cisticola tinniens has five subspecies^[1]:

• C. t. perpullus

• Angola to southern Zaire and north-western Zambia

• C. t. oreophilus

• Highlands of western and central Kenya

• C. t. shiwae

• North-eastern Zambia to south-eastern Zaire and extreme south-western Tanzania

• C. t. dyleffi

• Mountains north-west of Lake Tanganyika

• C. t. tinniens

• Zimbabwe to South Africa

Hockey et al.^[2] recognise a sixth subspecies, C. t. brookei, restricted to south-western South Africa.

[edit] Habitat

Reedbeds, sedges, rank grass, and similar wet habitats usually near rivers or dams.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

The nest is ball-shaped, formed from dry grass, cobwebs and matted plant down, with a side entrance. It is placed in grass or weeds, in or over water. The breeding season varies accross climatic zones; peak breeding times are generally in the rainy season.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
2. Hockey, PAR, WRJ Dean, and PG Ryan, eds. 2005. Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa. 7th ed. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. ISBN 978-0620340533
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links