From Opus

Photo by safariranger.
North Western Cape, South Africa.

Alternative name: Grey-backed Cisticola

Cisticola subruficapilla

[edit] Identification

13-14 cm. Dull-coloured, dark rufous crown, reddish head, rufous panel in the folded wing, grey short and straight bill, pink brown feet and legs, light brown eye.

The southern form, found in southern Namibia and South Africa, has a grey back streaked with black, and white underparts. The northern subspecies has a brown back streaked with black and buff underparts.

The sexes are similar, but juvenile birds are duller with a yellow face.

The call is a soft prrrrt followed by a sharp wheee phweee.

Photo by Charlie Moores.
Photo taken: R355 road between Karooport and Calvinia, Cape Province, South Africa.

[edit] Distribution

Angola, Namibia and western South Africa. Associated with lowland fynbos, karoo scrub, and arid hillsides - typically in drier habitats than the closely related Wailing Cisticola.

[edit] Taxonomy

Cisticola subruficapilla has six subspecies:^[1][2]

• C. s. newtoni

• South-western Angola and north-western Namibia

• C. s. windhoekensis

• Central Namibia

• C. s. karasensis

• North-central South Africa

• C. s. namaqua

• Southern Namibia and north-western South Africa

• C. s. subruficapilla

• Southern Western Cape Province

• C. s. jamesi

• South-central South Africa

[edit] Habitat

Shrublands in fynbos, renosterveld and Karoo; drainage lines with large tufts of Bamboo Grass; grassy patches on rocky hills in the Karoo; also shrubby and grassy areas on estuarine flats.

[edit] Behaviour

Forages low down in vegetation and on bare ground. Eats insects; termites, beetles, beetle larvae, caterpillars and small grasshoppers.

Solitary nester building ball-shaped nests with side entrance out of dry grass and shreds of bark, hairy flower stalks, cobwebs and grass leaves. 2 - 5 eggs being layed mainly between August and December.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
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

• List of references

[edit] External Links