Alternative name: Red-backed Scrub-Robin
- Cercotrichas leucophrys
Identification
14–16 cm (5½-6¼ in)
Adult: Upper parts are light brown with faint streaking; the rump is orange-rufous and the blackish tail has a white tip; under parts are white with black streaks on the breast and flanks; there are also with dark malar streaks. Eyes brown and bill blackish brown with a yellowish pink base.
Immature: Has buff and dark brown spots on both upper- and under-parts.
Similar species
Kalahari Scrub-Robin has an orange tail with a black subterminal band (also tipped white) and is unstreaked below.
Distribution
Africa:
Western Africa: found in Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Zaire
Eastern Africa: Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, eSwatini
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 9 subspecies[1]:
- C. l. leucoptera: south-eastern South Sudan, central and southern Ethiopia, north-western Somalia, and northern Kenya
- C. l. eluta: Somalia (Juba River area) and adjacent north-eastern Kenya
- C. l. vulpina: South-central Kenya to extreme north-eastern Tanzania
- C. l. zambesiana: extreme southern South Sudan and northern and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to western Kenya, south to Malawi, northern Mozambique, and eastern Zimbabwe
- C. l. brunneiceps: Central Kenya to north-eastern Tanzania (west of Kilimanjaro to Loliondo)
- C. l. sclateri: Central Tanzania
- C. l. munda: Congo River to central Angola and Democratic Republic of the Congo (Katanga)
- C. l. ovamboensis: South Angola to south-western Zambia, northern Botswana, northern Namibia, western Zimbabwe
- C. l. leucophrys: southern Zimbabwe and eastern South Africa, south along the coast to Eastern Cape
Habitat
They are to be found in a wide variety of bush and wooded habitats, including open arid thorn scrub.
Behaviour
Diet
Their diet consists mostly of invertebrates, including insects, particularly termites.9
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Nov 2017)
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) White-browed Scrub Robin. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 28 March 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/White-browed_Scrub_Robin
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
