Levaillant's Cisticola - BirdForum Opus

Photo by CollinBax
Cape Town, South Africa, April 2009

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

Cisticola tinniens

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

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, eSwatini

Taxonomy

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.

Habitat

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

Behaviour

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.

Diet

The diet includes insects.

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

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Levaillant's Cisticola. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 28 March 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Levaillant%27s_Cisticola

External Links

Search for photos of Levaillant's Cisticola in the gallery