Luapula Cisticola - BirdForum Opus

Cisticola luapula

Identification

Upperside of body grey brown with black stripes on mantle and back, but unstriped on rump and only a black subterminal band on tail. Underside mostly cream with buffy wash on flanks and the creamy underside reaches the sides of the head. Crown rufous and there is a rufous panel on an otherwise boldly patterned wing.

Distribution

Africa: northern and northeastern Namibia, eastern Angola, southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia (except the northeast), northern Botswana, and northwestern Zimbabwe

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Rufous-winged Cisticola, Coastal Cisticola, Ethiopian Cisticola, and Luapula Cisticola have all been treated as subspecies of Winding Cisticola in the past.

Habitat

Reedbeds and other aquatic vegetation in both permanent and temporary wetlands. In some areas move to floodplains in wet season and utilize a mixture of reeds and grasses the rest of the year.

Behaviour

Food consists of insects, especially smaller species

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Ryan, P. (2020). Luapula Cisticola (Cisticola luapula), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.wincis5.01

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Luapula Cisticola. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Luapula_Cisticola

External Links

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