- Cisticola galactotes
Identification
13 cm, male slightly larger than female
Upperside is mostly grey with black stripes on back and mantle but not on rump. The graduated tail is brown-grey with black subterminal band. Uncerside mostly cream but washed buff on flanks and to the rear. Head bright rufous on crown, brownish-rufous on the area around eye and ear. The folded wing shows mainly rufous flight feathers and dark with rufous edges on small and medium coverts.
Distribution
Africa: coastal eastern South Africa, Mozambique, southern Malawi, and extreme southeastern Zimbabwe
Taxonomy
Two subspecies are recognized in this species[1].
- C. g. isodactylus
- C. g. galactotes
Rufous-winged Cisticola, Coastal Cisticola, Ethiopian Cisticola, and Luapula Cisticola have all been treated as subspecies of Winding Cisticola in the past.
Habitat
Avoids areas covered in water but are found at the edges of such areas as well as edges of fields such as sugar cane and maize (corn).
Behaviour
Food includes a lot of smaller invertebrates but also some seeds
Vocalisation
A buzzy monotonous sound repeated multiple times either from a perch or in display flight.
References
- 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/
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Rufous-winged Cisticola. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Rufous-winged_Cisticola
