- Eremomela icteropygialis
Identification
10 cm
- Grey upperparts
- Darker and more olive wings and tail
- Thin pale grey supercilium
- Blackish stripe through the eye
- Grey breast
- Lemon yellow belly
- Black bill
Sexes similar
Juvenile has duller yellow underparts
The subspecies vary in the amount and intensity of the yellow on the belly. Birds in western southern Africa have a whitish throat and breast.
Distribution
Africa south of the Sahara:
Western Africa: Mauritania, Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, eSwatini
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are nine subspecies:1
- E. i. alexanderi: Senegambia to Sudan (Darfur and Kordofan)
- E. i. griseoflava: Ethiopia to Somalia, eastern Uganda, Rwanda, western Kenya and Tanzania
- E. i. abdominalis: Kenya to northern Tanzania
- E. i. polioxantha: Southern Zaire to Tanzania, south-western Zimbabwe, eastern Transvaal and Mozambique
- E. i. puellula: South-western Angola
- E. i. icteropygialis: Namibia and western Botswana
- E. i. helenorae: Caprivi Strip to Zimbabwe, south-western Zambia and western Mozambique
- E. i. perimacha: Southern Botswana to South Africa (western Transvaal and north-western Cape Province)
- E. i. saturatior: South Africa (Orange Free State to Cape Province)
Habitat
Open woodland, savanna, and dry scrub.
Behaviour
Breeding
Monogamous, forming life pairs.
It builds a cup nest in the branches of a tree or shrub. The clutch consists of 2-4 white eggs.
Diet
The diet includes insects and other small invertebrates.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Wikipedia
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Yellow-bellied Eremomela. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Yellow-bellied_Eremomela
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
