- Apalis flavida
Includes Brown-tailed Apalis
Identification
10·5–13 cm (4-5 in)
- Olive-green upperparts
- White throat and belly
- Broad yellow breast band (males with a central black breast marking in some populations)
- Grey crown and sides of face
- Long, graduated tail
- Short and rounded wings
- Reddish eyes
Distribution
Sub Saharan Africa:
Eastern Africa: Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Apalis flavida has up to 14 subspecies; 9 are recognised by Clements[1]:
- A. f. caniceps
- A. f. flavocincta
- A. f. viridiceps
- A. f. abyssinica
- Highlands of south-western Ethiopia
- A. f. pugnax
- Highlands of southern Kenya
- A. f. golzi
- A. f. flavida
- A. f. neglecta
- Eastern Angola to south-eastern Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and north-eastern South Africa
- A. f. florisuga
- South-eastern South African coast
Habitat
They are found in virtually every type of woodland; forests, riparian woodland mangroves and well-wooded savanna.
Behaviour
They move around in pairs, small groups or as part of mixed-species feeding parties.
Diet
The diet consists mostly of insects and their larvae, spiders, beetles and weevils, which are gleaned from leaves and twigs.
Breeding
They build a hanging, domed bag nest with side-top entrance. It is made of lichen bound with spider silk. The clutch consists of 2-3 eggs which are incubated 12–14 days by the female; the young are fed by both sexes, and fledge after 15–16 days.
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/
- 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
- Sibley, CG and BL Monroe. 1996. Birds of the World, on diskette, Windows version 2.0. Charles G. Sibley, Santa Rosa, CA, USA.
- Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154
- Avibase
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved February 2015)
- The Website of Everything
- BF member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Yellow-breasted Apalis. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Yellow-breasted_Apalis