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- Cisticola aridulus
Identification
Length 10-12 cm, mass 4-13 g.
Upper parts pale brown to buff with blackish streaks on the crown and back. Under parts whitish; breast, flanks and undertail coverts pale buff.
Similar to Zitting Cisticola but paler and the tail lacks a distinct dark subterminal bar. The call is more rapid than that of the Zitting Cisticola and is interspersed with wing-snaps.
Distribution
Arid to sub-humid parts of Africa.
Taxonomy
Cisticola aridulus has nine subspecies:[1]
- C. a. aridulus
- C. a. lavendulae
- C. a. tanganyika
- C. a. lobito
- Coastal Angola
- C. a. traylori
- C. a. eremicus
- C. a. perplexus
- Northern Zambia (Bangweulu swamps)
- C. a. kalahari
- Central Namibia to southern Botswana and South Africa
- C. a. caliginus
- Extreme eastern South Africa, Swaziland and southern Mozambique
Habitat
Grassland and old fields.
Behaviour
=Vocalisation
Alarm call: zit zit zitzit.
References
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
- 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
- Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154
The larger illustrated guide to birds of southern Africa ny Ian Sinclair, P. A. R. Hockey, Peter Hayman, Norman Arlott
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Desert Cisticola. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 6 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Desert_Cisticola