- Cercotrichas quadrivirgata
Identification
Length 17 cm, mass 21-31 g.
This Scrub Robin has a distinctive head-pattern: Olive-brown crown and ear coverts; white eyebrows, moustachial stripes and throat; and blackish crown-, eye- and malar-stripes. Upper parts olive-brown grading to rufous upper tail coverts. There are two white patches on the folded wing. Breast and flanks buffy rufous to cinnamon, belly white. Bill black, eyes brown and legs and feet flesh.
Distribution
North-eastern South Africa, eastern eSwatini, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, eastern Caprivi (Namibia), southern Zambia, Malawi, southern and eastern Tanzania, south-eastern Kenya, and southern Somalia.
Taxonomy
There are two subspecies:
- C. q. quadrivirgata is the mainland race (southern Somalia to Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia and north-eastern South Africa); and
- C. q. greenwayi which is paler, and from the islands off Tanzania.
Habitat
Thickets and broad-leaved woodland.
Behaviour
Forages for invertebrates in leaf litter under dense cover.
References
- 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
- 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.
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Bearded Scrub Robin. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Bearded_Scrub_Robin
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
