Brown-tailed Rock Chat - BirdForum Opus

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Photo by megan perkins
Lake Baringo, Kenya, December 2006

Alternative name: Brown-tailed Chat

Oenanthe scotocerca

Cercomela scotocerca

Identification

• Pale brown body
• Darker brown wings
• Dark eye
• Grey legs and feet

Distribution

Africa
Western Africa: Chad
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.

Taxonomy

Subspecies^[1]

There are 5 subspecies:

• O. s. furensis:

• Eastern Chad and adjacent western Sudan (Darfur)

• O. s. scotocerca:

• Red Sea region in northeastern Sudan, northern Eritrea, and northern Ethiopia

• O. s. turkana:

• extreme southeastern South Sudan, southern Ethiopia, and northwestern and north central Kenya; possibly also northeastern Uganda, but no confirmed records

• O. s. spectatrix:

• Ethiopia (Awash Valley) and northern Somalia

• O. s. validior:

• Somalia (Run region)

Habitat

Dry shrubland, rocky bushland and savanna.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2011. IOC World Bird Names (version 2.10). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
3. Avibase
4. BirdLife International

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Brown-tailed Rock Chat. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 14 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Brown-tailed_Rock_Chat

External Links

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