Grey-backed Cisticola - BirdForum Opus

Alternative name: Red-headed Cisticola

Photo by safariranger
North Western Cape, South Africa, December 2006

Cisticola subruficapilla

Identification

13-14 cm

• Dullish dark rufous crown
• Reddish head
• Rufous panel in the folded wing
• Grey short straight bill
• Pinkish brown feet and legs
• Light brown eye.

Photo by Charlie Moores
R355 road between Karooport and Calvinia, Cape Province, South Africa

The southern form, (southern Namibia and South Africa):

• Grey back streaked black
• White underparts

The northern subspecies:

• Brown back streaked black
• Buff underparts.

Sexes similar, but juveniles are duller with a yellow face

Distribution

Angola, Namibia and western South Africa. Associated with lowland fynbos, karoo scrub, and arid hillsides - typically in drier habitats than the closely related Wailing Cisticola.

Taxonomy

Cisticola subruficapilla has six subspecies:^[1][2]

• C. s. newtoni

• South-western Angola and north-western Namibia

• C. s. windhoekensis

• Central Namibia

• C. s. karasensis

• North-central South Africa

• C. s. namaqua

• Southern Namibia and north-western South Africa

• C. s. subruficapilla

• Southern Western Cape Province

• C. s. jamesi

• South-central South Africa

Habitat

Shrublands in fynbos, renosterveld and Karoo; drainage lines with large tufts of Bamboo Grass; grassy patches on rocky hills in the Karoo; also shrubby and grassy areas on estuarine flats.

Behaviour

Diet

Forages low down in vegetation and on bare ground. Eats insects; termites, beetles, beetle larvae, caterpillars and small grasshoppers.

Breeding

Solitary nester building ball-shaped nests with side entrance out of dry grass and shreds of bark, hairy flower stalks, cobwebs and grass leaves. The clutch of 2 - 5 eggs being laid mainly between August and December.

Vocalisation

The call is a soft prrrrt followed by a sharp wheee phweee.

References

1. 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/
2. 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
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Grey-backed Cisticola. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Grey-backed_Cisticola

External Links

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