Yellow-breasted Apalis - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Peterday
Umkhumbi Lodge, South Africa, January, 2019

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

Subspecies neglecta
Photo © by volker sthamer
Ngorongoro, Tanzania, November 2004

• 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, eSwatini

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Apalis flavida has up to 14 subspecies; 9 are recognised by Clements^[1]:

• A. f. caniceps

• Gambia to northern Angola and western Kenya

• A. f. flavocincta

• Southeastern South Sudan, southern Ethiopia, southern Somalia, northeastern Uganda, Kenya, and extreme northeastern Tanzania

• A. f. viridiceps

• Northern Somalia, adjacent Ethiopia and northern Kenya
• Has been recognised as a separate species Brown-tailed Apalis^[3]
• Green crown, greenish breast and brownish tail

• A. f. abyssinica

• Highlands of south-western Ethiopia

• A. f. pugnax

• Highlands of southern Kenya

• A. f. golzi

• South-eastern Kenya to interior Tanzania and Rwanda

• A. f. flavida

• Western Angola to northern Namibia, northern Botswana and south-western Zambia

• 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

Their diet consists mostly of insects and their larvae, spiders, beetles and weevils, which are gleaned from leaves and twigs.

Breeding

They construct 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 for 12–14 days by the female; the young are fed by both sexes, and fledge after 15–16 days.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. 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. Sibley, CG and BL Monroe. 1996. Birds of the World, on diskette, Windows version 2.0. Charles G. Sibley, Santa Rosa, CA, USA.
4. Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154
5. Avibase
6. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved February 2015)
7. The Website of Everything
8. BF member observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Yellow-breasted Apalis. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 3 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Yellow-breasted_Apalis

External Links

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