- Prinia subflava
Identification
10-13 cm
- Greyish-brown upperparts
- Rufous-brown edges to the flight feathers
- Rufous tinge to the rump
- White throat and breast
- Buff flanks and vent
- White stripe over the eye
- Dark lores
- White tipped tail feathers and a dark subterminal band
- Long slender bill
Sexes similar
Non-breeding adults: longer tail than breeding birds
Juveniles
- Pale yellow underparts and bill.
Distribution
Africa south of the Sahara
Western Africa: Mauritania, Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, DRC and Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho and Swaziland
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Ten subspecies are recognized[1]:
- P.s. subflava: Senegal to southern Sudan, adjacent Uganda, south-central Ethiopia and southern Eritrea
- P.s. pallescens: Mali to Sudan, Ethiopia and north-western Eritrea
- P.s. melanorhyncha: Sierra Leone to Cameroon, northern Zaire, Kenya and north-western Tanzania
- P.s. graueri: Eastern Zaire (Kivu) to Rwanda and highlands of Angola
- P.s. affinis: Eastern Zaire to south-western Tanzania, Zambia, eastern Botswana and southern Mozambique
- P.s. bechuanae: South-western Angola to northern Namibia, northern Botswana, south-western Zambia, western Zimbabwe
- P.s. mutatrix: Southern Tanzania to Malawi, eastern Zambia, eastern Zimbabwe and Mozambique
- P.s. kasokae: Western Zambia (west of Zambezi River) and adjacent eastern Angola
- P.s. tenella: Coastal eastern Africa (Somalia to southern Tanzania)
- P.s. pondoensis: Southern Mozambique to Natal, eastern Swaziland and eastern Cape Province
Habitat
Scrub, rank grass, weeds or bushes among scattered trees, usually along streams and sewage ponds; gardens, edges of old cultivated lands; more arboreal in winter than in summer.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes insects and other invertebrates.
Breeding
A purse-shaped nest is made of strips of grass woven together. The 2-4 eggs usually have brown or purple spots or blotches.
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Avibase
- Wikipedia
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Tawny-flanked Prinia. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Tawny-flanked_Prinia
