- Cossypha caffra
Other Names
Cape Robin; Deutsch: Kaprötel; Afrikaans: Gewone Jan Frederik
Description
The Cape Robin is 16 - 17 cm in length. The adult’s upper-parts are grey, and the face sides in front of and behind the eye are blackish, separated from the crown by a white supercilium. The chin, throat, central breast, rump, under-tail coverts and outer tail feathers are orange, and the central tail feathers are greyish-brown. The belly is pale grey. The black bill is short and straight, with a slightly down-curved upper mandible. The legs and feet are pinkish grey, and the eye is brown. The sexes are similar, but the juvenile is dark brown above and buff below, heavily marked with buff on the upperparts and grey-brown on th breast.
Habitat
It is a mainly resident breeder in southern and eastern Africa from Kenya south to Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. It is a common species at forest edges and in scrub, fynbos, karoo, plantations, gardens and parks.
Diet
It eats insects, spiders and other invertebrates, small frogs, lizards and some fruit.
Reproduction
The Cape Robin-Chat builds a cup-shaped nest of coarse vegetation, lined with animal hair, rootlets and other fine material. It normally nests from June to November in the South-western Cape and August to January elsewhere, but may nest at any time of the year.
