Zitting Cisticola

Alternative name: Fan-tailed Warbler.

Cisticola juncidis

Photo by Daniele Occhiato
Location: Calabria, Italy

Identification

10cm. Brown above, heavily streaked with black, white underparts, broad, white-tipped tail. The adult males have less crown streaking and more back marking than the females.

Distribution

Southern Europe, Africa outside the deserts and rainforest, and southern Asia down to northern Australia.

Taxonomy

This genus is sometimes split off with various other southern warbler genera and given family status as the Cisticolidae.

Habitat

Tall grassland habitats, often near water.

Behaviour

The female builds a cup shaped nest deep in grasses, from living leaves, plant-down, cobwebs, and grass, with a canopy of tied-together leaves or grasses overhead for camouflage. 3-6 eggs are laid.

Song flight/range: The male has a most distinctive song-flight. It flies in circles about 20 ft above the ground, undulating considerably. At the top of each arc it gives a sort of 'zit' note. It is not particularly skulking for a warbler and can sometimes be seen flitting about, low in grassy places.

Vocalisation

<flashmp3>Cisticola juncidis (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program

External Links

Search for photos of Zitting Cisticola in the gallery

• View more images of this species on the ABID