Cape robin-chat

Cape robin-chat
In Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Cossypha
Species: C. caffra
Binomial name
Cossypha caffra
(Linnaeus, 1771)

The Cape robin-chat (Cossypha caffra) is a small passerine bird of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It has a disjunct range from South Sudan to South Africa.[2] The locally familiar species has adapted itself to various man-altered habitats.[3]

Range and habitat

It is a mainly resident breeder in eastern and southern Africa, but some migrate to lower, warmer regions in winter.[2] It occurs from South Sudan southwards to Uganda, the DRC, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho. It is a common species at Afromontane forest edges and in forest scrub, fynbos, karoo, plantations, gardens and parks. In dry areas they are restricted to thickets that fringe water courses.[4]

Description

The Cape robin-chat is 16–17 cm long. The adult’s upper-parts are grey, and the face sides in front of and behind the eye are blackish, and is separated from the crown by a white supercilium. The chin, throat, central breast, rump, under-tail coverts and outer tail feathers are orange. The breast is deeper orange in colour during the non-breeding season.[2] The central tail feathers are greyish-brown and 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 the breast.

Behaviour

Call and song

The Cape robin-chat has a harsh, low, trisyllabic alarm note "WA-dur-dra". The Afrikaans name for this species, “JAN Frederik” gives the rhythm of this call, if the syllables of the latter part are run together. From first light they usually sing from within, but near the top of a tree or bush, and at times uninterrupted for an hour or more.[5] Singing may continue late into the evening, in pitch darkness.[5] The clear and ringing songs are delivered in phrases, sometimes simultaneously by competing males.[3] It consists of variable short passages of musical notes, cherooo-weet-weet-weeeet, which always starts with a low, slurred whistle.

Foraging

It forages close to or on ground level. It prefers the cover of dense vegetation, but is not very shy. Invertebrates, small frogs and lizards are obtained in scrub or on leaf litter. In addition fruit and seeds are plucked from plants or eaten on the ground.[6] Occasionally an insect may be hawked in the air, or invertebrates may be gleaned from leaves, branches or rocks.[6]

Nesting

Cape robin-chat feeding a Red-chested cuckoo parasite chick

They are monogamous and highly territorial nesters.[6] The territory comprises a fraction of a hectare, but this varies greatly depending on the habitat.[4] The nest site is within 5 feet (regularly 0 – 2 feet) from the ground.[4][3] It may be placed against a tree trunk, or on a broken stump in drift wood, and is often screened by overhanging vegetation.[4]

It normally nests from June to November in the Western Cape and August to January elsewhere, but may nest at any time of the year. One of the pair will dowse its belly feathers and use the moisture to soften nesting material for easy shaping of the nest, while the other will bring the material to the nest. The female builds the cup-shaped nest of coarse vegetation, lined with animal hair, rootlets and other fine material. It is completed in 6 to 14 days, except when a nest is refurbished for a second clutch.[4]

Two to three eggs are laid at one day intervals,[4] and are incubated by the female for 14 to 19 days.[6] The eggs measure 13 x 17 mm,[4] and may be off-white, pinkish or pale blue, but always flecked with rusty brown,[3] especially near the thicker end. Both parents will feed the nestlings during the subsequent 14 to 18 days, and for 5 to 7 weeks after they leave nest.[6] The Cape robin-chat is a host of the Red-chested cuckoo.[6]

Races

There are four accepted races:[7]

Especially in riparian vegetation of the lower Orange and Fish River regions
Broader white supercilium than nominate[2]


References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Cossypha caffra". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Chittenden, H.; et al. (2012). Roberts geographic variation of southern African birds. Cape Town: JVBBF. pp. 202–203. ISBN 978-1-920602-00-0.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Gill, E. Leonard; Winterbottom, J.M. (revised) (1975). A first guide to South African birds (7 ed.). Cape Town: Maskew Miller. pp. 63–66. ISBN 0623005964.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tarboton, Warwick (2001). A Guide to the Nests and Eggs of Southern African Birds. Cape Town: Struik. p. 176. ISBN 1-86872-616-9.
  5. 1 2 Ginn, Peter (1981). Birds of the highveld (3rd impr. ed.). Salisbury: Longman. p. 112. ISBN 0582608902.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Cossypha caffra (Cape robin-chat, Cape robin)". biodiversity explorer. Iziko Museums. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  7. ↑ "Cape Robin-chat (Cossypha caffra)". The Internet Bird Collection. HBW 10, p. 738. Retrieved 3 November 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, November 22, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.