Africa Wild

602. White-throated Robin-Chat Cossypha humeralis (Afrikaanse Witkeeljanfrederik)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Muscicapidae



Description
Length 16-18 cm, weight 20-29 g.The only robin in the region with a white wing bar and a white throat and breast. The upperparts are mostly slate-grey, with the rump being orange. The face and neck are black, and the eyebrow is white. It has a rufuos tail with a dark centre and black tips to all the feathers. Sexes are alike.
Juveniles are sooty coloured, heavily mottled with buff and brown above and below, and lack the white wingbar.

Distribution
Endemic to southern Africa, occurring from Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique and south-eastern Botswana to north-eastern South Africa.

Habitat
Dry thornveld, thickets and riverine scrub.

Diet
It mainly eats insects supplemented with fruit and small vertebrates, doing most of its foraging on the ground.

Breeding
The nest is an open cup built of dead leaves and dry grass with a rim of twigs, lined with coarse material such as tendrils, leaf fragments, midribs and stalks. It is typically placed on the ground, such as in a hollow in a tree stump, at the base of a vine, or even in an old pot or tin. Egg-laying season is from September-January, peaking from October-November. Two to three eggs are laid, which are incubated solely by the female for about 14-15 days. The chicks are fed by both adults, leaving the nest after about 13-14 days, but remaining dependent on their parents for about 6-7 more weeks.

Call
Song a series of high-pitched melodious phrases, commonly incorporating mimicry. Alarm call a repeated seet-cher, seet-cher. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Locally common endemic.

602. White-throated Robin-Chat Cossypha humeralis (Afrikaanse Witkeeljanfrederik)

© Bushcraft

© leachy

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2
Birds of Botswana
Newman's birds of Southern Africa

599. White-browed Robin-chat (Formerly known as Heuglin's Robin) Cossypha heuglini (Heuglinse Janfrederik)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Muscicapidae



Description
Length 18-20 cm, weight 29-44 g. Sexes alike.
Adult: Crown, lores and ear coverts black; supercilium white, broadening over ear coverts. Mantle, back and scapulars greyish to olive-brown. Rump and upper tail coverts orange. Rectrices orange, except for greyish-brown central pair and outer webs of outer pair. Upper wing coverts bluish slate; flight feathers greyish brown. Axillaries and underwing coverts orange. Entire underparts immaculate orange. Bill black. Eyes brown. Legs and feet greyish brown.
The juvenile is drabber mottled above, has buff-tipped feathers on the mantle and back (tail orange). Moults into orange adult plumage after about 6 weeks.
Similar species: May be distinguished from the similary sized and coloured Chorister Robin-Chat by the paler back and broad, conspicuous white eyebrow stripe.

Distribution
Occurs from Chad and Sudan through southern DRC, Tanzania, Angola and Zambia to southern Africa. Here it is common from the north-eastern corner of South Africa to Zimbabwe, Mozambique and northern Namibia and Botswana.



Habitat
It generally prefers riverine forest with patchy canopy and dense evergreen thickets, shady trees and shrubs along lakesides and Acacia woodland on flood plains. It may also occupy thickets on the border of an open habitat, suburban parks and gardens.

Diet
Mainly ants, beetles, moths, caterpillars and termites, with some fruit. It does most of its foraging on the ground, flicking through leaf litter in search of prey and occasionally gleaning food from foliage and tree trunks.

Breeding
Monogamous. The nest is an open cup, the materials of which vary depending on the habitat it is built in. It is most commonly built by the female, made of dead leaves and twigs and lined with rootlets, leaf midribs or very fine twigs. It is typically placed in a hollow in a tree trunk, branches of a shrub or among roots under the overhang of a riverbank. Egg-laying season is from August-January, peaking during November. It lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 14-17 days. The chicks are fed by both parents, leaving the nest after about 13-17 days, after which point they conceal themselves in the undergrowth. They become fully capable of sustaining themselves about 4 weeks after fledging.
Parasitised by Red-chested Cuckoo.

Call
Series of flute-like phrases increasing in volume and tempo, don't-you-do-it (or variations thereof). Unlike other robin-chats, seldom includes mimicry but does include alarm calls of other birds. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Localised common resident, sedentary and usually in pairs.

599. White-browed Robin-chat Cossypha heuglini (Heuglinse Janfrederik)

© Flutterby
Lower Sabie Camp, Kruger National Park

© Dewi
Pafuri Picnic Spot, Kruger National Park

© Duke
Kruger National Park

© BluTuna

Kruger National Park, Letaba © harrys


Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2
Birds of Botswana

600. Red-capped Robin-Chat (Formerly known as Natal Robin) Cossypha natalensis (Nataljanfrederik)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Muscicapidae



Description
Length 16-18 cm, weight 24-36 g. Only robin-chat with orange face and light grey-blue wings and back. Sexes are alike.
Adult: Crown brown to cinnamon-rufous; face orange. Back greyish brown, shading to orange on rump and upper tail coverts. Tail orange, central rectrices black. Scapulars and upper wing coverts slate-blue; flight feathers dark brown. Underwing coverts and axillaries orange. Underparts orange. Bill black. Eyes brown. Legs and feet pinkish grey.
In juveniles upperparts are mottled buff on dark brown, tail is orange except for central pair of feathers.
Similar species: It is similar to the larger Chorister Robin-Chat but lacks the black facial mask of the Chorister Robin-Chat.

Distriubtion
Although it has scattered populations above the equator, the bulk of its population occurs from southern DRC and Tanzania south through Angola, Zambia and Malawi to southern Africa. Here it is fairly common in the Caprivi Strip (Namibia), northern and south-eastern Zimbabwe, Mozambique and eastern South Africa, from Limpopo Province through Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal to East London, in the Eastern Cape.

Habitat
It occurs in undergrowth of coastal evergreen forest, lowland, riverine and sand forests.

Diet
It eats mainly eats insects. The diet icludes beetles, moths and caterpillars, ants, millipedes and centipedes, spiders, crickets and bugs, supplemented with fruit taken from the tree canopy. It does most of its foraging on the ground, whisking through leaf litter in search of prey, occasionally hawking insects on tree trunks or in the air.

Breeding
It breeds commonly and widely in lowland, coastal and riparian evergreen forests, favouring areas where there is dense, shrubby undergrowth. The nest is made by both sexes, consisting of an open cup set into a platform, the composition of which varies but generally including at least some of these materials: dead leaves, roots, tendrils, twigs, dry grass and flowerheads, lichen, moss, bark fragments and even Hippopotamus dung. It is typically placed in either a hollow tree stump or in a rotten hole or crevice in a branch, occasionally in a recess in a dry gully bank. Egg-laying season is from September-January, peaking during November. It lays 2-4 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 14-15 days. The chicks are brooded intermittently by the female for the first week or so of their lives, and are fed by both parents. They eventually the nest at about 11-12 days (exceptionally 17 days), remaining dependent on their parents for around 6 weeks more.

Call
Contact call a soft seee-saw, seee-saw; song like that of a Chorister Robin-Chat but a more slurred, rambling series of melodious phrases, including mimicry. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident.

600. Red-capped Robin-Chat Cossypha natalensis

© Dewi
Kwa-Zulu Natal

Tsendze camp, Kruger National Park © Peter Betts


Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2
Birds of Botswana

598. Chorister Robin-Chat Cossypha dichroa (Lawaaimakerjanfrederik)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Muscicapidae

Description
A Large robin chat. Length 19-20 cm, mass 38-44 g. The orange underparts contrast with the dark slate-grey upperparts; the tail is orange with a black centre.
The juvenile is spotted buff above and scaled buff below.
Similar species: The White-browed Robin Chat is similar, but the Chorister Robin Chat has no white eyebrow, its black hood and mask being diagnostic.

Distribution
Endemic to southern Africa, occurring from the Limpopo Province along the eastern escarpment to KwaZulu-Natal, and the lowland forest of the Eastern Cape, marginally extending into the Western Cape.

Habitat
It generally prefers Afromontane evergreen forest with high annual rainfall (as well as adjacent suburban gardens), although in Winter it may move into drier forest habitats.

Diet
It mainly invertebrates taken from the ground or gleaned from vegetation, supplemented with drupes and berries taken from tree and bush foliage. It often follows antelope, cows and Red driver ant (Dorylus helvolus) swarms, hawking the insects they disturb. The following food items have been recorded in its diet:
Invertebrates: Coleoptera (beetles), ants. moths and caterpillars (Lepidoptera), Hemiptera (bugs), Orthoptera (crickets, locusts and grasshoppers), Diptera (flies), termites, spiders, ticks, earthworms
Fruit: Asparagus, Hedychium (ginger lily), Celtis (white-stinkwood), Rubus (blackberry), Scutia myrtina (Cat-thorn), Kiggelaria africana (Wild-peach), Scolopia (red-pear), Cassipourea (onionwood), Psidium (guava), Lantana camara (Cherry-pie), Solanum mauritanium (Bugweed), Burchellia bubalina (Wild-pomegranate)

Breeding
The nest is built solely by the female, consisting of a loose pad of vegetation with a cup-shaped cavity in its centre, the depth of which varies from about 2.5-5.0 cm. It can be built of either one or a combination of the following materials: moss root systems, leaf midribs, lichen, forest grass and the aerial roots of strangler figs (Ficus). It is typically placed in a rotten hole or crevice in a tree or hollow stump, anywhere from 1-13 metres above ground. Egg-laying season is from about October-November. It lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 15-19 days. The chicks are regularly brooded by the female for the first few days of their lives, and are fed by both parents. In one observation they left the nest after 14 days, and it is though they remain dependent on their parents for up to 6 weeks more.
It has been recorded as host of the Red-chested cuckoo.

Call
The song is rich and melodious with trills, whistles and imitations of other birds' calls. Responds to human whistles and spishing.

Status
Common resident with local movements (from interior to coastal forests in winter); endemic.
Not threatened.

References: Biodiversity Explorer

598. Chorister Robin-Chat Cossypha dichroa



© Duke


Royal Natal National Park © Dindingwe

Western Cape © Okie


Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2
Biodiversity Explorer: http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/bir ... ichroa.htm
BirdForum: http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Cossypha_dichroa

916. Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus (Europese Rooistert)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Muscicapidae


Description
13-14cm. Grey head and back with black/brown wings and ruddy tail. Underparts a rich red/orange underparts. Black throat and face with striking white forehead. Females brown backed and lack the striking head pattern of the males, but note the white eye-ring. Underparts are pale buffy orange. Tail and rump rufous.

Distribution
Across the western Palearctic, where it is generally widespread in Europe, becoming less common throughout Asia, where it is found as far as northwest China. Phoenicurus phoenicurus phoenicurus breeds in Europe and northwest Africa, east to central Siberia and northern Mongolia. It typically winters in Africa.

Movements and migration
The common redstart is a migratory species, leaving the breeding grounds towards the end of August to move to its wintering range in Africa.

Habitat
Arid or semi-arid woodland, such as riverine Acacia.

Breeding
Breeding occurs between April and July. The nest is typically placed one to six metres above the ground, in a hole in a tree, an old stump, among rocks, or in the wall of a building or a nest box. The nest is usually a loose cup of grass, roots, moss and other vegetation, lined with hair and feathers. The female lays a clutch of 5 to 7 eggs, which are incubated for 12 to 14 days. The chicks remain in the nest for around 12 to 15 days before they fledge, and are dependant on the adults for a further 10 to 14 days after leaving the nest.

Call
Whistled huit, and other warbled phrases. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
A very rare vagrant to the region. Two records in southern Africa. A male was once seen near Klerksdorp in the North-West Province, South Africa in 1988 and a female was recorded at Harare, Zimbabwe in early 1995.

916. Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus


Adult male


Adult female

Links:
Oiseaux net