The chorister robin-chat (''Cossypha dichroa'') (previously known as the chorister robin) is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in South Africa and

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

. Its distribution stretches from the southern Western Cape through the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

and

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

to northern Limpopo. Its natural habitat is evergreen forests, especially in the mist belt region. This is a large robin-chat, about 20 cm in length. The chorister robin-chat is identified by its dark upperparts (the ear coverts and lores are slightly darker than the rest of the face, head, neck and back) and yellow-orange underparts. It has no white eye stripe. Juveniles have a sooty, mottled tawny-buff above and below and its tail is red-orange with a dark centre. The chorister robin-chat is generally solitary. This robin-chat skulks in dense foliage in the forest canopy. In winter it may forage on ground, but usually gleans insects from leaves. It also follows other fauna in its habitat that might disturb insects, which it then hawks. Its diet consists mainly of insects, millipedes, spiders, ticks and fruit in winter. The chorister robin-chat breeds from October to January; it peaks during November. There has been a record where it plays host to red-chested cuckoo, a

brood parasite Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own ...

. The chorister robin-chat moves from the interior to coastal forests in winter.

References

* 'Robert's Birds of Southern Africa; Sixth Edition; 1993; Gordon Lindsay Maclean' * Biodiversity Explorer

* Chorister robin-chat
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
Cossypha, chorister robin-chat Birds of Southern Africa chorister robin-chat chorister robin-chat Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Muscicapidae-stub