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Levaillant's cisticola (''Cisticola tinniens''), also known as the tinkling cisticola, is a small
The cisticola is a resident breeder in eastern
SASOL Bird e-Guide
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2225928 Levaillant's cisticola Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Birds of Southern Africa Taxa named by Hinrich Lichtenstein Levaillant's cisticola
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
which is native to marshlands in the uplands of Africa, southwards of the equator.
Description
Levaillant's cisticola is a small, 12–15 cm long, dull-coloured bird with a longish tail and a reddish cap. The upperparts of the breeding adult are grey, heavily streaked with black, and with a rufous panel in the folded wing. The supercilium, face and underparts are buffy white and the tail is russet brown. The short straight bill is blackish-brown with a pinkish base, and the feet and legs are pinkish-brown. The eye is light brown. Non-breeding adults are browner-backed, and juvenile birds have yellower underparts. The calls include a musical ', a wailing ' and harsh alarm notes.Distribution and habitat
The cisticola is a resident breeder in eastern Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
from Kenya
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to eastern South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
. It is common in reedbeds, sedges, rank grass, and similar wet habitats usually near rivers or dams.
Behaviour
Levaillant's cisticola is usually seen in pairs, singly, or in small family parties. Flitting through the grass as it forages for smallinsect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...
s. It is vocal and conspicuous, perching on the top of tall grass stems and reeds and making its alarm call.
Breeding
The cisticola builds a ball-shaped nest with a side entrance from dry grass, cobwebs and felted plant down. It is usually placed in a tuft of grass or weeds, which are standing in, or hanging over water. Nesting occurs from August to October.Conservation status
This common species has a large range, with an estimated extent of 1,400,000 km2. The population size is believed to be large, and the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of theIUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...
(i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
.
References
*Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton, ''SASOL Birds of Southern Africa'' (Struik 2002)SASOL Bird e-Guide
External links
* Levaillant's cisticolaSpecies text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2225928 Levaillant's cisticola Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Birds of Southern Africa Taxa named by Hinrich Lichtenstein Levaillant's cisticola