Chat Mocking Cliff
Dassievoêl
(Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris)
The mocking cliff chat, mocking chat or cliff chat, is a species of chat in the family Muscicapidae which occurs in rocky habitats in much of eastern Sub-Saharan Africa.
The mocking cliff chat is a large chat with distinctive colouration. The male has a glossy black with a chestnut belly, vent, and rump and white shoulder patches. The shoulder patches vary in size geographically. The female is dark grey with a chestnut lower breast, belly, and vent. The mocking cliff chat has a length of 19–21 cm and weigh 41–51g.
A loud fluty melodious warbling song which often contains many rapid fire phrases mimicking other species, with some harsher phrases interspersed.
The mocking cliff chat occurs in a neat band from central Ethiopia in the north through east Africa into Zimbabwe, south-eastern Botswana, southern Mozambique and eastern South Africa as far as the far east of Western Cape province. Mostly resident but in the south of its range tends to move to lower altitudes in the winter months.
The mocking cliff chat inhabits rocky and boulder strewn areas, well-wooded rocky ravines, cliffs, gullies, boulder-strewn hillsides and watercourses in valley bottoms with scattered rocks.
There are six currently recognised subspecies
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris kordofanensis Wettstein, 1916: Nuba Mountains, in central Sudan.
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris albiscapulata (Rüppell, 1837): northern Eritrea and northern, central and eastern Ethiopia.
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris. subrufipennis Reichenow, 1887: eastern South Sudan and south-western Ethiopia south through the Rift Valley and Tanzania to eastern Zambia and Malawi.
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris odica Clancey, 1962: Eastern Zimbabwe.
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris cinnamomeiventris (Lafresnaye, 1836): Eastern Botswana, eastern South Africa, western Swaziland and Lesotho.
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris autochthones Clancey, 1952; Southern Mozambique south to north-eastern South Africa and eastern Swaziland.
The white-crowned cliff chat (Thamnolaea coronata) of West Africa is sometimes included in this species.
Wikipedia
Chat Mocking Cliff
Dassievoêl
(Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris)
The mocking cliff chat, mocking chat or cliff chat, is a species of chat in the family Muscicapidae which occurs in rocky habitats in much of eastern Sub-Saharan Africa.
The mocking cliff chat is a large chat with distinctive colouration. The male has a glossy black with a chestnut belly, vent, and rump and white shoulder patches. The shoulder patches vary in size geographically. The female is dark grey with a chestnut lower breast, belly, and vent. The mocking cliff chat has a length of 19–21 cm and weigh 41–51g.
A loud fluty melodious warbling song which often contains many rapid fire phrases mimicking other species, with some harsher phrases interspersed.
The mocking cliff chat occurs in a neat band from central Ethiopia in the north through east Africa into Zimbabwe, south-eastern Botswana, southern Mozambique and eastern South Africa as far as the far east of Western Cape province. Mostly resident but in the south of its range tends to move to lower altitudes in the winter months.
The mocking cliff chat inhabits rocky and boulder strewn areas, well-wooded rocky ravines, cliffs, gullies, boulder-strewn hillsides and watercourses in valley bottoms with scattered rocks.
There are six currently recognised subspecies
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris kordofanensis Wettstein, 1916: Nuba Mountains, in central Sudan.
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris albiscapulata (Rüppell, 1837): northern Eritrea and northern, central and eastern Ethiopia.
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris. subrufipennis Reichenow, 1887: eastern South Sudan and south-western Ethiopia south through the Rift Valley and Tanzania to eastern Zambia and Malawi.
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris odica Clancey, 1962: Eastern Zimbabwe.
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris cinnamomeiventris (Lafresnaye, 1836): Eastern Botswana, eastern South Africa, western Swaziland and Lesotho.
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris autochthones Clancey, 1952; Southern Mozambique south to north-eastern South Africa and eastern Swaziland.
The white-crowned cliff chat (Thamnolaea coronata) of West Africa is sometimes included in this species.
Wikipedia