Levaillant's Cisticola or Tinkling Cisticola, Cisticola tinniens, is a small passerine

Passerine

A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...

 bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 (though Tinkling Cisticola is also used as an alternative name for the Grey Cisticola

Grey Cisticola

The Grey Cisticola or Tinkling Cisticola is a species of bird in the Cisticolidae family. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is dry savanna.-References:* BirdLife...

 (Cisticola rufilatus).

Description

The 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

Supercilium

The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head. Also known as an "eyebrow", it is distinct from the eyestripe, which is a line which runs...

, face and underparts are buffy white and the tail is russet brow. 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 chrip-trrrup-trreee, a wailing tee tee tee and harsh alarm notes.

Distribution and habitat

The cisticola is a resident breeder in eastern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 from Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

 to eastern South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. 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 small insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

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 the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.