Black-backed Cisticola
Cisticola eximius
A tiny, short-tailed, streaky cisticola. Note the rufous rump and variably rufous flanks. Breeding male has an unstreaked rufous crown. Female and non-breeding male have a paler brown crown with dark streaks. Found locally in short grassland, especially in seasonally flooded areas. Inconspicuous for most of the year. Usually seen when doing a flight display over its breeding habitat. Very similar to several other cisticolas, though usually distinguished by range. Zitting Cisticola overlaps widely in range, but Black-backed is separated by voice, richer overall coloration, and shorter tail. The song consists of a series of raspy “chree” notes, sometimes given along with wing snaps. Also gives explosive scolding notes and high-pitched whines.
Identification
The black-backed cisticola or black-necked cisticola (Cisticola eximius) is a species of passerine bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is found in Burkina Faso, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland and subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland.
Taxonomy
The black-backed cisticola was described by the German explorer and ornithologist Theodor von Heuglin in 1869 from a specimen collected near the Bahr el Ghazal River in South Sudan. He coined the binomial name Drymoeca eximia. The specific epithet eximius is the Latin for "select" or "distinguished". The species is now placed in the genus Cisticola which was erected by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1829.<p>Three subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Cisticola eximius
- Authority
- (Heuglin, 1869)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Cisticolidae
- Genus
- Cisticola
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
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