Sierra Leone Prinia
Schistolais leontica
A mostly dark gray long-tailed warbler with a striking whitish eye, buff flanks, and pinkish legs. Local and scarce in a handful of hills and mountains in Upper Guinea, where pairs and small groups skulk low down in very wet forest edge, riverine scrub, and thickets in gullies between 600 and 1600 meters of elevation. Calls include a high-pitched “sit-sit-sit.” and a more nasal “bur-bur-bur.” Other warblers lack the pale eye.
Identification
The Sierra Leone prinia (Schistolais leontica), also known as the white-eyed prinia, is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is found in Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Its natural habitat is thickets and forest edge, especially in the transition zone between submontane forest and submontane grassland. It is threatened by habitat loss, especially habitat clearance to establish iron ore mines.
Taxonomy
Genus: Schistolais; Family: Cisticolidae; Order: Passeriformes.
- Scientific name
- Schistolais leontica
- Authority
- (Bates, GL, 1930)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Cisticolidae
- Genus
- Schistolais
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
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Cacatua tenuirostris
Medium-sized white cockatoo with a small crest and an extremely long, pointed upper mandible. Body entirely white with pink patches around eye and chin. Typically occurs in grassy habitat, and is often seen feeding in parks or sporting grounds. It uses its long upper mandible to dig for roots and seeds. Its call is more clipped and staccato than Little Corella. Native to southeastern Australia but numerous feral populations exist elsewhere, typically in suburban areas.
Jamaican Oriole
Icterus leucopteryx
A fruit-loving inhabitant of woodlands and gardens. Adult is yellow (often tinged green or orange), sports a black beard, and has very large white wing patches covering half of the otherwise black wing. Immatures look similar, but they have two broad white wingbars instead of a white patch. Immature male Orchard Oriole looks somewhat similar, but it is smaller and lacks the bold white wing markings seen on Jamaican Orioles. Songs include a rapid series of rich, whistled, and mostly down-slurred phrases and “cheat-you, cheat-you, cheat-you, cheat-you, cheat.”
Sooty Tyrannulet
Serpophaga nigricans
A very small and long-tailed flycatcher with fairly uniformly dark-gray plumage. It has a dark bill and legs with a slightly paler throat and two indistinct wingbars. Found almost always close to water such as rivers, streams, ponds, and wetlands where it is usually encountered foraging in pairs.
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