Cape Robin-Chat

Identification

The sexes are similar. The Cape robin-chat measures 16–17 cm from bill tip to tail tip and weighs 28 g. The adult's upper parts are grey, with the mantle and secondary feathers tinged brownish olive. The blackish lores and ear coverts are separated from the crown by a prominent white supercilium. The chin, throat, central breast, rump, upper tail coverts and outer tail feathers are orange. The breast plumage moults to a deeper orange in colour for the non-breeding season. The central tail feathers are greyish-brown, and obscures the bright rufous outer tail feathers when the tail is closed. The belly is pale grey to white, and the undertail coverts buffy. The short, black bill is fairly straight, but with a slightly down-curved upper mandible. The legs and feet are black, and the eye is brown.<p>Juveniles have tails like the adults, but lack a supercilium. They are dark brown above and buff below, heavily marked with buff on the upper parts and grey-brown on the breast. The legs and feet are pinkish grey, and unlike other robin-chats, the soles of their feet are yellow. Immatures are like adults but retain some buff-tipped greater wing coverts.<p>The Cape robin-chat has a harsh, low, trisyllabic alarm call, which may be rendered as WA-dur-dra, WA-de-da or TURR-da-da. It has given rise to several local names, including “Jan frederik”, which matches the rhythm of the call if the last syllables are run together. This call is also given year-round when arriving at, or departing from a roost.<p>The clear and ringing song is delivered in a series of short phrases, sometimes simultaneously by competing males. Singing peaks at dawn and dusk, and consists of passages of whistled syllables, cherooo-weet-weet-weeeet, followed by a pause. Each passage, consisting of 4 to 10 syllables, starts with a low, slurred whistle, which is followed by an improvised succession of whistled notes. From first light they usually sing from within, but near the top of a tree or bush, and at times uninterrupted for an hour or more. Singing may continue late into the evening, in pitch darkness. Males interrupt their singing during post-breeding moult. In the absence of her mate, females are said to sing equally well.<p>Anxious birds utter a plaintive, descending peeeeeuu note, for instance when their nestlings are threatened. Like other robin-chats, they may mimic other birds. One individual has been noted to mimic a total of 36 bird species.

Taxonomy

The Cape robin-chat was formally described in 1771 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus under the binomial name Motacilla caffra. He specified the type locality as the Cape of Good Hope. The specific epithet caffra is Modern Latin for South Africa. The Cape robin-chat was formerly assigned to the genus Cossypha but is now one of four species placed in the genus Dessonornis that was introduced in 1836 by Andrew Smith.<p>Four geographically isolated subspecies are generally accepted, though Clancey (1980, 1981) distinguished several additional races with contiguous ranges.

Scientific name

Dessonornis caffer

Authority

(Linnaeus, 1771)

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Muscicapidae

Genus

Dessonornis

Range and habitat

The Cape robin-chat occurs from South Sudan (mainly Imatong Mts, above 1,600 m) southwards to Uganda, the DRC (1,800 m – 3,475 m), Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia (above 1,800 m), Malawi (where common above 1,500 m), Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini and Lesotho. It is a mainly resident breeder in eastern and southern Africa, though some adults and juveniles may migrate more than 100 km to lower, warmer regions in winter. In their winter refuges, they may coexist with several other species of robin. Some are however year-round residents even at high altitudes. A five-year tenure of a breeding territory by the same pair is commonplace, and the maximum recorded life span is over 16 years.<p>In southern Africa, the Cape robin-chat is a common species at Afromontane forest edges, in forest scrub and ravines, fynbos, karoo, plantations, gardens and parks. Most areas with dense cover with scattered trees or song posts are however suitable. In dry areas they are restricted to thickets that fringe water courses. In southern Africa it is found from sea level up to 3,000 m where Leucosidea provides cover. It is absent from arid Karoo and Kalahari.<p>In tropical East Africa, the Cape robin-chat likewise frequents forest edge and gardens, but is restricted to the uplands. It occurs at 1,100 m in the Ulugurus, but generally upwards of 1,500 m in Uganda and the remainder of Tanzania, and above 1,800 m in Kenya. The tropical races are also at home at the edges of bamboo, in woodland, scrub, tea and coffee plantations, or in association with giant heather beside moorland streams, up to 3,400 m in altitude.

Migration

Resident species

Behavior

Migration pattern: Resident species.

Conservation

Population trend: stable.

Population trend

stable