Puffback dal dorso nero

Identificazione

They measure about 17 cm in length, and the sexes are similar though easily distinguishable. Adult males have the upperparts deep blue-black with a slight luster. The black cap subtends the red eye, the upperpart plumage is black-and-white, and the underparts pure white. Females have a black loral stripe and white supraloral feathering, with the ear coverts pale and the crown not solidly black. They also have greyer backs than males, and grey to buffy tones to the white plumage tracts. Immature birds resemble females, but have brownish bills and brown irides, while the upperparts and flanks are still greyer, and the underparts and edges of the wing feathers are yet more buffy. Intraspecific variation is clinal. Range, iris colour, wing markings and the female plumage assist in separating it from other puffback species.

Tassonomia

Nome scientifico

Dryoscopus cubla

Autorità

(Latham, 1801)

Ordine

Passeriformi

Famiglia

Malaconotidi

Genere

Dryoscopus

Areale e habitat

They occur mainly south of the equator in sub-Saharan Africa, from southern Somalia to coastal South Africa. From the vicinity of the equator and northwards it is replaced by the somewhat larger northern puffback, with which it forms a superspecies.<p>They are commonly found in gardens, riparian thickets, mangroves, woodlands, moist (or less commonly arid) savanna, bushveld and especially towards the south, fringes of afromontane forest. They are present from sea level to some 2,200 m.a.s.l., and are the only puffback species to occur over much of their range. Highest reporting rates are from the densest woodlands, though all woodland types, including Racosperma plantations, are utilized. In southern Africa the highest reporting rates are from miombo (including the Eastern Highlands), gusu, mopane, various mixed woodlands, whether moist or arid, and riparian fringing forest, including that of the Okavango Delta.<p>A density of 1 pair per 42 ha was recorded in broadleaved Terminalia-Burkea woodland at Nylsvley, South Africa, and a breeding territory is thought to encompass some 4 ha. Intensive farming and human pressure have destroyed large tracts of their natural habitat in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa. They are naturally absent from arid Acacia scrub, Acacia savanna on the Zimbabwean plateau, and the treeless highveld and alpine regions of southern Africa. It also avoids the Congo Basin and, for the most part, tree canopies at the interior of afromontane forests.

Migrazione

Resident species

Conservazione

Tendenza della popolazione

declining