Brown-headed fine singer
| Brown-headed fine singer | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Apalis alticola | ||||||||||||
| ( Shelley , 1899) |
The brown-headed warbler ( Apalis alticola ) is a small songbird from the genus of the fine warbler within the family of the stalksinger-like . It used to be regarded as a subspecies of the gray-backed singers ( A. cinerea ). There are two subspecies: A. a. alticola and A. a. dowsetti .
description
The brown-headed fine singer reaches a length of 12 to 13 centimeters. It has a long tail and a rather long, thin beak. The legs and feet are pink and the eyes are pale yellow. The top is gray-brown. The top of the head and cheeks are chocolate brown. The underside is whitish. The sexes look the same. The juvenile birds are more olive colored on the top and whitish on the underside. With the breed A. a. alticola , the tail feathers have white tips. In the subspecies A. a. dowsetti , the outer tail feathers are completely white. In comparison, the gray-backed fine singer has a gray-brown head and dark eyes. The singing of the brown-headed fine singer consists of a series of shrill " chip " tones.
distribution
The subspecies A. a. alticola occurs in parts of Angola , Zambia , Malawi , in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , in Tanzania and in the Nguruman Escarpment on the western edge of the Rift Valley in southern Kenya . The occurrence of A. a. dowsetti is restricted to the Marungu Plateau in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Habitat and way of life
The brown-headed warbler inhabits forest edges and secondary forests at medium and high altitudes. When foraging for food, it is often found in pairs, in small flocks or in mixed flocks of birds. Its diet consists of insects.
literature
- Ian Sinclair and Peter Ryan: Birds of Africa south of the Sahara. Struik, Cape Town 2003.
- Dale A. Zimmerman, Donald A. Turner, and David J. Pearson: Birds of Kenya & Northern Tanzania. Christopher Helm, London 1999.