Cistus singer

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Cistus singer
Zitting Cisticola (Non-breeding plumage) I IMG 0365.jpg

Cistus Warbler ( Cisticola juncidis )

Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Family : Cisticolidae (Cisticolidae)
Subfamily : Cisticolinae
Genre : Cisticola
Type : Cistus singer
Scientific name
Cisticola juncidis
( Rafinesque , 1810)
Cistus singer

The Cistensänger ( Cisticola juncidis ), also written Cistensänger , is a species of songbird from the family of the stalk singer-like . The cistus warbler, which is noticeably small with a length of only 10 centimeters, can be recognized by its graduated, blackish tail, which is brightly lined at the end and which is often fanned out. During the breeding season, the males have strong dark spots on their backs, while otherwise, like the females, they appear rather indistinctly striped. The leather-yellow underside is more intensely colored in the female. The forehead and top of the head are darkly streaked on a clay-yellow background, a stripe above the eyes is only hinted at. The legs are dark beige to orange in color.

Subspecies

distribution

The breeding area includes the Mediterranean, southern Africa and Southeast Asia.

From 1977 to 2018 in Germany only 17 observations of the Zistensänger were recognized by the German Avifaunist Commission (DAK). Further evidence will be obtained in 2019 and 2020 in the federal states of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Bavaria and Saarland. In 2020 there was the first proof of brood in Germany in the northern Saarland. In the area with the oat meadow and a wet fallow land, two broods with four young birds each were found.

habitat

In its very large area of ​​distribution, the Cistus Warbler mainly uses open, not too dry regions with medium-high vegetation, but also areas used for agriculture and the edges of reeds and rushes. Habitats near water are preferred. Local breeds the kind in mainly of samphire populated salt marshes.

Reproduction

Gelege, Museum Wiesbaden collection

The Cistus Warbler breeds in open and treeless terrain with high stands of grass, sedge and rushes. He also uses cornfields and fallow land with grain and tall herbs. Cistus singers are polygamous breeders; the single male enters into a couple relationship with up to three females. In the south of the range, the breeding season begins in March and in the north in April, when the grass is high enough. There are two broods per year and sometimes even three broods, so that the breeding season often does not end until July.

The males' courtship flight is unmistakable. At a height of about 20 m it flies up and down in waves to let its loud “zipp” sound at every “wave peak”. This monotonous song sounds at short intervals from morning to night. It is typical for the cistus warbler that the male builds several incomplete nests in his breeding area, which are then completed by the female. The nest stands low between blades of grass, in bushes, sometimes also in the grain, and has the shape of an elongated bag, which is, however, drawn up on one side to form a kind of arching. The inside is mostly covered with vegetable wool.

The eggs are spindle-shaped. The coloring of the eggs varies: there are white, blue, pink, unspotted and spotted eggs. The breeding period is between 12 and 14 days, only the female parent bird breeds. Breeding begins after the last egg has been deposited. The young birds are also cared for by the female alone. The young birds leave the nest capable of flying after twelve to fifteen days and are independent after another ten to twenty days.

food

Tender insects and spiders are tracked down while roaming the thicket.

literature

  • Collin Harrison and Peter Castell: Fledglings, Eggs and Nests of Birds in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Aula Verlag, Wiebelsheim 2004, ISBN 3-89104-685-5

Web links

Commons : Zistensänger ( Cisticola juncidis )  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Single receipts

  1. DDA updates from August 5th, 2020: First breeding record for Germany. Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA), August 5, 2020, accessed on August 16, 2020 .
  2. ^ Harrison, p. 377
  3. Harrison et al., P. 378
  4. ^ Harrison, p. 379