|
Camaroptera brevicaudata
(Grey-backed camaroptera)
Grysrugkwêkwêvoël [Afrikaans]; Blaatcamaroptera
[Dutch]; Camaroptère à dos gris [French]; Graurücken-grasmücke [German]
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned
fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates) > Tetrapoda
(four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Reptilia (reptiles) >
Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria >
Dinosauria
(dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) >
Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves
(birds) >
Order: Passeriformes > Family: Cisticolidae
> Genus: Cameroptera
Distribution and habitat
It occurs across much of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal
to Ethiopia south to southern Africa. Here it is common from Namibia,
northern and south-eastern Botswana to Zimbabwe, central Mozambique, Limpopo
Province, North-West Province and Gauteng. It generally prefers thickets and
riverine bush in savanna woodland, also along the edge of forest patches and in
parks and gardens.
Predators and parasites
It has been recorded as prey of the following birds:
Brood parasites
It has been recorded as host of the
Brown-backed honeyguide.
Food
It mainly eats invertebrates, doing most of its foraging in
the undergrowth, gleaning prey from leaves and stems. The following food items have been recorded
in its diet:
Breeding
- The nest is a ball shape with an entrance on the side towards the top,
with the outside made of sewn together living leaves and the inside lined
with finer material. It is smaller and more thin-walled then the nest of its
close relative, the Green-backed
camaroptera. It is typically concealed in a shrub, herb, small bush or
low down in a tree's foliage, but usually very near to the ground.
- Egg-laying season is from October-April, peaking around
November-December.
- It lays 2-4 eggs, which are incubated for about 13-15 days.
- The chicks stay in the nest for about 13-15 days, after which it leaves
(before being able to fly). Before fledging full it follows its parents
around through the undergrowth.
Threats
Not threatened.
References
-
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts
- Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker
Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
|
