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Emberiza cabanisi (Cabanis's bunting) 

Geelstreepkoppie [Afrikaans]; Cabanis-gors [Dutch]; Bruant de Cabanis [French]; Cabanisammer [German]; Escrevedeira de Cabanis [Portuguese]

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: Fringillidae

Emberiza cabanisi (Cabanis's bunting)  Emberiza cabanisi (Cabanis's bunting) 

Cabanis's bunting male (left) and female (right), Tanzania. [photo Martin Goodey ©]

Distribution and habitat

Occurs in patches across sub-Saharan Africa, from Sierra Leone to Uganda south through Tanzania, Zambia and Angola to southern Africa. Here it is generally uncommon and localised in north and central Zimbabwe and Mozambique, generally preferring miombo (Brachystegia) woodland with little or no undergrowth.

Distribution of Cabanis's bunting in southern Africa, based on statistical smoothing of the records from first SA Bird Atlas Project (© Animal Demography unit, University of Cape Town; smoothing by Birgit Erni and Francesca Little). Colours range from dark blue (most common) through to yellow (least common).

Food 

It mainly eats seeds and insects, doing most of its foraging on the ground, sometimes alongside other birds in a mixed-species foraging flock. The following food items have been recorded in its diet:

Breeding

  • Monogamous solitary nester, building a deep cup of twigs, roots, grass, leaves and weed stems, lined with rootlets and fine grass. It is typically concealed in the foliage of a bush or tree, such as Mufuti (Brachystegia boehmii), Munondo (Julbernadia globiflora) and Camel's-foot (Piliostigma thonningii).
  • Egg-laying season in Zimbabwe is from September-March, peaking from October-November.
  • It lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated for about 12-14 days.
  • Little is known about the chicks, other then a recorded nestling period of 16 days in captivity.

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.