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Phylloscopus ruficapilla (Yellow-throated woodland-warbler, Yellow-throated warbler) 

[= Seicercus ruficapillus

Geelkeelsanger [Afrikaans]; Umbese, Unoqandilana [Xhosa]; Pouillot à gorge jaune [French]; Rotkopf-laubsänger [German]; Felosa-de-peito-amarelo [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: Sylviidae > Genus: Phylloscopus

Phylloscopus ruficapilla (Yellow-throated woodland-warbler, Yellow-throated warbler)   

Yellow-throated woodland-warbler. [photo Trevor Hardaker ©]

 

Distribution and habitat

Occurs from Tanzania through north-eastern Mozambique to southern Africa. Here it is locally common in lowland evergeen and Afromontane forest, generally staying the mid to upper canopy.

Distribution of Yellow-throated woodland warbler 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). See here for the latest distribution from the SABAP2.  

Food 

It mainly eats arthropods, gleaning them from leaves and branches in the tree canopy and often joining mixed species foraging flocks. The following food items have been recorded in its diet:

Breeding

  • The nest is a domed cup built almost entirely out of green moss, lined with fine grass and feathers. It is typically placed on a moss-covered bank, often next a stream and surrounded by bushes or ferns.
  • Egg-laying season is from about October-December.
  • It lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated for roughly 17 days.
  • The chicks stay in the nest for about 16 days.

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. 

  • Harrison, J.A., Allan, D.G., Underhill, L.G., Herremans, M., Tree. A.J., Parker, V. & Brown, C.J. (eds). 1997. The atlas of southern African birds. Vol. 2: Passerines. BirdLife South Africa, Johannesburg.