Senegal eremomela

Senegal eremomela
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cisticolidae
Genus: Eremomela
Species: E. pusilla
Binomial name
Eremomela pusilla
Hartlaub, 1857

The Senegal eremomela (Eremomela pusilla) is a member of the African warbler family, the Cisticolidae. It occurs in the savannas of western Sub-Saharan Africa.

Description

The Senegal eremomela is a small bird with a pale brownish grey head and a pale white supercilium. The back and mantle are green, becoming a brighter yellowish green on the rump, the throat and upper breast are white becoming bright lemon yellow on the lower breast, belly and vent. Blackish bill with a pale lower mandible and pale brownish legs.[2]

Voice

Trill constantly when foraging. It joins the morning chorus with a dull monotonous and rhythmic "whup-whup=whup" sand from a perch before and at the start of the breeding season.[2]

Distribution

Western Africa from extreme southern Mauritania and Senegal to north western Cameroon, south-western Chad and far north-western Central African Republic.[3]

Habits and Habitat

The Senegal eremomela occusr in small parties which actively forage in wooded savanna, cultivated areas and orchards. It is arboreal and insectivorous feeding on ants, beetles, caterpillars and other larvae, as well as some fruit. It breeds in the first half of the year in the west, although egg laying has been recorded as late as October in the Ivory Coast. [2][3]

Taxonomy

The Senegal eremomela been treated as conspecific with the Green-backed eremomela, as they hybridizes in a narrow zone of sympatry along the Cameroon-Central African Republic border.[3] The rarely heard territorial is a rarely heard harsh and rapid chattering.[2]

Recordings of the Senegal Eremomela at Xeno-Canto

References

  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Eremomela pusilla". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Borrow, Nik; Demey, Ron (2001). Birds of Western Africa. A & C Black. p. 645. ISBN 0-7136-3959-8.
  3. 1 2 3 ["Senegal Ereomomela (Eremomela pusilla)". HBW Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
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