Chirping cisticola
Introduction: Chipping cisticolas (Cisticola pipiens) prefer the wetter habitat offered in emergent vegetation in ponds and marshes including papyrus beds and reedbeds along rivers. Seasonally flooded grassland and floodplains also attract this species.
Distribution: The Kwando River, Zambezi River and some parts of the Bwabwata National Park.
Diet: Eats insects especially green grasshoppers.
Description: Named because of its hard, buzzy chip, chip-chip song. Often confused with the Luapula cisticola which has a shorter tail and is slightly smaller.
Breeding: Both male and female build a ball-shaped dry grass and reed nest. Mostly 3 or 4 oval eggs are laid in either October, January or March to April and incubated by both sexes for up to 14 days.
Size: 14cm.
Weight:15g.
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