Birds of the World
 - Drakensberg Rockjumper
 - Drakensberg Rockjumper
+2
 - Drakensberg Rockjumper
Watch
 - Drakensberg Rockjumper
Listen

Drakensberg Rockjumper Chaetops aurantius Scientific name definitions

Nigel Collar, Craig Robson, and Christopher J. Sharpe
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 14, 2018

Sign in to see your badges

Field Identification

21–22 cm; 48–53 g. Striking ground-dwelling passerine with long and rounded white-tipped black tail , similar to <em>C. frenatus</em> . Male has crown and upper face to upper back blackish with dense but narrow grey-brown streaks, lower back and rump chestnut, tail  glossy black with increasingly broad white tips on outer feathers; primary coverts black, tipped white (forming patch on folded wing), flight-feathers brownish-black, white patch at base of primaries (visible in flight); narrow supercilium and broad sub­mous­tachial band white , upper ear-coverts rather plain grey, lores, cheek, lower ear-coverts, throat and upper breast black, lower breast and belly sandy orange, colour most intense across breast; iris  orange-red; bill and legs black. Differs from C. frenatus mainly in being smaller and smaller-billed, with underparts (but not rump) sandy orange (instead of chestnut), black of throat ending higher on upper breast, white supercilium more obvious, upper ear-coverts rather plain (not heavily streaked). Female is similar to male but usually paler above , throat mottled buffy white. Juvenile is like female but browner  , less streaked above, with bill paler.

Systematics History

Commonly treated as conspecific with C. frenatus (which see). Birds in Lesotho reportedly paler below than those in rest of range, but no subspecies described. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Lesotho highlands and adjacent South Africa in montane Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape.

Habitat

Steep-sloping alpine and subalpine grasslands with rocky outcrops, scree, rocky gulleys and passes, but disappearing where extensive scrub cover and flat ground appear; mainly above 2250 m, but at 2000 m in KwaZulu-Natal and 1800 m in Eastern Cape.

Movement

Resident or altitudinal migrant. Although reportedly resident in Lesotho, even above 3000 m, recorded also as making regular winter movements from 2500 m down to 2000 m along Lesotho-South Africa escarpment.

Diet and Foraging

Invertebrates , including caterpillars and moths (Lepidoptera) and grasshoppers (Orthoptera); nestlings fed mainly with caterpillars  , but at one nest only grasshoppers. Forages on ground, pecking and scratching at earth, and bounding from rock to rock without flying. Usually in pairs or in family parties up to twelve individuals, but often dispersed widely when feeding.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song consists of series of various strident piping calls  , notably a loud staccato “pree-pree-pree”, loud repeated “teep-teep-téép” and “pee-téé-teep”, sometimes in combination, very similar in tone and type to that of C. frenatus but distinct in structure; song often given simultaneously by group-members, and tail often fanned and depressed during singing. Male with nestlings gave repeated sharp piercing “pee” on descending scale, and harsh “churrrrr”.

Breeding

Jul–Apr, mainly Oct–Nov. Breeds as monogamous pair, in territory. Co-operative, with helpers. Nest, built by both sexes, a bulky, untidy deep cup, made mainly of grass with some twigs, lined with fine grass and rootlets, sometimes also mammal fur, typically just above ground under overhanging rock or shrub or in grass clump, especially wiregrass (Merxmuellera). Clutch 2–3 eggs, white, sometimes with black speckling; incubation by both sexes. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Lesotho Highlands EBA. Locally common; global population estimated at 100,000–500,000 individuals. Population in Lesotho estimated at 10,000–100,000 individuals, with density of 4 birds/km² in summer, 1·6/km² in winter; in summer, near Katse (Lesotho), average 1 pair or group/30 ha. Present in mid-winter in Mountain Zebra National Park, in Eastern Cape (South Africa). Populations seem to be undergoing at least a moderately rapid decline, but there is uncertainty over the rate of change BirdLife International (2018) Species factsheet: Chaetops aurantius. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 14/01/2018. . Analysis of data from consecutive Southern African Bird Atlas Projects suggests that reporting rate has declined by 28·5%, and range has contracted by 42·0% between 1987–1992 and 2007–2014 BirdLife International (2018) Species factsheet: Chaetops aurantius. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 14/01/2018. . It was therefore listed as Near Threatened in 2017.

Distribution of the Drakensberg Rockjumper - Range Map
Enlarge
  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Drakensberg Rockjumper

Recommended Citation

Collar, N., C. Robson, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Drakensberg Rockjumper (Chaetops aurantius), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.orbroc1.01
Birds of the World

Partnerships

A global alliance of nature organizations working to document the natural history of all bird species at an unprecedented scale.