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Tana River Cisticola Cisticola restrictus Scientific name definitions

Peter Ryan and Christopher J. Sharpe
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated November 11, 2015

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

13 cm; 12–15 g. A medium-sized, relatively slender, streak-backed cisticola with long, rounded tail; pale, washed-out appearance. Has creamy face with grey-brown cheek; crown rusty brown, streaked dark brown, merging into grey-brown upper­parts, heavily streaked dark brown on mantle and back; flight-feathers and upperwing-coverts dark brown with ashy margins; tail brown with darker subterminal band and buffy tips on all except central feather pair; creamy below, washed buffy grey on flanks and side of breast, paler on throat and central belly; iris warm brown; bill dark brown, paler base; legs dull pink. Distinguished from similar C. cinereolus by rufous wash on crown, narrower streaking on upperparts, slightly longer and warmer brown tail with buffy tips and more prominent subterminal spots, grey-washed flanks; from C. chiniana by smaller size, paler appearance, no rufous wing edgings. Sexes similar, female slightly smaller than male. Juvenile undescribed; one immature had more rufous crown than adult.

Systematics History

Taxonomic status uncertain; although ranked as a full species, may be either an aberrant C. cinereolus or a hybrid between that species and C. chiniana; vocally said to recall C. chiniana, but has never been sound-recorded; not reported since early 1970s (1, 2). Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Lower R Tana Valley, in E Kenya.

Habitat

Semi-arid acacia (Acacia) scrub on flat sandy plains and black cotton soils.

Movement

No information.

Diet and Foraging

Diet mainly insects, including grasshoppers (Orthoptera). No other information.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Reported as similar to that of C. chiniana.

Breeding

No information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife DD Data Deficient

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Data Deficient. Restricted-range species: present in East African Coastal Forests EBA. Known from only seven museum specimens from five localities in valley of lower R Tana, in E Kenya. No records since 1972, despite searches in its known range. Possibly extinct, or may be a hybrid between C. chiniana and C. cinereolus (3). The possibility that it occurs in S Somalia has been suggested. Fieldwork and a re-appraisal of specimens required (4, 5).

Distribution of the Tana River Cisticola - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Tana River Cisticola

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Ryan, P. and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Tana River Cisticola (Cisticola restrictus), 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.tarcis1.01
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