[order] PASSERIFORMES | [family] Cisticolidae | [latin] Cisticola aberdare | [UK] Aberdare Cisticola | [FR] Cisticole de l’Aberdare | [DE] Aberdare-Cistensanger | [ES] | [NL] Aberdare-graszanger
Subspecies
Monotypic species
Physical charateristics
Medium-sized, grass-dwelling warbler. Well-streaked buff-and-black on upperparts. Uniform buffy underparts. Stout Cisticola C. robustus has rufous nape and hindneck and slightly longer tail. Mixture of peeuu tew tew and shorter trills. Mostly silent except when breeding.
Listen to the sound of Aberdare Cisticola
[audio:http://www.aviflevoland.nl/sounddb/A/Aberdare Cisticola.mp3]
Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto
| wingspan min.: | 0 | cm | wingspan max.: | 0 | cm |
| size min.: | 12 | cm | size max.: | 15 | cm |
| incubation min.: | 0 | days | incubation max.: | 0 | days |
| fledging min.: | 0 | days | fledging max.: | 0 | days |
| broods: | 1 | eggs min.: | 1 | ||
| eggs max.: | 2 |
Range
Africa : Kenya. Cisticola aberdare is found in central Kenya where it is locally common in suitable habitat on both sides of the Rift Valley, at Molo, Mau Narok and the Aberdare Mountains. Recent reports from suitable habitat at 2,400 m-2,700 m on the Kinangop Plateau, at the base of the Aberdare Mountains, are unconfirmed – if it does occur there, it appears to be rare.
Habitat
It inhabits moist highland grassland above 2,300 m, although in the Aberdares it occurs only on moorland above c.3,000 m. It is often the most abundant cisticola species present
Reproduction
Five clutches (four of two eggs and one of one egg) have been found between early March and mid-June. A nest found on moorland in 2000 was described as a ball of woven soft grass tussocks (Deschampsia flexuosa), lined with the cotton-like seed-head of a thistle species Carduus chamaecephalus, with a side entrance near the top. It was sandwiched in grass about 30 cm off the ground amongst tough grass tussocks and Alchemilla argyrophylla.
Feeding habits
It feeds on insects
Conservation
Within this species’s very small range, much of its habitat is probably being lost rapidly and becoming severely fragmented, owing to agricultural development and intensified livestock production. It is therefore listed as Endangered.
Migration
Resident throughout range.
Distribution map
