Mocking cliff chat facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mocking cliff chat |
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| Male in South Africa | |
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| Female in South Africa | |
| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Muscicapidae |
| Genus: | Thamnolaea |
| Species: |
T. cinnamomeiventris
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| Binomial name | |
| Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris (Lafresnaye, 1836)
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| Synonyms | |
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The mocking cliff chat (also called mocking chat or cliff chat) is a type of bird. Its scientific name is Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris. This bird belongs to the Muscicapidae family, which includes many small insect-eating birds. You can find these chats living in rocky places across eastern Sub-Saharan Africa.
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What Does the Mocking Cliff Chat Look Like?
The mocking cliff chat is a fairly large bird. It has very unique colors. Males are shiny black with a reddish-brown belly, bottom, and rump. They also have white patches on their shoulders. The size of these white patches can be different depending on where the bird lives.
Female mocking cliff chats are dark gray. They have a reddish-brown color on their lower chest, belly, and bottom. These birds are about 19 to 21 centimeters (7.5 to 8.3 inches) long. They usually weigh between 41 and 51 grams (1.4 to 1.8 ounces).
Its Special Song
This bird is known for its loud and beautiful song. It sounds like a flute playing a happy tune. The song often includes many quick sounds that copy other birds. Sometimes, it also adds some harsher, scratchy noises.
Where Do Mocking Cliff Chats Live?
Mocking cliff chats live in a specific area of Africa. They are found from central Ethiopia in the north. Their range stretches south through East Africa into Zimbabwe. You can also find them in southeastern Botswana, southern Mozambique, and eastern South Africa. They even reach the far eastern part of the Western Cape province.
Most of these birds stay in the same place all year. However, in the southern parts of their home range, they might move to lower areas during the winter.
What Kind of Home Do They Like?
Mocking cliff chats love places with lots of rocks. They live in areas with large boulders and rocky hillsides. You can find them in wooded ravines, on cliffs, and in deep valleys. They also like rocky areas near rivers or streams.
How Do Mocking Cliff Chats Live?
Mocking cliff chats mostly eat insects. But they also enjoy eating fruit. Sometimes, they drink nectar from flowers, like the Krantz aloe (a type of aloe plant). Their main way of finding food is to sit on a high spot. From there, they pounce down onto the ground to catch insects. They also pick food off branches and leaves.
These birds often wag their tails. They slowly lift their tail over their back and spread it out like a fan.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
Both the male and female mocking cliff chat work together to build the nest. It takes them about a week to finish it. The nest is shaped like an open cup. It is built on a base of small twigs, leaves, roots, and feathers. The inside is lined with soft mammal hair.
Mocking cliff chats often use the nests of striped swallows. They might even kick the swallows out while they are still using the nest! The nest is usually placed under a rock overhang. You might also find it under a bridge, in a drainpipe, or inside a cave. Sometimes, they even build nests in holes in walls or in farm machinery.
In southern Africa, the female lays her eggs between August and December. Most eggs are laid from September to November. A normal nest has 2 to 4 eggs. The female bird sits on the eggs for about 14 to 16 days. Both parents help feed the baby birds. The young birds are ready to leave the nest when they are about three weeks old.
Types of Mocking Cliff Chats
Scientists have identified six different types, or subspecies, of mocking cliff chats. These are slightly different groups of the same bird species.
- T. c. kordofanensis: Found in the Nuba Mountains in central Sudan.
- T. c. albiscapulata: Lives in northern Eritrea and northern, central, and eastern Ethiopia.
- T. c. subrufipennis: Found from eastern South Sudan and southwestern Ethiopia. It stretches south through the Rift Valley and Tanzania to eastern Zambia and Malawi.
- T. c. odica: Lives in Eastern Zimbabwe.
- T. c. cinnamomeiventris: Found in Eastern Botswana, eastern South Africa, western Eswatini, and Lesotho.
- T. c. autochthones: Lives in Southern Mozambique south to northeastern South Africa and eastern Eswatini.
Sometimes, another bird called the white-crowned cliff chat (Thamnolaea coronata) is considered part of this species.
 | Sharif Bey |
 | Hale Woodruff |
 | Richmond Barthé |
 | Purvis Young |
