Chorister Robin-Chat

Overview

The chorister robin-chat (Cossypha dichroa) is a large robin-chat found in South Africa and Eswatini. It is classified as a species of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Identification

• Approximately 20 cm in length, it is a large robin-chat with dark upperparts, where the ear coverts and lores are slightly darker than the rest of the head and back.
• The underparts are yellow-orange, and the bird lacks a white eye stripe.
• Juveniles appear sooty and mottled with tawny-buff plumage, featuring a red-orange tail with a dark centre.

Habitat

Its natural habitat consists of evergreen forests, especially in the mist belt region. The distribution stretches from the southern Western Cape through the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga to northern Limpopo, as well as Eswatini.

Diet

Generally solitary, this bird forages in the forest canopy, gleaning insects from the leaves. Its diet consists mainly of insects, millipedes, spiders, and ticks, with fruit consumed during the non-breeding season from April to September.

Did you know?

The species was initially described by Gmelin based on Sparrman's Muscicapa bicolor, but because that name was already used by Boddaert for the little bee-eater, it is a junior homonym and permanently invalid under the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.