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Dusky Crimsonwing Cryptospiza jacksoni Scientific name definitions

Robert B. Payne
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated June 18, 2013

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

11 cm; c. 14 g. Male has most of head red, nape grey, upperparts dark crimson-red, tail and upperwing blackish-grey; side of neck to chin, throat and underparts dark grey, red patch on flanks; iris dark brown, eyering pink; bill black; legs dark olive-brown. Female resembles male, but red face patch smaller, red restricted to forehead and area around eye, eyering grey. Juvenile is like female, but lacks red on face and flanks, has back and rump dark reddish-grey.

Systematics History

Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Mountains of Albertine Rift in E DRCongo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

Habitat

Montane forest, thick undergrowth, bracken briar, bamboo, clearings along forest roads, cultivation near forest, and patches of seeding grasses. At 1500–2700 m.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Small seeds of grass, fallen on ground; also beetles (Coleoptera), small snails. Forages mostly in pairs and small groups.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Call a soft "tzeek" or "tsit", also soft trilling "geegeegee­gee"; song a drawn-out version of these phrases, and sometimes a high-pitched whistling "peeeee".

Breeding

Breeding records in most months in DRCongo and in May, Aug and Sept in Uganda. In courtship, male holds nesting material in bill, fluffs feathers of belly and flanks, directs head towards mate, bobs up and down. Nest built from grass and green moss, placed 1·6 m up between branches and near trunk in cypress tree; one was made from grass, with lining of hair and feathers, 4 m above ground in cypress. Clutch 2 eggs; nestling gape has small pale yellow papillae, two above and two below corner of mouth on each side, oral surface of each papilla lined black, palate yellow with three large triangular spots and two small spots behind them, tongue with two spots; no data on nestling period.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Albertine Rift Mountains EBA. Locally not uncommon. Most numerous of the four crimsonwing species in DRCongo and in Bwindi-Impenetrable Forest, in Uganda; very common in Burundi.
Distribution of the Dusky Crimsonwing - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Dusky Crimsonwing

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Payne, R. B. (2020). Dusky Crimsonwing (Cryptospiza jacksoni), 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.ducwin1.01
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