Herero Chat Melaenornis herero Scientific name definitions

17 cm; 23–30·7 g. Has crown and upperparts dark brown, crown and mantle feathers with dark central stripes (giving indistinctly dark-streaked appearance); lores blackish, extending as prominent dark brown mask under and behind eye to ear-­coverts; supercilium creamy white and well defined; small white crescent below eye; back more pinkish-tinged, shading to orange-chestnut on rump and uppertail-coverts; inner rectrices dark brown, edged tawny, the proportion of tawny increasing on each feather outwardly, outermost pair entirely orange-chestnut; flight-feathers dark brown, inner primaries narrowly edged buff, secondaries fringed tawny, tertials with broader buff outer edges and tips; scapulars tawny-brown with dark centres; greater and median upperwing-coverts fringed tawny; chin and throat white, sometimes faintly streaked grey on throat; underparts white, washed brownish on breast , lightly streaked greyish-brown on breast and belly, and washed pinkish-brown on flanks; undertail-coverts white; axillaries and underwing-coverts whitish; iris chestnut-brown; bill black; legs dark grey-black. Sexes alike. Juvenile is like adult but duller overall, mantle mottled with rusty, dark brown and pale buff specks, chin to upper belly white, mottled black-brown, tail shorter and redder than adult; immature not properly described.

Extreme SW Angola (Iona National Park, and near Ruacana, on R Cunene) S along escarpment and adjacent plains to C Namibia (S to Mt Tsaris, near Sesriem).

Eats mainly ants (Hymenoptera) and termites (Isoptera), the latter comprising 63% of diet in breeding season; also takes small grasshoppers and locust instars (Orthoptera), moths (Lepidoptera), stick-insects (Phasmatidae), beetle larvae (of family Tenebrionidae) and spiders (Araneae). Also eats berries of rock corkwood (Commiphora saxicola), unidentified seeds, and scraps from picnic sites. Occurs singly, in pairs or in small family groups. Pair-members seldom forage together, but range widely over territory, foraging mostly on the ground, on lightly grassed and sparsely bushed rock-strewn hillsides. Forages from low and high perches , dropping down to catch food on ground; occasionally hawks insects aerially. On the ground bounds restlessly, gleaning prey from bushes, pecking into base of grass tussocks, and using the bill to dig for termites; when approaching bushes, often flicks wings wide open above its back and head, possibly to flush insects. Forages at all times of the day, but retires to shady areas in bushes to perch or hunt at hottest periods. Foraging yield in breeding season is 1 food item/2·17–4·97 minutes. Never observed to drink or bathe.

Generally quiet outside breeding season. Has diverse far-carrying, low, melodious song like that of a robin-chat (Cossypha), with churrs and warbles. Territorial call a single clear, loud “pieoow”; alarm a harsh, subdued “churrrr”. Mimicry of other species reported.

Laying recorded in Feb–Apr, timing linked to rains; single-brooded, but double-brooded in good seasons, possibly triple-brooded when conditions are particularly suitable. Monogamous, and mate-fidelity apparently high. Solitary, at Spitzkoppe (Namibia) nests 250–812 m apart around bases of rocky outcrops; territorial all year. Nest built by both sexes, in 3–4 days, a relatively compact, open cup of dry grass, plant stems and fibres, rootlets and thin bark, occasionally bound with spider web, sometimes lined with white cottony seeds or animal hair; external diameter 80–106 mm, cup diameter 50–70 mm, cup depth 30–59 mm; typically placed in crack, cleft or space between branches at base of tree canopy 1–2 m above ground, but 3–4 m above ground in quiver-tree (Aloe dichotoma) or bottle-tree (Pachypodium lealii), sometimes in clump of mistletoe in tree; nest tree often at base of rocky outcrop, or on adjacent plains, 178–526 m from previous year’s site; average territory size of three pairs in open rocky country c. 1·13 km². Clutch 2–3 eggs, laid at intervals of 1–2 day; incubation, by both sexes, mainly female, period not more than 16 days; hatching synchronous, chicks fed by both parents, fledging period 12–16 days; fledged young remain in territory for at least 3 months and not more than 5 months. From 24 breeding attempts, 13 eggs in six nests preyed on, 19 of 36 eggs hatched, and 14 (73·7%) of 19 chicks fledged.