Marsh Tchagra Bocagia minuta Scientific name definitions

15–19 cm; male 25–38 g, female 30–37 g, unsexed 32–41 g. A rather small, large-headed, thickset tchagra with comparatively short graduated tail; bill shorter and relatively wider than that of congeners. Male nominate race has glossy black head , whitish cheek, dark rufous-brown mantle, back and upperwing, rump slightly greyer; scapulars black, innermost with rufous inner web, outermost with rufous outer web and tip; tail blackish, feather tips buff, narrow on central pair and increasing in depth outwards, T5 with 5 mm of buff at tip, T6 also with buff outer margin; chin white, throat buffy white, underparts rich ochre; large rufous-buff area on underwing formed by broad inner borders of flight-feathers; iris pinkish-brown or reddish-brown; bill black; legs dark grey. Female is like male, but has striking, well-defined superciliary stripe from base of bill to above ear-coverts. Juvenile initially (one week after leaving nest) looks almost white-headed, has forehead, crown and nape white, dusky stripe through eye, broken blackish lateral crownstripe above white supercilium, with throat, side of head and hindneck very pale buff, eye black, bill bluish-grey with yellowish cutting edges; later is like female but supercilium buffy white, crown streaked and mottled, mantle and scapulars with blackish streaks, tail dark brownish-black, underparts buffier, bill horn-coloured, base of lower mandible paler, eye grey-brown; immature plumage transitional between those of juvenile and adult, buffy supercilium becoming black on male and white on female. Race anchietae is like nominate, but scapulars dark rufous-brown (concolorous with back and wings), wing on average 3 mm longer; reichenowi is like previous but less richly coloured, black crown separated from rufous of mantle by buffish-white hindneck, buff tail-feather tips greyish subterminally, same size as nominate; remota resembles last, but slightly paler and larger.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Rank waterside vegetation with moist grassy hollows, scattered bushes and elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum); edges of marshes, papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) swamps and coastal lagoons; streamside reeds, damp forest borders, abandoned cultivation with regenerating scrub; sugar-cane and maize crops. In Ethiopia long rank grass with scattered trees and bushes, in particular Hyparrhenia, in combretaceous woodland; also in cotton and coffee plantations; in PRCongo common in dambos with patches of Jardinea and Clappertonia. Mainly at low altitudes, but at higher elevations (up to 2150 m) in Zambia and Malawi inhabits bracken briar; occurs at up to 2000 m in E Africa, 1800 m in Cameroon and 1450 m in Zimbabwe.

Resident, perhaps also partially migratory; most records in N part of W African range are in rains, May–Sept.

Quite large insects, including grasshoppers (Acrididae), beetles (Coleoptera), dragonflies (Odonata) and bugs (Hemiptera). Forages low down in vegetation, while clinging to reeds and grass stems; searches trunks, branches and foliage. Sometimes feeds on ground, and hawks insects in flight.

Song of male, in display-flight preceded by muffled wing-fripping, is short, cheery whistled "tuwee-twer-tuweet" or "chee-chu-chweeoo" (nominate race ), or "tuweetilweuu" (remota) or trilling "pirree ti-weep peeeu" (anchietae); female often responds in duet with nasal "cherrrruu"; in territorial aggressiveness, songs of both sexes often followed by discordant, rapid "tzzerrr-tzzerrr, tzzrrrr-tzzrrrr" notes. Alarm "klok", "tchup" or repeated harsh "tzik"; contact call a softer "tzik-tzik" by male, answered with nasal bleating by female.

Not well studied. Season Sept in Ghana, Jun–Jul in Nigeria and Oct in Sudan; various evidence indicates breeding in Feb–Jun and Sept in Uganda; May–Jun and Nov in Kenya and N Tanzania; Oct in Angola; in DRCongo, Jul–Oct (Uele) and Sept–Mar (Katanga); Nov–Dec in Zambia, Nov in Malawi, Nov–Mar in Zimbabwe, and Dec–Mar in Mozambique. Monogamous and territorial. In mornings and evenings perches boldly for long periods on tall grass stem or bush up to 5 m high, in upright posture with tail depressed a little; territorial male rises in air with muffled wing-fripping, at apex raises head and crest and sings while gliding back to perch with tail fanned; female may join male in giving less elaborate song flight; in aggressive territorial interactions song flights made repeatedly, singing combined with calls; in bushes males, sometimes with a female, move about excitedly, bowing, swaying body jerkily from side to side, cocking tail and flicking wings. Courtship apparently involves same song flight, male fluffing out rump feathers and chasing female, both sexes making nasal mewing calls. Nest built by both sexes, a deep, thin-walled cup made of thin, pliant, interlocking rootlets, woody stems and tendrils, sometimes bound on outside with a little spider web, often decorated copiously with fragments of snakeskin, sometimes lined with fine grass, moss and down; sited 0·8–1·8 m above ground in upright fork in bush, fork partly incorporated into sides of nest; nest can be reused for second brood; pair lives throughout year in territory of c. 1 ha. Clutch 1–3 eggs, usually 2–3; incubation by both sexes, in subequal spells of 40–60 minutes; no information on duration of incubation and nestling periods. Nests probably occasionally parasitized by Black Cuckoo (Cuculus clamosus), begging juvenile of which was seen to be accompanied by individual of present species in Benin.

Not globally threatened. Generally uncommon, and frequent or common only locally, within its very large but discontinuous range. This species' evident dependence on swamps suggests that it may be at risk locally and regionally in drought conditions and as a consequence of drainage and water management. Has not been recorded on Kenya coast for decades, and in W of that country no longer occurs in Nairobi, Thika, Murang'a or Nandi areas; presently confined to W of Rift Valley in areas above 1000 m altitude with annual rainfall exceeding 1000 mm. Considered "critically endangered" in Zimbabwe; in 1997, a section of prime habitat, a 4·5-km vlei near Wamba, in Eastern Highlands Tea Estate, was dammed for irrigation, destroying 3·5 km and reducing this species' population from 50 individuals to only 24; in 1998, the remaining 1 km of vlei was taken over for sugar cane and root crops, and by late 2000 only one pair remained; in 1997 there were 12–14 birds in nearby Katiyo Tea Estate, and they, too, had disappeared by 2002 after vlei was planted with bananas and root crops; in 1999, BirdLife Zimbabwe began an educational conservation programme in Honde Valley involving 23 schools, and by 2003 population of this tchagra had increased from two to ten birds.