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Rudd's Apalis Apalis ruddi Scientific name definitions

Peter Ryan
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2006

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

11–12 cm; male 10–11 g, female 9–10 g. A dark-eyed apalis with narrow whitish supercilium and black breastband, tail graduated. Male nominate race has crown, nape and ear-coverts grey, lores and area below eye darker grey; mantle, back and upperwing-coverts olive-green, flight-feathers dark grey-brown with yellow-green outer margins; tail olive-green with narrow yellow tip; throat white, faintly tinged buff, separated from pale buff of breast and central belly by black breastband (c. 4 mm deep); sides of neck and breast green, merging into olive-green flanks; iris brown; bill black; legs pinkish-brown. Female is duller than male, with breastband narrower (c. 2 mm deep). Juvenile has indistinct breastband. Race fumosa is darker above than nominate, with darker tail that has whitish tips and a blackish subterminal band; caniviridis is greyer above, with blue-grey crown, has reddish eyes (brighter in male).

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Three subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

SUBSPECIES

Apalis ruddi caniviridis Scientific name definitions

Apalis ruddi caniviridis
A. r. caniviridis

Distribution

lower R Shire Valley, S Malawi.
SUBSPECIES

Apalis ruddi ruddi Scientific name definitions

Apalis ruddi ruddi
A. r. ruddi

Distribution

S Mozambique between R Save and R Nkomati.
SUBSPECIES

Apalis ruddi fumosa Scientific name definitions

Distribution

extreme S Mozambique (Maputo), E Swaziland and E South Africa (N KwaZulu-Natal).

Distribution

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.

Habitat

Sand forest, riverine thickets and tangled cover, dense acacia (Acacia) thickets and dense, dry woodland; occasionally in dune-forest, but absent from swamp-forest.

Movement

Resident; some local dispersal. One retrapped at same location in S Malawi after 7 years.

Diet and Foraging

Diet of small insects, including caterpillars (Lepidoptera) and other larvae; also small flower buds and nectar. Forages by gleaning from twigs and foliage; sometimes hawks insects in flight, or gleans insects while hovering; probes Aloe flowers for nectar. Sometimes forages alongside A. flavida in mixed-species flocks.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Male song, often from conspicuous perch, a loud, rather dry “trrt trrt trrt…”, repeated 5–15 times at 6–9 notes per second, often accompanied by female’s higher-pitched and faster “prp prp prp…” or “pip pip pip…..”. In courtship display, male gives very soft “chook-chook-chook”. Contact call a low “chirg-chirg”. Snaps bill when agitated.

Breeding

Sept–Jan. Probably monogamous; solitary, with nests c. 80 m apart along a riparian corridor; territorial. In courtship display, a male followed a female around branches of large tree, jumping about, excitedly flirting his tail and calling softly. Nest oval, with side entrance at top, built of dried grasses or finely shredded bark, decorated externally with green moss, Usnea lichens, dead leaves or leaf skeletons, lined with soft plant down, built 0·3–2·5 m above ground in tree, bush or tangled creeper, and bound to supporting twigs with spider web. Clutch 1–3 eggs (usually 2); no information on incubation and fledging periods; chicks fed by both sexes.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Restricted-range species: present in South-East African Coast EBA. Listed as “near-threatened” in South Africa and Swaziland because it is intolerant of habitat alteration; most populations in South Africa are confined to protected areas. Locally fairly common. Densities of 0·32 pairs/ha in Kruger National Park and 0·9 pairs/ha in KwaZulu-Natal; populations crudely estimated at more than 10,000 individuals in S Mozambique and 1000 in Swaziland (where occurs locally at densities of 0·23 birds/ha); in excess of 7000 in KwaZulu-Natal and 4750 in NE Kruger National Park, in South Africa, where average density in suitable habitat 0·49 birds/ha.
Distribution of the Rudd's Apalis - Range Map
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Distribution of the Rudd's Apalis

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Ryan, P. (2020). Rudd's Apalis (Apalis ruddi), 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.rudapa1.01
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