Northern Crombec Sylvietta brachyura Scientific name definitions

This small, very short-tailed African warbler is fairly common in a variety of open wooded habitats (mainly below 1,500 m elevation), including semi-arid thorn scrub, Acacia woodland, as well as farmbush, trees around human habitations, and even coastal mangroves. Like other Sylvietta, Northern Crombec is an active species that forages for invertebrates in a manner similar to nuthatches (Sittidae), obtaining most prey from bark surfaces, and it often forages in the company of mixed-species bird flocks. It is broadly distributed from Senegal to Somalia, extending south in East Africa to northern Tanzania and southern Kenya. The Northern Crombec includes two northern subspecies (brachyura and carnapi) and an eastern subspecies (leucopsis), which is considered a separate species by some authorities on the basis of plumage differences, a shorter bill in leucopsis, and song differences.