Cape Crombec Sylvietta rufescens Scientific name definitions

10–11 cm; 9–14 g. Greyish crombec with pale supercilium and tawny or cinnamon-tinged underparts. Nominate race brownish-grey above, with prominent buffy-white supercilium and dark grey eyestripe; upperwing greyish-brown with pale feather edges; cheek to chin and throat buffy white, underparts cinnamon-buff; iris light brown; bill long, blackish-brown; legs reddish-brown to flesh-pink. Sexes alike. Juvenile of nominate undescribed. Races vary mainly in depth of coloration and in bill length, N races paler and short-billed, S ones darker and long-billed: diverga is darker above than nominate, richer cinnamon-buff below; resurga is like previous, but upperparts more bluish-grey; <em>flecki</em> is clearer grey, less brownish, than nominate, but much paler below than last, and has shorter bill; <em>pallida</em> is similar to previous, but face whiter, underparts paler, cinnamon reduced to a wash, bill still smaller; ansorgei is also similar, but browner above, with white supercilium and whiter throat; adelphe is smaller, with brighter underparts.

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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.

Drier savanna with thick bushes or scrubby undergrowth; secondary and light mixed woodland of many types with well-developed understorey; open mopane (Colophospermum mopane) woodland; acacia (Acacia) scrub; both arid areas and gardens in Namibia. Avoids brachystegia (Brachystegia) woodland. Mainly at lower altitudes; below 1500 m in Malawi, but reaches 2000 m in DRCongo.

Mainly sedentary; moves locally at edges of range.

Insects, including mantids, beetles (Coleoptera) and caterpillars; also ticks (Acarina) and grass seeds. Usually alone or in pairs, but often with mixed species parties. Forages in undergrowth and bushes, and in small trees up to 3 m high; keeps to undergrowth where canopy-feeding S. whytii and S. ruficapilla are present. Moves with agile hops from bottom to top of bush, taking food mainly from small twigs and leaves , also from trunks and branches.

Song is a loud, high-pitched, variable trilled phrase which is repeated several times, “chree-chirrit, chree-chirrit…”, “chirrit chit-cheeo, chirrit chit-cheeo…”, or a longer “chirrit-chirrit titrr-trrt chip-chip tria-tria-tria chiploi-chiploi”; call a rolling “trrrt trrrt”.

Breeds in Jan in DRCongo, mainly Sept–Nov in Zambia, mainly Sept–Dec in Zimbabwe, Sept–Apr in Malawi and Mozambique, Sept–Feb in Botswana, and Aug–Mar (mainly Sept–Dec) in Namibia and South Africa. Monogamous; territorial. Nest a rather large, bulky, purse-shaped structure of fibres and dry grass, decorated on outside with pieces of leaf and grass, spider web and wood chips, sometimes lined with wool; usually suspended less than 1 m from ground, with rim drawn out on one side and woven on to end of low branch. Clutch 1–3 eggs; incubation period 14 days; nestlings fed by both parents for at least 14 days. Nests frequently parasitized by Klaas’s Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaas), and is one of latter’s main hosts.

Not globally threatened. Uncommon and rather local in N of range but common in S. Densities of 1 bird/2·5 ha in mixed woodland and 1 bird/6 ha in Burkea in N South Africa; in Botswana, 1 bird/5–6 ha in E acacia bushveld, 1 bird/23 ha in C Kalahari savanna, and highest density 1 bird/1·8 ha in N in tall mixed broadleaf woodland. May have benefited from destruction of brachystegia woodland in Zimbabwe.