BlueGnu - Explore South Africa's many tourist attractions
Mocking Cliff-Chat
Afrikaans name: Dassievoël
Photo © Steven Herbert
Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris
The male Mocking Cliff-Chat is an attactive bird with black, white and reddish-brown plumage. The female is reddish-brown and grey.
Mocking Cliff-Chats are found in the eastern half of South Africa. Beyond our borders they are found all the way up to Tanzania and Ethiopia.
They are normally found in rocky hillsides that have some vegetation to provide them cover. Once you know an area where they occur they are easy to find again as they do not move from area to area.
Most of their food consists of insects but they do eat some fruit and nectar.
The pair make a nest in abandoned swallow nests or a natural or man-made hole. Up to 4 eggs are laid. The female tends to the eggs but both sexes feed the chicks.
References and further reading
A First Guide to South African Birds - 7th Edition - Author: Leonard Gill - Year Published: 1975 - Page: 70Collins Illustrated Checklist - Birds of Southern Africa - 1st edition - Author: Ber van Perlo - Year Published: 1999 - Page: 57
Field Guide to the Birds of Kruger National Park - Author: Ian Sinclair and Ian Whyte - Year Published: 1991 - Page: 156
Field Guide to the Cradle of Humankind - Author: B. Hilton-Barber & Prof. L. R. Berger - Year Published: 2004 - Page: 185
Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa - 5th Edition - Author: Gordon Lindsay Maclean - Year Published: 1985 - Page: 519
Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa - 6th Edition - Author: Gordon Lindsay Maclean - Year Published: 1993 - Page: 515
Sasol Birds of Southern Africa - 4th Edition - Author: Ian Sinclair et al. - Year Published: 2011 - Page: 320