Black scrub-robin  (Cercotrichas podobe)

The black scrub-robin is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List (1).

The black scrub-robin (Cercotrichas podobe) is a long-legged bird with almost entirely greyish-black plumage and a distinctly long tail, which is often held cocked (2). The beak and legs are also black, although the wings may show some reddish-brown, while the undersides of the tail feathers have broad white tips, and the undertail-coverts are marked with white chevrons (2). The male black scrub-robin is slightly larger than the female, but the sexes are otherwise similar in appearance. Juveniles are browner in colour than the adults and have less conspicuous white tail tips (2).

Two subspecies of black scrub-robin are recognised: Cercotrichas podobe podobe and Cercotrichas podobe melanoptera, the latter lacking any reddish-brown in the wings. Forms intermediate between the two may occur in parts of the species’ range (2). The calls of the black scrub-robin are described as a hoarse squeak and a liquid chatter, while its song consists of a series of short, variable and far-carrying phrases, each starting with a sweet falling note (often with a trill) and ending with a scratchy falling note. A babbling mixture of sweet, scratchy, fluty and squeaky notes is also sometimes given (2).

The black scrub-robin occurs across North Africa and into the Arabian Peninsula (3). C. p. podobe occurs from southern Mauritania and northern Senegal, east to northeast Sudan, northern Ethiopia and western Arabia, while C. p. melanoptera is found in the western, central and southern Arabian Peninsula (2). This species may also be a winter visitor to Somalia (2) and has been recorded as a vagrant in Egypt, Jordan and the eastern Arabian Peninsula (3).

The black scrub-robin inhabits arid desert, semi-desert and dry savanna with scattered shrubs, bushes or palm trees (2) (3), typically at elevations below 1,500 metres (2).

Usually foraging on the ground or in low bushes, the black scrub-robin often probes seemingly bare sand or soil under bushes for food. Little information is available on the diet of this species (2), but like other members of the Muscicapidae family it probably feeds on insects, and perhaps also some fruit (4).

The breeding season of the black scrub-robin varies with location, ranging from February to July in Senegal, from May to August in Ethiopia, and from March to July in the Arabian Peninsula (2). The nest is built around one to two metres above the ground, in a small palm, bush or tree, or in a crevice in a tree trunk or a building. Constructed from dry grass, palm fibres, twigs and small roots, it is a flat, ragged cup shape, lined with hair, wool and fine grass. Between two and four eggs are laid, and are pale greenish to greenish-grey in colour, with grey, olive or reddish-brown speckles. Little else is known about the breeding biology of this species (2).

The black scrub-robin is a widespread and relatively common species, and is not currently considered at risk of extinction (3). It is believed to have extended its range into the northern and eastern Arabian Peninsula in recent decades, apparently as a result of changing agricultural practices, and it has also now become established in Israel (2) (5).

There are no specific conservation measures currently in place for this widespread species.

View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

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To find out more about the black scrub-robin, see:

• BirdLife International:
  http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=6636&m=0