Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"

A pretty and colourful birdie for you this time! But even prettier than its looks, is its voice. This is a Natal Robin-Chat, also called a Red-capped Robin-Chat, Cossypha natalensis. It is a species quite easily seen (and heard!) in the northeastern parts of South Africa, not just in Kwazulu-Natal as you might think. From there it also stretches into south-Central Africa, Eastern Africa as far as Ethiopia, and has been recorded in a couple of sites in north-Central Africa – beyond the rainforest belt, from which it's largely absent. Its colour scheme is very simple: bright orange-rufous and slaty blue. It inhabits riverine, coastal and mountain forest, thickets, well-developed woodland and savannah (mostly during summer), and also many gardens within its range. It avoids dry or open habitats, and also is absent from tall, equatorial rainforest. In seasonally dry, or cold forest or woodland, it will depart to moister, warmer forests during the winter, typically moving to the coast from inland regions. It also displays other seasonal movements we still don't fully understand. In some areas, some birds are residents, while others undergo small movements, and others still make long-distance migrations!

Robins of the World, Divide!

Not so long ago, this species was simply called the Natal Robin. It found itself in the same boat with lots and lots of birds called 'robins' all over the world. The original robin is the robin or robin-red-breast of Europe and northern Asia, Erithacus rubecula, a well-known and pretty species, once classified in the thrush family, but now thought to be closer to flycatchers. Europeans, when they started seriously exploring other regions of the world, found many other birds with red or orange breasts, and called them robins too – irrespective of whether they were anywhere near related to the proper robin. So, in America, the bird there called a robin – elsewhere called the American Robin – is actually a species of thrush. In South Africa, the bird the Cape Dutch first encountered and called a robin was the Cape Robin (now Robin-Chat), which had a pretty orange throat and breast. After its discovery, all the South African birds closely related to it also were called robins, even though a few of them don't have any red or orange on their breasts at all! They also turn out to not be closely related to Eurasian robins. Species encountered elsewhere in Africa, not being so similar, ended up being called chats. Today with efforts to standardize the names birds are called by all over Africa, they're called robin-chats, while other related species are called scrub-robins, and yet others are called forest robins (still, neither of those are real robins).

The robin-chats are a large assemblage of African bird species, perhaps more closely related to thrushes than to chats, and not particularly close to the Eurasian robins. Robin-chats mostly are birds of the forest undergrowth, where they scratch and thrash around in the leaf litter, much like thrushes, in search of worms, slugs and other invertebrates. They'll also eat berries and small, fallen fruits. In the forest interior, they communicate by sound, their crystal-pure whistles penetrating deep into the gloom. Natal Robin-chats even feed in the dim light of early morning or late evening, when the forest is darker still. They have particularly big and bright, black eyes, giving them keen vision.

Flattering Imitation

Natal Robin-Chats are vocal virtuosos. They have a very simple identification call, 'see-saw, see-saw'. Like other robin-chats, this is a 'signature' phrase, used to identify themselves as members of their own species. But the main territorial song is much more elaborate. The robin-chat is a master of improvisation – and imitation! It uses both its own clear, fluty whistles, weaving them into a melody, along with calls or the elements of calls of other birds, and even non-birds like barking dogs! The singing bird takes these as 'building blocks' from which to construct a highly elaborate song, almost a symphony. The more adeptly and creatively it can go about weaving everything together into its song, the more it impresses other robin-chats. This is truly a kind of 'bird culture'. Songs will vary from one individual bird to another. Every bird's song will reflect its own environment, with all the sounds to be heard in it. The complexity of these songs surely suggests that these little birds must harbour impressive processing-power in their tiny brains!

Cuckoo Victims

These robin-chats have been well-studied. Males and females pair up and defend a territory, the male being the main singer. Most disputes are settled by song. The male also uses song to court the female, who appears to be a most severe critic. She's only impressed with the most elaborate songs incorporating the most diverse elements. The male also does a little dance: he shivers his wings while holding them half open, and does dancing steps to one side and then to another. He also does a short fluttering flight, whirring his wings noisily.

Interestingly, this species has been recorded hybridising with the closely related, also forest-living Chorister Robin-Chat, Cossypha dichroa.

After mating, the female lays two to four eggs in the cup-shaped nest she and the male built together. The eggs are chocolate-brown to pinkish brown to olive-green, well camouflaged to match the colours of the forest floor. Unfortunately there's another match to consider – the eggs of the Red-chested Cuckoo! These cuckoos lay eggs that are the same colour as the robin-chat's, only being slightly larger. They also hatch sooner so that the cuckoo chick emerges before the robin-chats' own chicks. It might then push the other eggs out of the nest, leaving itself in possession of the only mouth to feed! Fortunately, cuckoos don't parasitize all robin nests, and are driven away if spotted. It is still strange, though, that the robin-chats will keep feeding a cuckoo foster-chick even when it must be very apparent that it's not one of their own! Perhaps they grow attached to it after having fed it for a while – or perhaps they are in denial about having been parasitized and lost their own chicks!

Fortunately, parasitism in spite, Natal robin-chats are quite abundant in suitable habitat in southern Africa and elsewhere. Adapting well to suburban gardens, they can even survive in regions where much of their native habitat has been destroyed. Still, it is crucial that we should conserve the indigenous forests and other habitats where they and so many other species live.

Colours of Wildlife Archive

Willem

29.08.16 Front Page

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