Mystery Cisticola in Katavi

I came across a Cisticola sp. I was not familiar with yesterday – see images attached.



On first impression, it looked large, very chunky with a heavy bill, and mostly grey apart from startling white throat and supercillium, in front of the eye only. The head seemed to have little in the way of warm tones. In flight it looked very similar a weaver (i.e fast and direct) when it also showed a short tail.



I first saw two birds together and was completely stumped, and they didn’t call at all. Luckily I came across another pair 1-2km away and this time they were calling. I remembered it as “TU-tweeee” the latter note long and rising, which was repeated several times.



When I got back to camp, I checked F&S and although the plates weren’t much help, the text suggested that the call is a good fit for Chirping Cisticola. The distribution notes say it’s meant to occur at “Mumba stream” only in SW TZ. We’re not far from a place called Mamba (maybe the same?) so maybe this is just a small leap for them if they are coming in from Zambia?

maybe this is a familiar bird to you?


Cheers and best,



Adam Kennedy