Green-backed camaroptera explained

The green-backed camaroptera (Camaroptera brachyura), also known as the bleating camaroptera, is a small bird in the family Cisticolidae. This bird is a resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Recent studies suggest this species and the grey-backed camaroptera may be the same species.

This skulking passerine is typically found low in dense cover. The green-backed camaroptera binds large leaves together low in a bush and builds a grass nest within the leaves. The normal clutch is two or three eggs.

These 11.5 cm long warblers have green upperparts. The wings are olive and the underparts whitish grey. The sexes are similar, but juveniles are paler yellow on the breast.

Like most members in the group, green-backed camaroptera is insectivorous.

The green-backed camaroptera was described by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1821 under the binomial name Sylvia brachyura. The type locality is the Cape of Good Hope.^{[1] [2]} The specific epithet brachyura is from the Ancient Greek brakhus for "short" and -ouros for "-tailed".^[3]

There are five subspecies:^[4]

• C. b. pileata Reichenow, 1891 – southeast Kenya to southeast Tanzania
• C. b. fugglescouchmani Moreau, 1939 – northeast Zambia, north Malawi and east Tanzania
• C. b. bororensis Gunning & Roberts, 1911 – south Tanzania, south Malawi and north Mozambique
• C. b. constans Clancey, 1952 – southeast Zimbabwe, south Mozambique and northeast South Africa
• C. b. brachyura (Vieillot, 1821) – south and east South Africa

External links

• Green-backed camaroptera - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.

Notes and References

1. Book: Vieillot, Louis Pierre . Louis Pierre Vieillot . 1821 . Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règnes de la nature. Ornithologie . French . Part 2 . Paris . Agasse . 459 . Title page dated 1823
2. Book: Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . Cottrell . G. William . 1986 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 11 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 187 .
3. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 76 .
4. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2017 . Grassbirds, Donacobius, Malagasy warblers, cisticolas & allies . World Bird List Version 7.3 . International Ornithologists' Union . 26 August 2017 .