Animalia Life

Parus rufiventris
SUBFAMILY
Parinae
TAXONOMY
Parus rufiventris Barboza du Bocage, 1877. Three subspecies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Cinnamon-breasted tit; rufous tit; French: Mйsange а ventre cannelle; German: Rostbauchmeise; Spanish: Herrerillo de Vientre Rufo.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
6 in (15 cm); an attractive species with a black head, dark gray upperparts and breast, black tail, and rufous belly. The iris is a distinctive yellow in the adults; sexes similar.
DISTRIBUTION
P. r. rufiventris: western and central Africa (Angola, Zaпre, Zambia); P. r. maskukuensis: central Africa (Zambia and Malawi); P. r. diligens: western Africa (Namibia and Angola).
HABITAT
Main habitat is miombo woodland, which is moist savannawoodland of Brachystegia. Also found in other woodlands similar to miombo woodland, dry evergreen forests and drier savanna-woodlands. Typically found from 1,969–6,562 ft (600–2,000 m).
BEHAVIOR
Resident. May hold territories during breeding season, but recorded in mixed-species flocks in winter. As with most tits, the song is simple, but a variety of calls are used.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Forages mainly among twigs and leaves on the outer-most parts of trees in the mid and upper canopy. Diet is invertebrates, especially moth larvae.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Poorly known. Nests in holes in trees or stumps, but does not excavate own hole. Breeding season September to November. Clutch size is three or four eggs. Nothing is known of incubation or brood period. May have a cooperative breeding system.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened. A widespread species considered common throughout most of range, although probably rarer in southern areas of range.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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