Animalia Life

Cercotrichas galactotes
TAXONOMY
Cercotrichas galactotes Temminck, 1820, Algeciras.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Rufous-tailed scrub-robin; French: Agrobate roux; German: Heckensдnger; Spanish: Alzacola Espaсol.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
5.9 in (15 cm); 0.7–0.9 oz (21–25 g). Rufous-brown upperparts with reddish tail and buff underparts. Wings are streaked brown and buff. Rufous head with white brow and cheek stripes.
DISTRIBUTION
Southwest Europe including Spain, Portugal, southeast Europe, southwest Asia, and Arabia, North Africa from Morocco to Egypt, West Africa south of Sahara, locally Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia.
HABITAT
Cactus thickets, dry scrub in gullies, warm, bushy slopes, orchards, gardens.
BEHAVIOR
Solitary or in pairs; mostly on ground, secretive, but also demonstrative to intruders and potential predators, flirting boldly-marked tail in display, threat, or distraction activities.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, earwigs, and other invertebrates, a few seeds, and fruits.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Monogamous and territorial; males sing to proclaim territory; nest loose and untidy, in palm thicket or thorn bush; three to five eggs incubated by female for 13 days, young fledge in 12–13 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened. Scarce in much of European range, but numbers stable.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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