Editing Cisticola

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name              = ''Cisticola''
| image             = Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis) 2.jpg
| image_caption     = [[Zitting cisticola]] (''Cisticola juncidis'')
| taxon             = Cisticola
| authority         = [[Johann Jakob Kaup|Kaup]], 1829
| type_species      = ''[[Zitting cisticola|Sylvia cisticola]]''<ref name=HM4>{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=164 |title= Cisticolidae |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-15}}</ref>
| type_species_authority = Temminck, 1820
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision       =
see text
}}
__NOTOC__
'''Cisticolas''' (pronounced ''sis-TIC-olas'') are a genus of very small insectivorous [[bird]]s formerly classified in the [[Old World warbler]] family Sylviidae, but now usually considered to be in the separate family [[Cisticolidae]], along with other southern warbler genera. They are believed to be quite closely related to the [[swallow|swallows and martins]], the [[bulbul]]s and the [[white-eye]]s. The genus contains about 50 species, of which only two are not found in Africa: one in Madagascar and the other from Asia to Australasia.  They are also sometimes called '''fantail-warblers''' due to their habit of conspicuously flicking their tails, or '''tailor-birds''' because of their nests.

==Taxonomy==
The genus was erected by the German naturalist [[Johann Jakob Kaup]] in 1829. The [[type species]], by [[Tautonym |tautonymy]], is ''Sylvia cisticola'' [[Coenraad Jacob Temminck|Temminck]], 1820, now considered as a [[subspecies]] of ''Sylvia juncidis'' [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque|Rafinesque]] 1810, the [[zitting cisticola]].<ref>{{ cite book | last=Kaup  | first=Johann Jakob  | author-link=Johann Jakob Kaup | year=1829 | title=Skizzirte Entwickelungs-Geschichte und natürliches System der europäischen Thierwelt | volume=c. 1 | language=German | place=Darmstadt  | publisher=Carl Wilhelm Leske | page=119 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41576542 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1986 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=11 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=84 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483785 }}</ref> The name ''Cisticola'' is from [[Ancient Greek]] ''kisthos'', "[[Cistaceae|rock-rose]]", and [[Latin]] ''colere'', "to dwell".<ref name=job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n109 109]}}</ref>

==Range and habitat==
Cisticolas are widespread through the [[Old World]]'s tropical and sub-tropical regions. [[Africa]], which is home to almost all species, is the most likely ancestral home of the group. Cisticolas are usually [[bird migration|non-migratory]] with most species attached to and often distinguishable by their habitats.

A variety of open habitats are occupied. These include wetlands, moist or drier grasslands, open or rocky mountain slopes, and human-modified habitats such as road verges, cultivation, weedy areas or pasture. The species preferring wetlands can be found at the edges of [[mangrove]], or in [[papyrus]], [[Phragmites|common reed]], or [[typha]] swamps. Cisticolas are generally quite common within what remains of their preferred habitats.

The [[zitting cisticola]] (or fan-tailed warbler) is widespread throughout the tropics and even breeds in southern [[Europe]]. It has occurred on a few occasions as a vagrant to England.

==Description==
[[File:CisticolaExilisBaker.jpg|thumb|right|Male [[golden-headed cisticola]] and nest]]
Because of their small size (about 10&nbsp;cm) and brown plumage, they are more easily heard than seen. The similar plumage of many species can make them hard to identify, particularly in winter when they seldom emerge from their grasses. Many African species, in particular, are difficult to distinguish other than by their [[bird vocalization|calls]].  Thirteen species are named for their calls, from "singing" and "chirping" to "bubbling" and "siffling".

==Behaviour==
Male cisticolas are polygamous. The female builds a discreet nest deep in the grasses, often binding living leaves into the soft fabric of felted plant down, cobweb, and grass: a cup shape for the [[zitting cisticola]] with a canopy of tied-together leaves or grasses overhead for camouflage, a full dome for the [[golden-headed cisticola]]. The average clutch is about 4 eggs, which take about 2 weeks to hatch. The [[Cuckoo-finch|parasitic weaver]] is a specialist parasite of cisticolas and [[prinia]]s.

In summer, male cisticolas of smaller species make spectacular display flights while larger species perch in prominent places to sing lustily. Despite his size and well-camouflaged, brown-streaked plumage, the male golden-headed cisticola of Australia and southern Asia produces a small, brilliant splash of golden-yellow colour in the dappled sunlight of a reed bed.

==List of species==
The genus contains 53 species:<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Grassbirds, Donacobius, tetrakas, cisticolas, allies | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/grassbirds/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=10 November 2024}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Image !!  Common Name !! Scientific Name !! Distribution
|-
|[[File:Red-faced Cisticola (Cisticola erythrops).jpg|120px]] || [[Red-faced cisticola]] ||''Cisticola erythrops''|| Sub-Saharan Africa (except southern and Horn of Africa)
|-
|[[File:Cistícola cantor (Cisticola cantans), parque nacional de la Selva Impenetrable de Bwindi, Uganda, 2024-02-01, DD 84.jpg|120px]] || [[Singing cisticola]] ||''Cisticola cantans''|| Sub-Saharan Africa
|-
|[[File:Whistling Cisticola - Ghana S4E2445 (16700461533) (cropped).jpg|120px]] || [[Whistling cisticola]] ||''Cisticola lateralis''|| African tropical rainforest
|-
|[[File:Trilling Cisticola, Sakania, DR Congo (16421861459).jpg|120px]] || [[Trilling cisticola]] ||''Cisticola woosnami''|| Zambia, Tanzania, DR Congo, western Kenya
|-
|[[File:Cisticola anonymus 221640.jpg|120px]] || [[Chattering cisticola]] ||''Cisticola anonymus''|| central Africa
|-
|[[File:Bubbling Cisticola 110ND500 DSC7837.jpg|120px]] || [[Bubbling cisticola]] ||''Cisticola bulliens''|| western Angola
|-
|[[File:Hunter‘sCisticola.jpg|120px]] || [[Hunter's cisticola]] ||''Cisticola hunteri''|| Kenya and northern Tanzania
|-
|[[File:Chubbs cisticola.jpg|120px]] || [[Chubb's cisticola]] ||''Cisticola chubbi''|| Western High Plateau and Albertine rift montane forests
|-
| - || [[Kilombero cisticola]] ||''Cisticola bakerorum''|| Tanzania
|-
| - || [[Black-lored cisticola]] ||''Cisticola nigriloris''|| Tanzania
|-
|[[File:Rock-loving Cisticola (Cisticola aberrans minor).jpg|120px]] || [[Rock-loving cisticola]] ||''Cisticola aberrans''|| Sub-Saharan Africa
|-
| - || [[Huambo cisticola]] ||''Cisticola bailunduensis''|| Angola 
|-
|[[File:Rattling cisticola, Cisticola chiniana, at Marakele National Park, Limpopo, South Africa - 23880504580.jpg|120px]] || [[Rattling cisticola]] ||''Cisticola chiniana''|| Sub-Saharan Africa (except western and southern Africa)
|-
| - || [[Boran cisticola]] ||''Cisticola bodessa''|| Eritrea, Ethiopia and Kenya
|-
|[[File:Churring Cisticola - Malawi S4E2167 (16700461993).jpg|120px]] || [[Churring cisticola]] ||''Cisticola njombe''|| Tanzania and northern Malawi
|-
|[[File:Amboseli,_Ashy_Cisticola.jpg|120px]] || [[Ashy cisticola]] ||''Cisticola cinereolus''|| East Africa
|-
| - || [[Tana River cisticola]] ||''Cisticola restrictus''|| Kenya
|-
|[[File:Hunter's Cisticola - KenyaNH8O2433 (16698263634).jpg|120px]] || [[Tinkling cisticola]] ||''Cisticola rufilatus''|| central-southern Africa
|-
|[[File:Cisticola subruficapillus -Namaqua National Park, Northern Cape, South Africa-6.jpg|120px]] || [[Grey-backed cisticola]] ||''Cisticola subruficapilla''|| Namibia and South Africa
|-
|[[File:Cisticola lais -Cedara, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa-8.jpg|120px]] || [[Wailing cisticola]] ||''Cisticola lais''|| southern and eastern Afromontane
|-
| - || [[Lynes's cisticola]] ||''Cisticola distinctus''|| Kenya
|-
|[[File:Cisticola galactotes subsp isodactylus, Pungwe-vloedvlakte, Birding Weto, a.jpg|120px]] || [[Rufous-winged cisticola]] ||''Cisticola galactotes''|| southeastern Africa
|-
|[[File:Cisticola marginatus amphilectus, Kuito, Birding Weto, a.jpg|120px]] || [[Winding cisticola]] ||''Cisticola marginatus''|| north/central Sub-Saharan Africa
|-
| - || [[Coastal cisticola]] ||''Cisticola haematocephalus''|| coastal East Africa
|-
| - || [[White-tailed cisticola]] ||''Cisticola anderseni''|| Tanzania
|-
| - || [[Ethiopian cisticola]] ||''Cisticola lugubris''|| Ethiopia
|-
|[[File:Luapula Cisticola.jpg|120px]] || [[Luapula cisticola]] ||''Cisticola luapula''|| Zambia and adjacent areas
|-
|[[File:Cisticola pipiens, Kateque, Birding Weto, a.jpg|120px]] || [[Chirping cisticola]] ||''Cisticola pipiens''|| Zambia, Angola and southern DR Congo
|-
| - || [[Carruthers's cisticola]] ||''Cisticola carruthersi''|| Rwenzori and northern Lake Victoria region
|-
|[[File:Levaillant's Cisticola - South Africa S4E7688 (17294752566).jpg|120px]] || [[Levaillant's cisticola]] ||''Cisticola tinniens''|| southern Sub-Saharan Africa
|-
|[[File:Stout Cisticola (cropped).jpg|120px]] || [[Stout cisticola]] ||''Cisticola robustus''|| western and eastern Afromontane
|-
|[[File:Aberdare Cisticola - Aberdares - Kenya CD5A1890.jpg|120px]] || [[Aberdare cisticola]] ||''Cisticola aberdare''|| Kenya
|-
|[[File:Croaking cisticola (Cisticola natalensis) (cropped).jpg|120px]] || [[Croaking cisticola]] ||''Cisticola natalensis''|| Sub-Saharan Africa
|-
|[[File:Red-pate Cisticola (Cisticola ruficeps).jpg|120px]] || [[Red-pate cisticola]] ||''Cisticola ruficeps''|| Lake Chad to Eritrea and northern Uganda
|-
|[[File:Dorst's Cisticola (Cisticola guinea).jpg|120px]] || [[Dorst's cisticola]] ||''Cisticola guinea''|| western Africa
|-
|[[File:Tiny Cisticola JM.jpg|120px]] || [[Tiny cisticola]] ||''Cisticola nana''|| East Africa
|-
| - || [[Short-winged cisticola]] ||''Cisticola brachypterus''|| Sub-Saharan Africa (except southern Africa)
|-
| - || [[Rufous cisticola]] ||''Cisticola rufus''|| western Africa
|-
|[[File:Foxy Cisticola - Murchison Falls NP Uganda 06 5128 (17133166820).jpg|120px]] || [[Foxy cisticola]] ||''Cisticola troglodytes''|| western CAR to Ethiopia
|-
|[[File:Neddicky (Cisticola fulvicapilla), Pilanesberg National Park, 2014.jpg|120px]] || [[Neddicky]] ||''Cisticola fulvicapilla''|| southern half of Sub-Saharan Africa
|-
|[[File:Tabora ( Long-tailed ) Cisticola - Uganda H8O2802 (17294759186).jpg|120px]] || [[Long-tailed cisticola]] ||''Cisticola angusticauda''|| Zambia and Tanzania
|-
|[[File:Cisticola melanurus, Cuanavale-rivier, a (cropped).jpg|120px]] || [[Black-tailed cisticola]] ||''Cisticola melanurus''|| northern Angola and south-western DRC
|-
|[[File:Zitting cisticola 2024 04 19 (cropped).jpg|120px]] || [[Zitting cisticola]] ||''Cisticola juncidis''|| Afrotropics, southern Palearctic and northern Australia
|-
| - || [[Socotra cisticola]] ||''Cisticola haesitatus''|| Socotra
|-
|[[File:Madagascar Cisticola - Ankarafantsika - Madagascar S4E9918 (15297586322).jpg|120px]] || [[Madagascar cisticola]] ||''Cisticola cherina''|| Seychelles and Madagascar
|-
|[[File:Desert Cisticola (Cisticola aridulus).jpg|120px]] || [[Desert cisticola]] ||''Cisticola aridulus''|| Arid regions of Sub-Saharan Africa
|-
|[[File:Cloud cisticola, Cisticola textrix at Ezemvelo Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa. (44048411120).jpg|120px]] || [[Cloud cisticola]] ||''Cisticola textrix''|| Angola, western Zambia and southern Africa
|-
|[[File:Black-backed Cisticola male JM.jpg|120px]] || [[Black-backed cisticola]] ||''Cisticola eximius''|| sparsely present across the [[Sudan (region)]], the Congo and western Kenya
|-
|[[File:Cisticola dambo, Cuanavale-rivier, Birding Weto, a.jpg|120px]] || [[Dambo cisticola]] ||''Cisticola dambo''|| the Congo, southern DRC, northern Angola and Zambia
|-
|[[File:Pectoral patch cisticola2.jpg|120px]] || [[Pectoral-patch cisticola]] ||''Cisticola brunnescens''|| [[Adamawa Massif]], Gabon, the Congo and highlands of East Africa
|-
|[[File:Cisticola Pale-crowned 2011 12 13 7324 Cedara (cropped).jpg|120px]] || [[Pale-crowned cisticola]] ||''Cisticola cinnamomeus''|| the Congo, Tanzania to eastern South Africa
|-
|[[File:Wing-snapping cisticola (Cisticola ayresii), also known as Ayres' cisticola, at Khama Rhino Sancturary in Botswana. (30941303887).jpg|120px]] || [[Wing-snapping cisticola]] ||''Cisticola ayresii''|| highlands of southern Africa
|-
|[[File:Cisticola exilis - Cornwallis Rd.jpg|120px]] || [[Golden-headed cisticola]] ||''Cisticola exilis''|| Indomalaya and western Oceania
|-
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Nguembock B.; Fjeldsa J.; Tillier A.; Pasquet E. (2007): A phylogeny for the Cisticolidae (Aves: Passeriformes) based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data, and a re-interpretation of a unique nest-building specialization. ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' '''42''': 272–286.
*Ryan, Peter (2006). Family Cisticolidae (Cisticolas and allies). Pp.&nbsp;378–492 in del Hoyo J., Elliott A. & Christie D.A. (2006) ''[[Handbook of the Birds of the World]]''. Volume 11. Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers'' Lynx Edicions, Barcelona {{ISBN|978-84-96553-06-4}}

==External links==
*[http://ibc.lynxeds.com/family/cisticolas-allies-cisticolidae Cisticola videos] on the Internet Bird Collection

{{Passerida|S.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2719515}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cisticola| ]]
[[Category:Cisticolidae]]
[[Category:Bird genera]]
[[Category:Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa]]