Bird Watching Blog

Yellowbellied eremomela

Eremomela icteropygialis

SUBFAMILY

Sylviinae

TAXONOMY

Eremomela icteropygialis Lafresnaye, 1822. OTHER COMMON NAMES

English: Salvadori's eremomela; French: Fremomele a croupion jaune; German: Gelbbauch-Eremomela; Spanish: Eremomela de Vientre Amarillo.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

3.9-4.3 in (10-11 cm); 0.26-0.33 oz (7.5-9.3 g). Small bird with gray head, nape, back, and breast, yellow belly and under-tail. Dark eyeline surmounted by a lighter one; dark gray wing and tail.

Eremomela icteropygialis H Resident

DISTRIBUTION

Widespread throughout non-forested sub-Saharan Africa. HABITAT

Woodland, forest edge, scrub, gardens, and riparian areas. BEHAVIOR

Inconspicuous. Usually in pairs or groups of up to eight birds. Territorial. Song is loud, twittery series of 7-8 notes. Mimicry sometimes included.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Foraging mostly in canopy and mid-level for small insects. Sometimes joins mixed-species foraging parties.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Monogamous. Breeds primarily during monsoon season. Nest is deep cup of plant down and spider silk, lined with grass, and suspended from fork of a shrub or tree. One to three eggs are incubated 13-14 days by female; nestlings, fed by both parents, leave after 15-16 days, fed by parents additional two or more weeks.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not threatened.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS None known. ♦

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