This Interesting Bird's Striking, Frosted White Eyebrows Stand Out Against His Fiery Orange Underparts

This bird makes a visual statement with his contrasting colors.

Paul

• Published in Animal Stories
• November 10, 2021

The White-Browed Robin-Chat is a timid yet prominent bird. These birds are brilliantly colored and unique thanks to the gorgeous orange underparts and the shockingly white eyebrow, which is typically the simplest thing to notice when they are lurking in the deeper and darker parts of vegetation.

It is the White-browed Robin Chat's lovely melody that stands out and it is one of the most beautiful bird songs around. They produce exquisite flowing notes in a variety of melodies, repeating refrains with rising loudness and pace, particularly in the chill of the early morning or evening.

Having a vast range of songs helps a male (who are frequently but not always the primary singers) defend a big territory and attract mates. Females tend to view a good and diverse singing voice as a sign of excellent breeding and thus of a desirable partner.

Male and female birds sing duets in which they react to and reply to one other. Their mouth opens wide as they sing loudly with tails moving with each note sung.

The contact cries of the white-browed robin-chat include pit-Morlee, chiiritter-prolific, and da-da-tee, and conclude with da-tree or chuckle-her-tweep. Takata-kata-kata is the alarm call.

Even though its white eyebrow and overall brilliant orange underparts make it difficult to confuse with any other Southern African bird. Several species have been misidentified as Heuglin's Robin in environmentally unsuitable regions beyond its range for many years.

Meet the White-browed robin-chat

It is a huge bird with striking flaming underparts and collar, with a black mask and crown, as well as equally striking white eyebrows.

A black strip runs over the eyes

The white-browed robin-chat (Cossypha heuglini) is also called Heuglin's robin and it belongs to the Muscicapidae family. The adult bird's top plumage is brownish-grey, with vivid orange plumage below.

The crown is black, and the white eyebrows that run from the beak to the rear of the head are just over the eyes.

The back and wings are olive-grey

The plumage of juvenile birds is duller, with a lighter abdomen and delicate speckling around the head.

They have strong firm legs for perching

They are African birds that can be found from Chad and Sudan through the DRC, Tanzania, Angola, and Zambia, and down to South Africa.

The robin enjoys bathing in water.

Riverine woods with patchy canopy and evergreen thickets around lakesides and Acacia woodlands are preferred habitats for white-browed robin-chats. They can also be found in Thickets at the edges of open spaces, and even suburban parks and gardens.

The melodic song of the white-browed robin-chat, which is frequently produced at dawn and night, is faint at first and gradually gets louder.

They reproduce as monogamous couples from August to January, building an open cup-shaped nest made from dead leaves and twigs that are lined with rootlets, leaf midribs, and sometimes extremely fine twigs. The nest is found in a hollow tree trunk or amid the branches of scrubs, beneath an overhanging limb.

The female lays two to three eggs, which are incubated for 14 to 17 days. After the eggs hatch, both parents feed the young for 13-17 days.

Beetles, ants, termites, and other insects, as well as arthropods, frogs, and a variety of fruits, are all part of Heuglin's Robin diet.

This species has a vast breeding range and is considered common across its range, except the extremes.

The white-browed robin-chat is a lovely little bird with white-browed feathers. The bird's ability to imitate the calls of other birds is astonishing.

The bird is not your normal bird, and it has been featured on multiple South African stamps due to its gorgeous plumage and excellent song. 

Paul