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Parisoma layardi (Layard's
tit-babbler)
Grystjeriktik [Afrikaans]; Layards meeszanger [Dutch];
Parisome de Layard [French]; Layards meisensänger [German]; Felosa-chapim
de Layard [Portuguese]
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned
fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates) > Tetrapoda
(four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Reptilia (reptiles) >
Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria >
Dinosauria
(dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) >
Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves
(birds) > Order: Passeriformes
> Family: Sylviidae > Genus: Parisoma
Distribution and habitat
Endemic to southern Africa, occurring from western Namibia
to South Africa. It is generally common, preferring shrubland in mountainous
areas and arid fynbos, occasionally moving into gardens in rural villages in the
Karoo.
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Distribution of Layard's tit-babbler in southern
Africa, based on statistical smoothing of the records from first SA Bird
Atlas Project (©
Animal Demography unit, University of
Cape Town; smoothing by Birgit Erni and Francesca Little). Colours range
from dark blue (most common) through to yellow (least common).
See here for the latest distribution
from the SABAP2. |
Food
It mainly eats invertebrates gleaned from the leaves and
branches of low shrubs, supplemented with fruit. The following food items have been recorded
in its diet:
- Insects
- Fruit
- Ficus cordata (Namaqua rock fig)
- Lycium (honey-thorns)
Breeding
- The nest is a small cup built of grass and silky fibres from the bark of
Asclepias buchenaviana (Lammerlat), secured together with spider web,
with thicker walls than the nest of the Chestnut-vented tit-babbler.
It is typically placed in a fork near the base of a bush, often in
Rhizogum obovatum (Simple-leaved rhizogum) in the southern Nama Karoo.
- Egg-laying season is from March-December, from September to November.
- It lays 2-3 eggs, which are probably incubated for 13-15 days.
- Both adults care for the young, who leave the nest after roughly 15
days.
Threats
Not threatened.
References
-
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts
- Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker
Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
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