The tawny-flanked prinia (''Prinia subflava'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

belonging to the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Prinia Prinia is a genus of small insectivorous birds belonging to the passerine bird family Cisticolidae. They were at one time classed in the Old World warbler family, Sylviidae. The prinias are sometimes referred to as wren-warblers. They are a ...

'' in the family

Cisticolidae The family Cisticolidae is a group of about 160 warblers, small passerine birds found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They were formerly included within the Old World warbler family Sylviidae. This family probably originated ...

, a family of

Old World warbler The Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. They are not closely related to the New World warblers. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxo ...

s. It is widespread and common in most parts of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

south of the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

. The

plain prinia The plain prinia (''Prinia inornata''), also known as the plain wren-warbler or white-browed wren-warbler, p. 343 is a small cisticolid warbler found in southeast Asia. It is a resident breeder from Pakistan and India to south China and southea ...

(''P. inornata'') of southern

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

was formerly included in this species but is now usually considered to be a separate species.

Taxonomy

The tawny-flanked prinia was

formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

in 1789 by the German naturalist

Johann Friedrich Gmelin Johann Friedrich Gmelin (8 August 1748 – 1 November 1804) was a German natural history, naturalist, chemist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist. Education Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp F ...

in his revised and expanded edition of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

's ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...

''. He placed it with the wagtails in the

'' Motacilla'' and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Motacilla subflava''. The specific epithet combines the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''sub'' meaning "beneath" or "somewhat" with ''flavus'' meaning "yellow". Gmelin based his account on a hand coloured engraving by

François-Nicolas Martinet François-Nicolas Martinet (1731 - c. 1800) was a French engineer, engraver and naturalist. Although trained as an engineer and draftsman, he began to produce engravings for books and it later became his primary profession. Martinet's year of b ...

that was published to accompany the

Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, and cosmologist. He held the position of ''intendant'' (director) at the ''Jardin du Roi'', now called the Jardin des plant ...

's multi-volume work, the ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux''. The tawny-flanked prinia is now one of 30 species placed in the genus ''

'' that was introduced by the American naturalist

Thomas Horsfield Thomas Horsfield (May 12, 1773 – July 24, 1859) was an American physician and natural history, naturalist who worked extensively in Indonesia, describing numerous species of plants and animals from the region. He was later a curator of the Eas ...

in 1821. Ten

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised: * ''P. s. subflava'' ( Gmelin, JF, 1789) — south Mauritania and Senegal to central Ethiopia and north Uganda * ''P. s. pallescens'' Madarász, G, 1914 — north Mali to northwest Eritrea and north Ethiopia * ''P. s. tenella'' (

Cabanis Cabanis is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernard Cabanis (born 1950), French ice hockey player * George Cabanis (1815–1892), American politician * James Cabanis (1838–1920), American politician, son of George Cabanis *Jea ...

, 1868) — south Somalia, east Kenya and east Tanzania * ''P. s. melanorhyncha'' (

Jardine Jardine is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Al Jardine (born 1942), member of the Beach Boys * Alexander Jardine (British Army officer) (died 1799), Scottish army officer and author * Alexander Jardine (Medal of Honor) (1874– ...

Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ...

, 1852) — Sierra Leone to south Uganda, central Kenya and northwest Tanzania * ''P. s. graueri'' Hartert, EJO, 1920 — central Angola, south, east DR Congo and Rwanda * ''P. s. affinis'' ( Smith, A, 1843) — southeast DR Congo and southwest Tanzania to northeast South Africa * ''P. s. kasokae'' White, CMN, 1946 — east Angola and west Zambia * ''P. s. mutatrix''

Meise Meise () is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in the Flemish region of Belgium. The municipality comprises the towns of Meise proper and Wolvertem (a ''deelgemeente''), and several smaller villages like Sint-Brixius-Rode, Oppem, ...

, 1936 — south Tanzania to east Zimbabwe and central Mozambique * ''P. s. bechuanae'' Macdonald, 1941 — southwest Angola and north Namibia to northwest Zimbabwe * ''P. s. pondoensis'' Roberts, 1922 — south Mozambique and east South Africa

Description

The tawny-flanked prinia is in length with a long, narrow, graduated tail and a fairly long, slender bill. The tail is often held erect or waved from side to side. The upperparts are grey-brown with rufous-brown edges to the

flight feathers Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tai ...

and a rufous tinge to the rump. The throat and breast are whitish while the flanks and vent are warm buff. There is a whitish stripe over the eye and the lores are dark. The tail feathers have a white tip and a dark subterminal band. The sexes are similar in appearance. Non-breeding birds have a longer tail than breeding birds. Juveniles have pale yellow underparts and a yellowish bill. There are many recognised subspecies. The call is short, wheezy and rapidly repeated. The

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

is a monotonous series of shrill notes. The male often sings from an exposed perch. The

pale prinia The pale prinia (''Prinia somalica'') is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan. Its natural habitats are dry savanna and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland Tropical and subt ...

(''P. somalica'') of North-east Africa is similar but paler and greyer with whitish flanks. It inhabits drier, more open habitats than the tawny-flanked prinia. The

river prinia The river prinia (''Prinia fluviatilis'') is a species of bird of the family Cisticolidae. It is found in northwestern Senegal, along the Niger River (near the border between Mali and Niger), in the Lake Chad region and in northwestern Kenya. Its ...

(''P. fluviatilis'') of West Africa is also paler and greyer and has a longer tail. It is restricted to waterside vegetation.

Distribution and habitat

There are ten

distributed across most parts of

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

except for the driest and wettest areas. It is absent from much of the

Congo Basin The Congo Basin () is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It contains some of the larg ...

, southern

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, south-west

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

and the western half of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is found amongst shrubs and grass in a variety of habitats including

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

and cultivated areas. It adapts well to man-made habitats and is not considered to be threatened.

Behaviour

It feeds on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and other

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s. It forages in small flocks which move through shrubs and undergrowth. The

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of ...

is purse-shaped and made of strips of

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

woven together. It is built one to two metres above the ground. Two to four

eggs An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo begins to develop. Egg, EGG or eggs may also refer to: Biology * Egg cell, the female reproductive cell (gamete) in oogamous organisms Food * Eggs as food Places * Egg, Austria * Egg, Switzerland ...

are laid; they are variable in ground colour and usually have brown or purple spots or blotches.

Gallery

File:Tawny-flanked prinia (Prinia subflava bechuanae).jpg, ''P. s. bechuanae'' with nesting material,

File:Tawny-flanked prinia (Prinia subflava) immature.jpg, Juvenile ''P. s. melanorhyncha'',

Soysambu Conservancy The Soysambu Conservancy was created in 2007 to conserve the flora, fauna and scenery of the Soysambu ranch near Gilgil in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. It covers and borders the Elmenteita Badlands in the south, near Mawe Mbili, and La ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

File:Prinia subflava.jpg, Collecting nest material in

Kruger National Park Kruger National Park () is a national park in South Africa covering an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in the country's northeast. It extends from north to south and from east to west. The administrative headquarters are i ...

References

*Barlow, Clive; Wacher, Tim & Disley, Tony (1999) ''A Field Guide to Birds of the Gambia and Senegal'', Pica Press, Sussex. *Serle, W.; Morel G.J. & Hartwig, W. (1977) ''Collins Field Guide: Birds of West Africa'', HarperCollins. *Sinclair, Ian & Ryan, Peter (2003) ''Birds of Africa south of the Sahara'', Struik, Cape Town. *Zimmerman, Dale A.; Turner, Donald A. & Pearson, David J. (1999) ''Birds of Kenya & Northern Tanzania'', Christopher Helm, London.

External links

African Bird Image Database: Tawny-flanked prinia
* Tawny-flanked prinia
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3726284 tawny-flanked prinia Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa tawny-flanked prinia tawny-flanked prinia