Pale-crowned Cisticola (Cisticola cinnamomeus) [XC339089]
by Peter Boesman from River wetland east of Mbala, Northern province, Zambia (call)
Pale-crowned Cisticola (Cisticola cinnamomeus) [XC858200]
by Peter Boesman from Metsimaholo Local Municipality (near Deneysville), Fezile Dabi District Municipality, Free State, South Africa (call)
Subspecies
Often considered conspecific with Pectoral-patch Cisticola (Cisticola brunnescens), but the two occur together in PRCongo, where they occupy different habitats and are vocally quite distinct. Coastal populations in southern Mozambique and eastern South Africa were described as subspecies taciturnus, and even suggested as being a separate species, but evidence not widely accepted; retained in egregia.
Cisticola taciturnus was described as a subspecies of Pectoral-patch Cisticola (Cisticola brunnescens) by Clancey (1992) but the origin of the suggestion that taciturnus should be considered a species cannot be traced from BirdLife's electronic record, and it is possible that a mistake has been made.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
midcongo Lynes, 1938 - South-eastern Gabon, PRCongo and adjacent western DRCongo.
cinnamomeus Reichenow, 1904 - Central and eastern Angola, south-eastern DRCongo, Zambia, southern Tanzania, Zimbabwe and northern Botswana.
egregius (Roberts, 1913) - Southern Mozambique and eastern South Africa.
taciturnus Clancey, 1992 - Coastal southern Mozambique and eastern South Africa.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet