Croaking Cisticola (Cisticola natalensis) [XC397955]
by Peter Boesman from Mutinondo Wilderness area, Northern Province, Zambia (song)
Croaking Cisticola (Cisticola natalensis) [XC397950]
by Peter Boesman from Entrance road Nyika NP, Malawi (call)
Subspecies
Subspecies intergrade to some extent, especially nominate and strangei through southern Kenya, Tanzania and northern Mozambique.
Proposed subspecies kapitensis (central Kenya to north-eastern Tanzania) and littoralis (coast from south-eastern Kenya to north-eastern Tanzania) synonymized with strangei; matengorum (southern Tanzania to northern Mozambique) and vigilax (central Zimbabwe to north-eastern southern Africa) synonymized with nominate.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
strangei (Fraser, 1843) - Senegal to south-western Sudan, Uganda, Burundi, south-central Kenya and northern Tanzania.
tonga Lynes, 1930 - Southern Sudan.
inexpectatus Neumann, 1906 - Eritrea and central Ethiopian Highlands.
argenteus Reichenow, 1905 - Southern Ethiopia, northern Kenya and southern Somalia.
huambo Lynes, 1930 - Western and central Angola.
katanga Lynes, 1930 - North-eastern Angola, southern DRCongo, Zambia (except south-western and east), south-western Tanzania and northern Malawi.
natalensis (Smith, 1843) - South-central Tanzania, eastern Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and eastern South Africa.
holubii (Pelzeln, 1882) - South-western Zambia, north-eastern Botswana and extreme western Zimbabwe.