Black Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas podobe) [XC128901]
by Bram Piot from Hevel Eilot, Southern District, Israel (alarm call)
Black Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas podobe) [XC415370]
by Yosef Kiat from Lagune de Somone (Dalaal Diam), Senegal (alarm call)
Subspecies
Differs from Erythropygia in generally larger size and distinctively black plumage. Subspecies melanoptera apparently intergrades with nominate in western Arabia, where sample of museum skins revealed 25% showing traces of rufous in wing.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
podobe (Müller, 1776) - Southern Mauritania and northern Senegal east to north-eastern Sudan, northern Ethiopia and western Arabia. Non-breeding also northern Somalia.
melanoptera (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833) - Western, central and southern Arabian Peninsula.