Mocking Cliff Chat Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris White-crowned Cliff Chat Thamnolaea coronata

Mocking Cliff-chat Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris
(aka White-crowned Cliff Chat Thamnolaea coronata)

Male Mocking Cliff Chat, Shai Hills, Ghana, May 2011 - click for larger image

Ghana and Ethiopia
May 2011

The Mocking Cliff-chat is distributed down most of east Africa and in discontinuous areas from Mauritania in West Africa through to Ethiopia. See the distribution map at Birdlife International. It is found in areas with both rocks and trees such as the Shai Hills in Ghana where photos 1 and 2 were taken. Apparently they can be quite tame around campsites, etc., but these birds were far from tame and kept their distance well up on the cliff face.

Female Mocking Cliff Chat, Shai Hills, Ghana, May 2011 - click for larger image

There are about nine recognised sub-species and most the males have an all black crown. In Ghana, photos 1 and 2, the sub-species is T. c. coronata where the male has a white crown as well as the white shoulder patch and the female is a much paler rufous-grey around the head. Some authorities used to regard this sub-species as a full species but most now recognise it as a sub-species of Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris.

Mocking Cliff Chat, Jemma Valley, Ethiopia, January 2016 - click for larger image

Photos 3, 4 and 5 show the sub-species T. c. albiscapulata from Ethiopia where the famele (photo 5) shows no white on the wings.

The call is clear and penetrating.

Mocking Cliff Chat, Lalibela, Ethiopia, January 2016 - click for larger image

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