Breeding takes place in the spring, principally in October and November. The nest is usually on or near the ground, in a hollow stump, near the root of a vine or in a discarded utensil. It is cup-shaped and composed of twigs, dry grasses and leaves and lined with rootlets, tendrils, stalks and fragments of leaves. There are usually two or three eggs and the incubation is done solely by the hen bird and lasts fourteen to fifteen days. Both parents feed the chicks, which leave the nest after about a fortnight but remain dependent on the adults for another six or seven weeks. The white-throated robin-chat is sometimes parasitised by the red-chested cuckoo.[6]
Status
The white-throated robin-chat is found in southern Africa. Its range includes parts of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Eswatini and South Africa and covers an area of approximately 645,000 square kilometres (249,000 sq mi). Its population has not been quantified but it is common in much of its range and the population appears to be stable, so the IUCN lists it as being of "Least Concern".[7]
^Hockey, P. A. R.; Dean, W. R. J.; Ryan, P. G. (2005). Roberts Birds of Southern Africa (7th ed.). Cape Town: Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. pp. 930–931. ISBN0-620-34053-3.
^Keith, Stuart; Urban, Emil K.; Fry, C. Hilary (1992). The Birds of Africa, Volume IV. Academic Press. pp. 435–426. ISBN9780121373047.
^Oatley, O. (1959). "Notes on the genus Cossypha, with particular reference to C natalensis Smith and C. dichroa (Gmelin)". Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology. 30 (1): 426–434. doi:10.1080/00306525.1959.9633355.
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