Cricket Warbler

The cricket warbler (Spiloptila clamans), also known as cricket longtail, scaly longtail or cricket prinia, is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It belongs to the genus Spiloptila; it is often the only species included in the genus but sometimes the red-fronted prinia is placed there as well. == Description == The cricket warbler is a small, perky warbler with a long tail made up of twelve grey, black and white tipped feathers with the feathers getting longer from the outside to the centre, creating a graduated tail. It is pale buffy rufous on the upperparts, with black streaks on the crown and black tips to the primaries and upper wing coverts, a pale yellow rump, a white supercilium and whitish cream underparts. The male has a greyer cast across the nape. 9–10 cm in length. == Distribution == The cricket warbler occurs in the Sahel Zone from southern Mauritania and northern Senegal east to South Sudan and northern Eritrea. They have recently been found breeding in the Western Sahara at Oued Jenna near Aousserd. == Habitat == The cricket warbler breeds in thorn scrub, especially acacia scrub, it even extends into true desert so long as there…