Cercotrichas quadrivirgata

The Bearded Scrub-Robin inhabits dense woodland, thickets and riparian forests. They are excellently camouflaged as they search for insects and spiders in the leaf litter on the forest floor, and often go unnoticed. Adults weigh around 20-30g.

Bearded Scrub-Robins are usually encountered singly or in monogamous, territorial pairs or family groups, and breed in spring and summer in cup-shaped nests built of grass, leaves, twigs and roots, lined with mammal hair, in holes and cavities against the trunks of trees. Here the female incubates a clutch of 2 or 3 eggs for 2 weeks. The chicks grow rapidly and leave the nest at 2 weeks old, becoming independent of the parents about a month later.

In South Africa, Bearded Scrub-Robins are only found in the north of Kwazulu-Natal and the Lowveld and escarpment of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, the species has a wider distribution into Africa north of our borders, extending all the way to Kenya.