Courtship of the Green-backed Camaroptera <i>Camaroptera brachyura.</i>

Abstract

The Green-backed Camaroptera Camaroptera brachyura is a relatively common bird, but because it is a fairly secretive skulker in thickets and riverine bush in moist savannah woodland (Dean 2005) it is usually located by its "bleating" alarm call. Although the Green-backed Camaroptera and the closely related Grey-backed Camaroptera Camaroptera brevicaudata have an extremely large range and a population that is estimated to be increasing (Birdlife International 2012), their courtship behaviour is seldom recorded. Dean (2005) states that "in display, male flies in loop over perch, wings making a whirring sound", citing GL Maclean's species account in Roberts' Birds of southern Africa (1993, 6th ed). Carnaby (2008) concurs that "in courtship display, the male flies or jumps with whirring wings in a 'loop flight' from his perch", possibly quoting from the same or a related source.