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Zitting Cisticolas are small reed birds. Their plumage is cryptic, especially during the non-breeding season. During the breeding season, male Zitting Cisticolas have a brown crown and nape of the neck with faint dark-brown striation. The bill turns black. Females in breeding plumage have an heavily dark-brown streaked crown and back and a bright cinnamon rump. The bill remains mostly pale. During the non-breeding season males and females are indistinguishable, with heavily streaked upperparts. They also grow longer tails outside the breeding season. The eyes have dark-brown irises. Except in breeding males, the relatively long, slightly down-curved bill has a grey upper mandible; the lower mandible is horn-coloured. The legs and feet are greyish-pink.

Twitcher's tip

Compared with Golden-headed Cisticolas, Zitting Cisticolas have duller colours.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Zitting Cisticola is available HERE .

There are 18 extant races of Zitting Cisticolas which, taken altogether, have a wide-ranging distribution - from large parts of Africa, south-western and western Europe in the West, via the Mediterranean, coastal parts of the Middle East and of Arabia, to much of India and on to much of south-eastern and eastern Asia. At the southern end, their range includes Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor Leste, New Guinea and northern Australia.

In Australia three races exist, at least two of which are endemic to Australia (the determination of the race found along the island chain of the Torres Strait as yet being uncertain). Race "laveryi" populates parts of the QLD East coast on the continent. Their range comprises of three patches, one extending from about the tropic of Capricorn to about the confluence of the Burdekin River, QLD, while the second eastern coastal population is found around Cape Melville. There is a third small patch on the western side of Cape York peninsula. Endemic race "normani" has a very limited range, between the confluences of the two major rivers, along the southern coastline of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The second endemic race, "leanyeri", populates the coastal area around Darwin, NT, including Tiwi Island, and a second patch on the Australian North coast, near the NT/WA border.

Zitting Cisticolas have a preference for grassland or reeds.

Race "laveryi"

Race "leanyeri"

Race "cisticola"