Wailing cisticola

{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Speciesbox | name = Wailing cisticola | image = Cisticola lais -Cedara, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa-8.jpg | image_caption=In KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa | image2 = Wailing Cisticola (Cisticola lais) (W1CDR0001145 BD25).ogg | image2_caption = Song recorded in Royal Natal National Park, South Africa | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Cisticola lais'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T22713383A94372687 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22713383A94372687.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> | taxon = Cisticola lais | authority = (Hartlaub & Finsch, 1870) | synonyms = }}

The '''wailing cisticola''' ('''''Cisticola lais''''') is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is found in Angola, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland.

Lynes's cisticola of Uganda, Kenya and northern Tanzania is sometimes regarded as a subspecies of this species.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ryan |first1=Peter |last2=Dean |first2=Ryan |date=2006-01-01 |title=Wailing Cisticola (''Cisticola lais'') version 1.0 |editor1-last=del Hoyo |editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott |editor2-first=A. |editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. |editor4-last=Christie |editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana |editor5-first=E. |work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive |publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology |location=Ithaca, NY, USA | url=http://www.hbw.com/node/58619 |access-date=27 August 2017 |url-access=subscription |doi=10.2173/bow.waicis1.01}}</ref>

The appearance of their eggs varies widely; they can be white, pale blue, spotted, or streaked.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Krausová |first=Ladislava |last2=Veselý |first2=Petr |last3=Syrová |first3=Michaela |last4=Antonová |first4=Kateřina |last5=Fišer |first5=Ondřej |last6=Chlumská |first6=Vanda |last7=Pátková |first7=Markéta |last8=Pužej |first8=Šimon |last9=Fuchs |first9=Roman |date=2022-12-23 |title=Red‐backed shrike (<i>Lanius collurio</i>) versus common cuckoo (<i>Cuculus canorus</i>): An example of ineffective cuckoo–hawk mimicry |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ece3.9664 |journal=Ecology and Evolution |volume=12 |issue=12 |article-number=e9664 |doi=10.1002/ece3.9664 |doi-access=free |issn=2045-7758 |pmc=9789018 |pmid=36582776 |s2cid=255120648}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * Wailing cisticola - [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/670.pdf Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds].

wailing cisticola Category:Afromontane endemic bird species wailing cisticola Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot