The Golden-headed Cisticola, Cisticola exilis, is native to southeast Asia including the Indian subcontinent and most of the surrounding islands as well as Australia.
It is a songbird in the family Cisticolidae. They are somewhat unique in the fact that the male has a shorter tail in its breeding plumage.
They enjoy moist thickets where they will be able to get lots of invertebrates to eat.
Classification:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cisticolidae
Genus: Cisticola
Species: C. exilis
Photos:
Golden-headed Cisticola
"I thought I’d stumbled on an obliging Little Grassbird and was accordingly quite excited until I got a closer look to see it was a smaller but still obliging Cisticola (warbler). There were several of them around the sewerage ponds (I know… I have such an exciting life). Little Grassbirds have never been known by me to present more than half of themselves for more than a millisecond, and usually only at a distance. The books describe them as ’skulking’ which exaggerates their visibility. Cisticolas are not nearly so shy and in breeding season will stand on top of a grass stalk or fence or dead tree and sing their little hearts out, as well as flying close to tempt you away from their nest. Which, by the way, you will never find in the grass even if you look very hard. This is my best shot of a Cisticola in non-breeding colours - compare with breeding plumage where you can see why they are called "golden headed" here"
Photo courtesy of aaardvaark
Golden-headed Cisticola
"Golden-headed Cisticola, Cisticola exilis"
Photo courtesy of marj k
