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Maasai Apalis

Apalis stronachi

Vulnerable · IUCN Red List

VUVulnerable
Maasai Apalis (Apalis stronachi), photo 1
Photo: Matt Pilkington, no rights reserved · CC0
Maasai Apalis (Apalis stronachi), photo 2
Photo: (c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY
Maasai Apalis (Apalis stronachi), photo 3
Photo: (c) Matt Pilkington, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

ID tip

The Maasai apalis is a small bird, being slightly larger than the related Karamoja apalis. It differs from the Karamoja apalis by its slaty grey mottled breast and flanks. Females can be told apart from males by their dark underparts. Both sexes have a red or orange iris, a long black bill, grey upperparts, a black and white tail, and pink legs. Both sexes also have white lines on their wing and the rectrices of their tail, thought to mimic the long white spines of the whistling thorn.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Maasai Apalis

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is November, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Maasai Apalis

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 36 countries with regular records, and 6 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

South Africa Kenya Uganda Tanzania Zimbabwe Rwanda Zambia Mozambique Eswatini Ghana Malawi Congo - Kinshasa Namibia Cameroon Nigeria Botswana Angola Côte d’Ivoire Gambia Ethiopia Equatorial Guinea Liberia Burundi Gabon Sierra Leone Senegal Benin Central African Republic Congo - Brazzaville Guinea Somalia Guinea-Bissau Lesotho ZZ Sudan Philippines

Recorded as a rare visitor in France, Togo, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, Mali, EH.

About the Maasai Apalis

The Maasai apalis, is a species of passerine in the family Cisticolidae. It is native to Tanzania and southwest Kenya. It was formerly considered a subspecies of Karamoja apalis until being split in 2024 by the IOC and Clements checklist.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Kabobo ApalisApalis kaboboensisIt is a small bird similar to the chestnut-throated apalis except that the throat is completely greyish in color. Namuli ApalisApalis lynesiThe Namuli apalis is a small African passerine bird belonging to the genus Apalis in the family Cisticolidae. Bamenda Apalis (Apalis bamendae) Bamenda ApalisApalis bamendaeThe Bamenda apalis is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae.

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