Sooty Chat (Myrmecocichla nigra)
About the Sooty Chat
The sooty chat (Myrmecocichla nigra) is an African songbird of the chat subfamily. It is 15 to 16 cm (6 to 6.25 inches) long, stocky and relatively short-tailed for a chat. The adult male's plumage is glossy black except for white patches on the upper wings that are usually visible or only partly concealed (as in the photograph at upper right) when the bird is at rest. The female and young are very dark brown. The song (in Kenya and northern Tanzania) is described as "prolonged, sweet and musical, sometimes given in flight, wee tewee tuweer, skwik-skueeeeer, cueee-eeeee-cuweeeeer, eee-euwee-tee, tseuwee-tew-skweeer-tsi-seet…." This species sometimes imitates other birds.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 18 recordings for this species: 1 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Cameroon, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Other birds you can hear here
- African Wood OwlStrix woodfordiirecording
- Bronze MannikinSpermestes cucullatarecording
- Collared SunbirdHedydipna collarisrecording
- Eurasian Reed WarblerAcrocephalus scirpaceusrecording
- Evergreen Forest WarblerBradypterus lopezirecording
- Garden WarblerSylvia borinrecording
These are the birds recorded alongside it, not close relatives — the site holds no other member of its genus or family yet.