CreatureData

Black-chested prinia

Prinia flavicans (Vieillot, 1821)

LCLeast Concernsongbirds

The black-chested prinia (Prinia flavicans) is a species in the family Cisticolidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 8.2 g to 9.3 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Black-chested prinia (Prinia flavicans)
Photo: William Nortje · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the black-chested prinia

Weight
8.2 g – 9.3 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
shrublandsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
3.5src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Photos of the black-chested prinia

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Black-chested prinia (Prinia flavicans)
Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the black-chested prinia live?

Not recorded

What is the black-chested prinia?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The black-chested prinia (Prinia flavicans) is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae.

It is found in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Its natural habitat is dry savanna.

Prinias are small warblers that can be distinguished from other warblers by their long tails often held in a near-vertical position. All species are sexually monomorphic. There are four species in the Prinia genus in southern Africa. The three other species are as follows: tawny-flanked prinia (Prinia subflava), Karoo prinia (Prinia maculosa), and Drakensberg prinia (Prinia hypoxantha). Of these four, the black-chested prinia is the only species that has different breeding and non-breeding plumages. The black-chested prinia is aptly named for the charcoal-colored breast band apparent in its breeding plumage.

From the Wikipedia article “Black-chested prinia” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black-chested_prinia&oldid=1368856637), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the black-chested prinia endangered?

The black-chested prinia is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the black-chested prinia classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPasseriformes
  5. familyCisticolidae
  6. genusPrinia
  7. SpeciesPrinia flavicans (Vieillot, 1821)

Synonyms Drymoica pallida, Sylvia flavicans, Sylvia limonella

Other names and names in other languages (29)
  • BCPREnglish
  • SwartbandlangstertjieAfrikaans
  • prínia pitnegraCatalan
  • prinie černoprsáCzech
  • prinia brondduWelsh
  • AkaciepriniaDanish
  • BrustbandprinieGerman
  • nigrabrusta prinioEsperanto
  • Prinia pechinegraSpanish
  • vyöpriiniaFinnish
  • Prinia à plastronFrench
  • Prinia à poitrine noireFrench
  • crnoprsa prinijaCroatian
  • Prinia pettoneroItalian
  • ムナグロハウチワドリJapanese
  • juodakrūtė prinijaLithuanian
  • ZwartborstpriniaDutch
  • svartbrystpriniaNorwegian
  • prinia obrożnaPolish
  • prínia-de-colar-pretoPortuguese
  • prínia-de-peito-pretoPortuguese
  • Черногрудая принияRussian
  • prinia čiernoprsáSlovak
  • Crnogruda prinijaSerbian
  • svartbröstad priniaSwedish
  • Kara Göğüslü PrinyaTurkish
  • принія чорноволаUkrainian
  • 黑胸鷦鶯Chinese
  • 黑胸鹪莺Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the black-chested prinia

Other species in the same genus Prinia.

LC, Least Concern
Ashy prinia (Prinia socialis)

Ashy prinia

Prinia socialis

Cisticolidae

CompareBlack-chested prinia vs Plain priniaBlack-chested prinia vs Ashy priniaBlack-chested prinia vs Yellow-bellied priniaBlack-chested prinia vs Graceful prinia

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the black-chested prinia?

An adult black-chested prinia weighs 8.2 g – 9.3 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the black-chested prinia endangered?

The black-chested prinia is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the black-chested prinia?

The black-chested prinia (Prinia flavicans) belongs to the family Cisticolidae in the order Passeriformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Black-chested prinia (Prinia flavicans). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-chested-prinia

MLA

“Black-chested prinia (Prinia flavicans).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-chested-prinia.

BibTeX
@misc{black_chested_prinia_2026,
  title = {Black-chested prinia (Prinia flavicans)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-chested-prinia},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}