CreatureData

Wailing cisticola

Cisticola lais (Hartlaub & Finsch, 1870)

LCLeast Concernsongbirds

The wailing cisticola (Cisticola lais) is a species in the family Cisticolidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 13.1 g to 16.5 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Wailing cisticola (Cisticola lais)
Photo: Alan Manson · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the wailing cisticola

Weight
13.1 g – 16.5 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
grasslandsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
2 – 2.5src 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

Where does the wailing cisticola live?

Not recorded

What is the wailing cisticola?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

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.

The appearance of their eggs varies widely; they can be white, pale blue, spotted, or streaked.

From the Wikipedia article “Wailing cisticola” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wailing_cisticola&oldid=1379847914), 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 wailing cisticola endangered?

The wailing cisticola 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 wailing cisticola classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPasseriformes
  5. familyCisticolidae
  6. genusCisticola
  7. SpeciesCisticola lais (Hartlaub & Finsch, 1870)

Synonyms Drymoica lais

Other names and names in other languages (38)
  • WACIEnglish
  • HuiltinktinkieAfrikaans
  • cistícola ploraneraCatalan
  • cistovník naříkavýCzech
  • sisticola cwynfanllydWelsh
  • KlagecisticolaDanish
  • KlagesicticolaDanish
  • TrauercistensängerGerman
  • TrauerzistensängerGerman
  • plendema cistikoloEsperanto
  • Cistícola plañideroSpanish
  • vaikertajaherttuFinnish
  • Cisticole plaintifFrench
  • Cisticole plaintiveFrench
  • prugastokapa šivalicaCroatian
  • özvegy szuharbújóHungarian
  • Cisticola lamentosaItalian
  • シロハラセッカJapanese
  • niūrioji cistikolaLithuanian
  • JammergraszangerDutch
  • jamregressangerNorwegian
  • Chwastówka placzliwaPolish
  • chwastówka płaczliwaPolish
  • fuinha-choronaPortuguese
  • fuinha-de-dorso-castanhoPortuguese
  • fuinha-de-lynesPortuguese
  • Траурная цистиколаRussian
  • cistovník trávovýSlovak
  • Kadhi-idhi-iShona
  • Cvileća šivačicaSerbian
  • jämmercistikolaSwedish
  • Kidenenda MwombolezajiSwahili
  • Karaca Sırtlı YelpazekuyrukTurkish
  • NgonhavarimiTsonga
  • таміка строкатоголоваUkrainian
  • IqoboXhosa
  • 呼嘯扇尾鶯Chinese
  • 啸声扇尾莺Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the wailing cisticola

Other species in the same genus Cisticola.

CompareWailing cisticola vs Zitting cisticolaWailing cisticola vs Golden-headed cisticolaWailing cisticola vs Rock-loving cisticolaWailing cisticola vs Red-faced cisticola

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the wailing cisticola?

An adult wailing cisticola weighs 13.1 g – 16.5 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the wailing cisticola endangered?

The wailing cisticola 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 wailing cisticola?

The wailing cisticola (Cisticola lais) 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). Wailing cisticola (Cisticola lais). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/wailing-cisticola

MLA

“Wailing cisticola (Cisticola lais).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/wailing-cisticola.

BibTeX
@misc{wailing_cisticola_2026,
  title = {Wailing cisticola (Cisticola lais)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/wailing-cisticola},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}