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The Zitting cisticola (Cisticola juncidis) is a bird found in Spain, Portugal, France, India, South Africa and Taiwan. Rice fields and grassland across Europe, Africa and Asia. It eats insects and other small invertebrates and seeds and nuts. The IUCN Red List lists it as Least Concern.

🏡 Where the Zitting cisticola lives

Rice fields and grassland across Europe, Africa and Asia.

🍽️ What it eats

• 🐛 Insects & bugs80%
• 🌰 Seeds & nuts20%

A rough guide to its diet over a year. Source: EltonTraits (Wilman et al. 2014).

Conservation status

Hear the Zitting cisticola

Recorded by Martin Billard (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), xeno-canto XC904651. Trimmed to a few seconds.

Questions about the Zitting cisticola

Where does the Zitting cisticola live?

The Zitting cisticola lives in Spain, Portugal, France, India, South Africa and Taiwan. Rice fields and grassland across Europe, Africa and Asia.

What does the Zitting cisticola eat?

insects and other small invertebrates (about 80%), seeds and nuts (about 20%). These are rough shares of its diet over a year, from the EltonTraits database.

Is the Zitting cisticola endangered?

There are plenty of these birds. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern.

More birds from Europe

• Eurasian wigeon
• Western house martin
• Lesser black-backed gull
• European green woodpecker
• Coal tit
• Common greenshank

Sources: IUCN Red List (via Wikidata), EltonTraits 1.0 (Wilman et al. 2014), GBIF sightings for countries, Wikipedia. Last updated 2026-10-19.