Scientific name: Chaetops frenatus
Endemic to South Africa, occurring from Uitenhage, Eastern Cape to Cape Hanklip (absent from the Cape peninsula), north to the Cedarberg mountains and Piketberg. It generally prefers rocky mountain fynbos especially on high, windswept slopes and ridges, but it has occasionally been reported at sea level in the Western Cape.
This rockjumper is 23–25 cm long with a long black tail and strong legs. The male has a dark grey head with a thin white supercilium and a broad white moustache. The back and wings are dark grey, and the underparts and rump are rufous red. The female and juvenile have a paler grey head, upperparts and wings, a duller head pattern, an orange rump, and buff underparts. The call is a loud wheeoo.
It mainly eats arthropods, supplemented with reptiles and rarely amphibians. Most foraging is done on the ground, pecking and scratching the sand at the base of rocks or bushes in search of prey.
