Zitting Cisticola

This tiny, streaky warbler-like bird favours grassy fields, rice paddies, and coastal marshland across its wide Old World range, staying low and moving through grass stems rather than perching in view. The male's bouncing, zig-zagging display flight, accompanied by a repeated dry zit-zit call, is the easiest way to detect it and is most active during the breeding season in spring and summer. Outside the breeding season it is far quieter and easily overlooked, so listening for the display flight is the most reliable approach.