The Cape robin-chat (Dessonornis caffer) is a small passerine bird of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae.

[3] The locally familiar and confiding species[6] has colonized and benefited from a range of man-altered habitats, including city suburbs and farmstead woodlots.

The Cape robin-chat was formally described in 1771 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus under the binomial name Motacilla caffra.

[12] Four geographically isolated subspecies are generally accepted,[12] though Clancey (1980, 1981) distinguished several additional races with contiguous ranges.

[15] The Cape robin-chat has a harsh, low, trisyllabic alarm call, which may be rendered as WA-dur-dra, WA-de-da[6] or TURR-da-da.

[4] It has given rise to several local names, including "Jan frederik", which matches the rhythm of the call if the last syllables are run together.

[6] Singing peaks at dawn and dusk,[15] and consists of passages of whistled syllables, cherooo-weet-weet-weeeet, followed by a pause.

It is a mainly resident breeder in eastern and southern Africa, though some adults and juveniles may migrate more than 100 km[15] to lower, warmer regions in winter.

[7] A five-year tenure of a breeding territory by the same pair is commonplace,[15] and the maximum recorded life span is over 16 years.

In tropical East Africa, the Cape robin-chat likewise frequents forest edge and gardens, but is restricted to the uplands.

The tropical races are also at home at the edges of bamboo, in woodland, scrub, tea and coffee plantations, or in association with giant heather beside moorland streams, up to 3,400 m in altitude.

[15] Generally, the Cape robin-chat forages close to or on ground level, but will on occasion glean bark and foliage in tall trees.

[19] A pair's territory usually comprises some fraction of a hectare, but its extent varies considerably depending on the habitat.

The female builds the cup-shaped nest of coarse vegetation, lined with animal hair, rootlets and other fine material.

[19] The eggs measure 13 x 17 mm,[18] and may be off-white, pinkish or pale blue, but always flecked with rusty brown,[6] especially near the thicker end.