Easily confused with the larger, more robust Familiar Chat Cercomela familiaris, this southern African endemic just touches the southern edge of Namibia along the Orange River and the open scrub and overgrazed grasslands at about 28oS. Its reporting rate here is below 10%. It is a summer breeder in the southern part of the Western Cape, South Africa, with most records from October and November, but it has never been recorded breeding in Namibia. Given that its range covers 10,400 km2 in Namibia (6% of which is in protected areas), and densities of 10 to 28 birds per km2 are known from the highest reporting rate areas of Lesotho, Namibia's population is unlikely to exceed about 20,000 birds.