Kenya Bird ID Help

[Atdahl]

Hello bird experts.  I was hoping that you might help me get/confirm some bird IDs from our Feb 2019 trip to Kenya.  I am far from a birding expert but I do have the Princeton Birds of East Africa field guide which is the basis for all my guesses.  But, for some I have no guesses at all.

 

#1 - My guess here is a Red-billed Buffalo Weaver because of the over all coloring and the white on the shoulder and small white stripes on the wings.  But, the beak is not red or even very orange.  So, maybe it's a young male?

Location: Selenkay Conservancy (Porini Amboseli)

 

 

#2 - This one has me stumped but it looks like a female Widowbird, Bishop, or Weaver.

Location: Selenkay Conservancy (Porini Amboseli)

 

#3 - I have three pictures of this bird but none helped me even guess at this one.  I just don't see a yellow bird with a bi-colored bill and white belly in the book anywhere.  Of course, it could be in plain sight and I don't see it.

Location: Selenkay Conservancy (Porini Amboseli)

 

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#4 - This has to be some sort of Shrike like bird to me.  My guess is an Isabelline Shrike.

Location: Selenkay Conservancy (Porini Amboseli)

 

#5 - Another yellow bird that has be baffled.  I just don't see anything like this in the book.

Location: Amboseli National Park

 

#6 - It's not a good picture which doesn't help me figure out what this might be.

Location: Ol Kinyei/Naboisho Conservancies (Porini Mara)

 

#7 - My guess for this one is a White-billed Buffalo Weaver due to the overall color and white on the shoulder, but the range in the book doesn't appear to match to Porini Lion.  My other thought was a Sooty Chat but its range isn't right either.

Location: Olare Motorogi Conservancy (Porini Lion)

 

#8 - I think I have narrowed this one down to a Cisticola.  Specifically, a Red-faced Cisticola?

Location: Olare Motorogi Conservancy (in the camp at Porini Lion)

 

#9 - I believe this is another Cisticola.  Maybe the Winding Cisticola?

Location: Olare Motorogi Conservancy (in the camp at Porini Lion)

 

 

We didn't really look for birds at all on this trip but I have over 140 already ID'd and if I can get all these I should reach 150 which is great considering we weren't looking for birds at all.

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

Alan

[monalisa]

42 minutes ago, Atdahl said:

#5 - Another yellow bird that has be baffled.  I just don't see anything like this in the book.

Location: Amboseli National Park

 

@Atdahl Oooo I think I know this one!! I remember asking the guides at the time. If this is one of the birds from the lunch spot on that hill then I think it is the lesser masked weaver 

[janzin]

#3 is I believe female Speke's Weaver

 

@monalisa is correct on Lesser Masked Weaver, female

 

#7 looks to me like Sooty Chat, it is definitely in the Mara.

 

#6 is African or Grassland Pipit, super common in the Mara.

 

#8 and 9 are Cisticolas but I have to go dig out my book to decide which one.

 

 

[inyathi]

I agree with what @janzin has suggested. 

 

Otherwise, I think that #2 is a Fischer's sparrow lark, it doesn't quite have the proper colouration of an adult male, but it does have the face markings of a sparrow lark, albeit not as pronounced as shown in the illustrations, I don't know if that makes it an immature or it just has slightly odd plumage or it's moulted or something.

 

I would suggest that #9 is probably a pectoral-patch cisticola, that would be my best guess. 

[Atdahl]

18 hours ago, monalisa said:

@Atdahl Oooo I think I know this one!! I remember asking the guides at the time. If this is one of the birds from the lunch spot on that hill then I think it is the lesser masked weaver 

 

You know, that is what I remember as well but the bi-colored bill and lack of a pale eye doesn't match my book so I had some doubts.   Look at you giving out bird ID advice, don't tell Tim! 

 

 

@janzin, thank you for the other IDs and confirming #5, they all make sense to me.

 

@inyathi, thank you as well.  It's so hard to ID some of these from one picture.  You can't quite see any dark belly stripe on the lark but your ID makes sense for that one as well as #9.  

 

Thanks so much to everyone.  That just leaves #1 and #4 if anyone has any further guesses.

 

 

[inyathi]

For some reason I missed out #1 and #4, I'm not sure why

 

#1 is a red-billed buffalo weaver

#4 I think you're probably right on this one as well, I think it's an isabelline shrike.

 

Always glad to help with bird IDs when I can

[Galago]

Oh gosh, weavers and widows out of breeding plumage  However, the two that struck me immediately, without field guide to hand, are the Red-billed Buffalo-weaver and the Isabelline Shrike. So once again I agree with @inyathi. As for the cisticolas, without hearing them it's awfully tricky! 

@Atdahl I just love the fact that that you say you weren't even looking for birds yet you've included all those great photos in your TR and you got an impresive list. Perhaps my photography and lists  will improve if I say I'm not really looking for this! 

[Atdahl]

@inyathi, thanks for the confirmation on those two.  

 

@Galago, I appreciate the 2nd confirmation.  Out on safari we really concentrated on mammals.  But, if we were stopped anyway I would get in a bird shot or two.  The best birding opps were during the mid-day break in camp.  I would say 75% of my bird photos were during this time.  It's a good thing I can't nap otherwise I would have very few bird pictures...  Yes, sometimes it pays to not really be looking.

 

Thanks for all the IDs everyone.  That wraps things up and I finished with 148 bird species which isn't too shabby.  I guess I need to go back to get a nice round 150 .