Please Help With Bird ID

[Safaridude]

Please help ID these birds...

 

The first photo was taken at DeHoop Nature Reserve in South Africa (3 hours east of Cape Town in April 2008). I can't find anything in the various bird books...

 

 

 

The next one below was taken in Ruma National Park in Kenya (near Lake Victoria) in January 2010. My first inclination is that it is a tawny eagle, but it seems more robust and round. But the gape is probably

too short to be a steppe eagle?

 

[Peter Connan]

The first is Red-knobbed Coot, a very common waterbird here.

 

Some closer shots to jog your memory:

 

 

 

I am not a raptor expert, but would have said Tawny.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Peter Connan

[Abena]

@@Peter Connan - great shot of the coot and its reflection!

[Peter Connan]

Thanks @@Abena

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Peter Connan

 

Not only are your photos my first-ever glimpse of Red-knobbed Coots, it's also the first time that I've ever even heard of the species!

I grew up with Fulica americana, the American Coot, unaware that an African counterpart existed.

In all candor, at times yours truly has been characterized as being ‘an old coot’...

Thank you for posting these in response to @@Safaridude's question.

Tom K.

[Peter Connan]

@@Tom Kellie, don't worry, I was not aware of the American version...

 

I do say that I find this an interesting phenomenon on Safaritalk: if you page through the bird identification quiz thread, you soon realize that there is a huge amount of bird knowledge here. And yet any request to help with bird identification is met with virtually graveyard-like silence.

 

In fact, if I want a bird identified, I post it on the SA 4x4 community forum, and invariably have an answer within hours. I have often wondered why that is, since if you look at the travel planning sections, it is obvious that we have very helpful members here.

[mvecht]

@@Tom Kellie

You should be able to see a third species, the Eurasian Coot, Fulica Atra, in Beijing.

[Safaridude]

@@Peter Connan

 

Thank you for that. I hadn't seen that until today.

[Tom Kellie]

@@Tom Kellie, don't worry, I was not aware of the American version...

 

I do say that I find this an interesting phenomenon on Safaritalk: if you page through the bird identification quiz thread, you soon realize that there is a huge amount of bird knowledge here. And yet any request to help with bird identification is met with virtually graveyard-like silence.

 

In fact, if I want a bird identified, I post it on the SA 4x4 community forum, and invariably have an answer within hours. I have often wondered why that is, since if you look at the travel planning sections, it is obvious that we have very helpful members here.

 

~ @@Peter Connan

 

That is a mystery.

As for me, I claim no expertise in African birds, thus feel uneasy about offering any identification.

A couple of times I've misidentified birds. The responses were such that I became reluctant to say much more, as others are so clearly experts.

I'll stick to writing trip reports, leaving definitive species identifications to those who know best.

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

@@Tom Kellie

You should be able to see a third species, the Eurasian Coot, Fulica Atra, in Beijing.

 

~ @@mvecht

 

Thank you!

In the Beijing Olympic Forest Park I may have seen them at quite a distance.

As a wide range of snares are in regular use here, including in parks, only the wiliest birds survive.

I'm grateful for your suggestion, as I plan to visit that park with one of my former teaching assistants in early 2016.

Tom K.

[Abena]

I too am familiar with the American Coot and was able to at least identify it as a coot. I didn't know about the 4x4 forum - there's so much to this website I haven't explored yet!