TonyQ's Year (A beginner's tale)

[TonyQ]

@@xelas

Thank you - we loved watching them.

 

158. (K61). African Green Pigeon Treron calva gibberifrons

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

[TonyQ]

159. (K62). Pale Flycatcher Bradornis pallidus murinus

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

 

I am not 100% sure on this but it is my best attempt at identifying it

[TonyQ]

160. (K63). Marabou Stork Leptoptilis crumeniferus

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

Olare Motorogi Conservancy 23.01.2016

[TonyQ]

161. (K64). Augur Buzzard Buteo augur

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

Ol Pejeta 19.01.2016

A juvenile, I think

[TonyQ]

162. (K65). Spotted Thick-knee Burhinus capensis

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

[TonyQ]

163. (K66). Red-billed Oxpecker Buphagus erythrorhynynchus

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

[TonyQ]

164. (K67). White-faced Whistling Duck Dendrocygna viduata

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

Olare Motorogi Conservancy 22.01.2016

I will revisit the second bird in this photo!

[TonyQ]

165. (K68). Black-bellied bustard Eupodotis melanogaster

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

(ebc)

[TonyQ]

166. (K69). Red-billed Teal Anas erythrohyncha

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

[TonyQ]

167. (K70). Crowned Plover Vanellus coranatus

Ol Pejeta 17.01.2016

Olare Motorogi Conservancy 22.01.2016

[Kitsafari]

what a beautiful picture that is of the oxpeckers on the zebra. i know i'm supposed to look at the oxpecker, but my eyes are drawn to the zebras instead. every fine hair on the zebra looks sharp and soft.

[TonyQ]

@@Kitsafari

Thank you - the original picture was meant to be Zebra with Oxpecker - but has now become Oxpecker with Zebra

 

168. (K71). African Fish Eagle Haliaeetus vocifer

Ol Pejeta 18.01.2016

The only one we saw on this trip

[TonyQ]

169. (K72). Abdim's Stork Ciconia abdimii

Ol Pejeta 18.01.2016

Ol Pejeta 15.01.2016

[TonyQ]

170. (K73). Yellow-billed Duck Anas undulata

Ol Pejeta 18.01.2016

[TonyQ]

171. (K74). Greater Blue-eared Starling Lamprotornis chalybaeus

Ol Pejeta 18.01.2016

[TonyQ]

172. (K75). Rufous-naped Lark Mirafra africana

Ol Pejeta 19.01.2016

Ol Pejeta 19.01.2016

[TonyQ]

I have also been sorting through some of the rejects - so the next three are very much "ebc"

 

173. (K76). African Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone viridis

female Nairobi 10.01.2016

 

We had just got on our first morning in Kenya at the AeroClub in Nairobi. Still not awake!

[TonyQ]

174. (K77). Chestnut Sparrow Passer eminibey

Meru National Park 10.01.2016

[TonyQ]

175. (K78). Sacred Ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus

Ol Pejeta 14.01.2016

Edited June 25, 2016 by TonyQ

[TonyQ]

And bird already posted - but here is one with babies...

Red-billed Teal

 

[xelas]

@@TonyQ

 

I can see more are starting to "scrap from the bottom" !

[Tdgraves]

@@TonyQ I'm afraid I have to disagree with 175. I only know this as we saw a rufous-named lark on our knp trip and it was a new one for us. No idea what lark it is though....

[TonyQ]

@@Tdgraves

 

Thanks for taking the time to look at this. When I originally posted a picture in my Trip Report, I labelled it as “Lark” and didn’t know the type. As someone new to this, I think Larks are very difficult to identify. I had no idea there were so many different ones.

 

The Ol Pejeta Conservancy publishes a Bird List, and in this there are 5 Larks.

 

Singing Bush Lark Mirafra cantillans (some similarities, including rufous primary edging – but I think the bird in the photo has more than edging – but I may be wrong)

Rufous-naped Lark Mirafra africana (as identified)

Red-capped Lark Calandrella cinerea (very different looking)

Fischer's SparrowLark Eremopterix leucopareia (very different looking)

Fawn-coloured Lark Mirafra africanoides (very different looking

 

So probably a Rufous-naped Lark, or a Singing Bush-Lark.

In the Trip Report, I was asked to post a second photo. A response (after discussing the range of the birds, especially the Red-Winged Lark, and the altitudes they live at)

“ looks good for the Athi subspecies of Rufous-naped Lark.

It lacks the black patch at the upper corner of the breast and the breast looks to have the light rufous wash overlaid by thin + crisp dark streaks that a Rufous-naped Lark would show. Red-winged Larks have sort of distinct rufous breast feathers with thin pale areas between them and dark-centered feather spots.”

 

This is beyond my skill level!

 

So as well as the difficulty of identifying species, there are a number of sub-species. I think the Ol Pejeta sub-species (athi) is different to the one found in KNP. (but I have never been so have not seen it).

 

To me, it looks like the bird in my “Birds of Kenya & Northern Tanzania”, but there are similarities with the Singing Bush-Lark. The book says that the Rufous-naped Lark perches conspicuously in rocks and fences (which this one did)

 

So at the moment I think I will stick with it (but not with 100% confidence )

Thank you again for looking at it

[Tdgraves]

 

@@Tdgraves

 

This is beyond my skill level!

 

 

 

clearly mine too

[TonyQ]

176. (K79). Grey-backed Fiscal Lanius excubitoroides

Olare Motorogi Conservancy 19.01.2016