GAME: name that bird!

[BRACQUENE]

@kittykat23uk

 

Perhaps the two protagonists are happy enough with "the other game" as birds are becoming increasingly popular there as you might have noticed   !

[Galana]

1 hour ago, kittykat23uk said:

Has the game stalled?

I don't know. I can hardly play by myself. Still waiting news on the Dusky too.

 

As to the Shrike I can only say nobody has come up with the correct bird.

I have just checked my meagre books and find there are 16 good species in Africa and another 10 in "Birds of India". Of course there are overlaps but still lots to go for as Sherlock might have put it. I know my clues can be obscure so maybe we should appeal to the House of Lords?

[inyathi]

@GalanaI switched focus to other game, as I really wasn't quite sure where to go next and was hoping that someone else would take a guess.  Even though I can't see the back, my impression is of a bird that is almost entirely black and white, even if I'm wrong and that's not the case and it has a grey back, the crown of the head appears black and that rules out all of the Asian shrikes, there are as you say 10 of them in Birds of India, the OBC Image Database has 17 species, I checked the book and ruled out an Indian shrike before my first answer and I've checked again now as well as the OBC images and I'm 100% certain that we are not dealing with an Asian shrike and it's not North American either. The difficulty is that just leaves Africa and if we rule out all of the birds I've already suggested, I cannot see another shrike that is absolutely pure white underneath, with a black crown and white on the frons and all of that white on the wings. I could suggest Mackinnon's fiscal but it has a grey crown and doesn't have those wing markings. I'm presuming from what you say, that it is a true shrike otherwise I might suggest red-naped bushshrike but it doesn't seem to have the right wing markings either and it does look more like a true shrike to me, It has just occurred to be that I could be entirely mistaken about the top of the head and am thinking it's black, because the forehead but for the white bits is black, but maybe the actual crown isn't visible at all and isn't black, so although I still don't think the wing markings match, in the absence of any other ideas I'll suggest woodchat shrike, and maybe the rather juniper or cypress like foliage, is because we are in Europe.  If it's not woodchat shrike, then I'm pretty much stumped at the moment. 

[Soukous]

I'm still 'in the game' but, sadly, fumbling around in search of enlightenment 

[Galana]

8 hours ago, inyathi said:

If it's not woodchat shrike, then I'm pretty much stumped at the moment. 

Oh! Well played Sir.

Europe not Africa hence my saying "you should go further!"

Guadiaro river near Casares, Spain, March 2019.

Did nobody work out my other clue. "House of Lords"?

 

 

[kittykat23uk]

Very nice! I still have no idea what you other clue means! 

[Galana]

1 hour ago, kittykat23uk said:

I still have no idea what you other clue means! 

Doh! House of Lords. Upper House in a two house democracy. Often called a Senate, France, Chanel Isles, USA  among others.  Woodchat Shrike. Lanius senator.

[inyathi]

@kittykat23ukI had no idea either, but I've just worked it out, having noticed that the scientific name of the woodchat shrike is Lanius senator

 

 

@Galana I should have said that with much more conviction, because once those two other African shrikes had been ruled out, woodchat was really the only option left, I did think when the idea came to me, that I could just see the very tiniest hint of brown above the eye, that made me think I was being fooled about the bird's crown being black, it was the pure white underneath that was really throwing me, as the illustration in BoA South of the Sahara doesn't show the bird as being that white and in the first of your next photos, the bird has an obvious yellow wash on it, the illustration in Fanshawe's would have been more helpful as it does show the bird being pure white underneath, but then shown in profile the chestnut-crown, would have made me think it can't be that. It was just a case of realising that maybe if seen from that angle one would not be able to see any of the chestnut crown and therefore a woodchat would look like that, the tree should also have directed me to Europe, as it doesn't look much like one of the few native African conifers, but then someone could have planted it, if I'd just gone straight to Europe, I'd have seen there was only one option. That was an interesting challenge, I've seen quite a few woodchats in Africa and I would think in Spain, but not from that angle.  

 

Because we all love a nice LBJ, how about this one next, shouldn't be too hard

 

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

@GalanaYou just got in ahead of me by about a second

[kittykat23uk]

1 hour ago, Galana said:

Doh! House of Lords. Upper House in a two house democracy. Often called a Senate, France, Chanel Isles, USA  among others.  Woodchat Shrike. Lanius senator.

Ohhhhhh 😂😂😂

[Galana]

3 hours ago, inyathi said:

I should have said that with much more conviction,

True.

The angle was possible as the birds, newly arrived that week, were ridiculously tame. If I could have found a handy beetle I reckon they would have come to hand for it.

 

3 hours ago, inyathi said:

how about this one next, shouldn't be too hard

Too hard. It seems to live between a rock and a hard place. And that 's where I am. Seemingly a Lark and/or Pipit with warm brown colours. I will work on it.

Alternatively it may well be some obscure Latin American bird with a name like Bourbon's Bisquit in which case I will leave it to @janzin

[Galana]

I don't hold much hope here but it is very 'lark like' rather than a Pipit.

The warm colours intrigue me and I have run through the most regular suspects.

I will go for something I have never seen but think that if I did it would look like this.

In any case if wrong it will eliminate one of the possibles.

Even the name 'rufa' is promising.

Rusty Lark?

 

[inyathi]

@GalanaThat's a reasonable suggestion, but I'm afraid it's not that one, so that's one down, only another 90 to go. 

Edited October 14, 2020 by inyathi

[Galana]

9 hours ago, inyathi said:

so that's one down, only another 90 to go. 

Right. Well my Sibley only lists 2 Larks and three Pipits and none of them fit so IF it IS a Lark I am sticking with Old World. It is not Horsefield's so we can scrub Australasia.

Not a twig or leaf in view.(At least I gave you some Juniper to look at.   )

Now with a few rocks we have to be amateur Geologists too??

Assuming this is not some nut jobs idea of a rock garden with imported rocks we are looking at igneous rock. Broken up to bite size pieces. It could be a natural lava field or just a road side after the grader has passed through.

A really good Desert such as the Namib would fit as would the Turkana region of Kenya or indeed Mount Meru if your last two offerings on "where" are part of a pattern.

I don't do Soshul meedya, follow or tweet so I don't know where you have been over the last few years and in any case get easily confused over who has has been where after a few posts.

I am just rambling on as the Lark illustrations in my Sinclair are what I would expect from a fourth year student of Egyptology

Fanshawe's is not much better but why not play the Meru card and go for Fawn-coloured Lark?

[inyathi]

@GalanaIf a little bit of vegetation can be a clue to the habitat, then so can the complete absence of any ,  you are looking at the right places, unless Flickr and ST qualify then I don't do social media either, so you'd likely only know where I've been from here, if it's somewhere I've written about, while I try to think of some suitable clues, all I'll say at this point is that you've knocked off another one, it's not fawn-coloured. 

[Galana]

10 hours ago, inyathi said:

you are looking at the right places,

Hmmm. Right as in location or right as in eco system?

If I leave TZ and head a few 1000km south by south west there is a whole lot of familiar looking rocky deserts in Namibia. I have seen lots of rocks just like that crossing Kunene region. The bill seems too long for Stark's but Dune Lark prefers sand as the name suggests.

Well that's two more ticked off if wrong but please spare me the need to recite the whole lot of them.

[inyathi]

@GalanaI was intending to offer some sort of clue, but I haven't thought of one thus far that wouldn't just give it away, however, following your latest answer I will say that the mercury's rising,  I will also add, that dune larks do indeed live on dunes as the name suggests, but there is another reasons it's not that, which you won't be aware of and that's that I have posted a dune lark in this game before, I don't recall when.  

 

I do have one other photo, which I will post in lieu of another clue, which should give you a closer look. 

 

 

   

[Galana]

Well 'getting warmer' got me to look at my SASOL where the pictures are better.

"" I have posted a dune lark in this game before,""

So you have been to where my next offering comes from too.

 

This is as close as I can get for now.  If I am correct the illustration in Sinclair is nothing like the one in SASOL.

How's this?

Barlow's Lark.

Sleep well or do you work nights?

Edited October 15, 2020 by Galana
added text.

[Pictus Safaris]

Perhaps a species in the long-billed lark complex?

[inyathi]

@GalanaThis just goes to show how darn difficult larks can be, no I'm afraid it's not Barlow's, it seems that things have now taken an interesting turn as we have a new player, you might have to be quick if you want to win one 

 

@Pictus SafarisGreat to have another new player on board, care to go a little further with that idea and suggest a species?

Edited October 15, 2020 by inyathi

[Pictus Safaris]

Just now, inyathi said:

 

@Pictus SafarisGreat to have another new player on board, care to go a little further with that idea and suggest a species?

 

Oh, I was so hoping you wouldn't press me for a species, larks are truly an Achilles' heel of mine! My first thought when I saw the picture was Karoo Long-Billed Lark, but given the variability in the species across its range I can't be sure. 

[inyathi]

@Pictus SafarisPretty close but not Karoo, I'm not great with larks either, but I know for sure which one this is, because of where I was at the time, and it wasn't a great challenge to identify, I didn't have to go and look for it, it was very confiding and arrived during our bush breakfast. 

[Pictus Safaris]

@inyathiIf only all the long-billeds weren't range-restricted! The real question now is, where does Inyathi enjoy his bush breakfasts? Perhaps a Benguela Long-Billed Lark in the wilds of Namibia?

[inyathi]

@Pictus SafarisYou mean somewhere like this perhaps?

 

Bush breakfast at dawn, Damaraland Camp in Namibia

 

So yes. you are absolutely correct, it is a Benguela long-billed lark, a species endemic to this region of the Namib in Namibia and neighbouring Angola (where you will find the town of Benguela.) over to you  

 

Apologies to @Galanawho you just beat to the finish line, but it's good to hand over to someone new 

[Pictus Safaris]

Thanks @inyathi - let me see what I can dig up from my archives.

 

Strange that Benguela (and its eponymous current) attracts a level of endemism - I'll be leading a tour to Angola in 2022, keeping an eye open for Benguela (Heaviside's) dolphin also. Now I'll have another near-endemic to add to the list!

 

By the way, a cracking photo. I can almost feel that wonderful chill!

Edited October 16, 2020 by Pictus Safaris