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GAME: name that bird!


Jochen

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@Galana Well, that was short lived, I thought I might get away with posting a reasonable shot, because it is a West African cisticola, and as a family they are quite hard, but evidently that one wasn't hard enough, it is indeed a Rufous Cisticola in Ghana. 

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7 hours ago, Galana said:

my first punt would be Rufous Cisticola

 

pretty impressive:o

 

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Hmmm. It was a tough call between Foxy and Rufus so I went for the less likely.:P

Ghana? I was there in 2005 but got in with the wrong crowd. I would go back but ......

 

Anyway.

See what you make of this. Splitters look away.:angry:

Fred.JPG.033c10aa1e6204c9844048bc954c36b1.JPG

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@Galana  Still unpacking after the move but had a few minutes to check ST.

White-bellied Sholakili perhaps?

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22 hours ago, Soukous said:

 

I am still investigating and have experts in India arguing about it. Luckily an experienced Indian birder was with me and he also has photos so hopefully they will reach consensus soon.

 

Hmm. Well I have got an answer back and the guys in India, in particular those who actually live in the area where we saw the bird, are adamant that it is a Long-Billed Thrush. 

Just to add weight to their argument this area is a favourite of Carol & Tim Inskipp, co-authors of "Birds of the Indian Sub Continent" and on numerous birding trips they have never questioned that ID.

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4 hours ago, Galana said:

Splitters look away.

 

3 hours ago, mvecht said:

White-bellied Sholakili perhaps?

Heck. How many names can people give to such a small bird? I had to Google "Sholakili".

I have only just adapted from 'Shortwing' to "Blue Robin" and even checked which side of the Palghat gap I saw it.

https://thewire.in/environment/ghats-shortwing-montecincla-shola

And @soukous thinks he has problems with a darn thrush.:rolleyes:

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@Soukous

2 hours ago, Soukous said:

Well I have got an answer back and the guys in India, in particular those who actually live in the area where we saw the bird, are adamant that it is a Long-Billed Thrush.

 

That's good enough for me. :)

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16 hours ago, inyathi said:

@Soukous

 

That's good enough for me. :)

 

phew! :)

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Just in case my response was not clear @mvechtID was correct even though I had not heard of the change of name.

White-bellied Shortwing or WB Blue Robin and White-bellied Sholakili are one and the same bird.

Seen on a walk into Eravikulam NP to see endangered Nilgiri Thar. They assisted in becoming endangered by walking into hunting camps and ending up on the menu.

Now part of a popular NP excursion for tourists it can get crowded at times. Despite signs saying no plastic bottles allowed the area was littered of course.

Back to the birding. We saw lots of birds but the views of this Sholakili/Robin were especially good and made more memorable by my near strangulation as lots of locals demanded a turn to use my Binoculars

a, without even the courtesy of asking and

b. Without noting the secure strap around my neck.

When they discovered it was bird they made a disgusting noise in their throats, spat and let go the bins.

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@Galana  Your first message was clear:rolleyes:

Lets see if someone can ID this one?

IMG_2647.JPG.0a2b3c0eb7fa8ca95274615c66bd294d.JPG

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OK. Let me start the ball rolling with Melodious Blackbird?

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@mvecht

@Galana That looks like a reasonable suggestion, but it might be wrong, so although I'm not totally sure that it is shiny enough, I will suggest Shiny Cowbird? 

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@Galananice suggestion but @inyathisuggestion is better. Shiny Cowbird is the correct answer. Picture taken in Tobago.

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@mvecht

@Galana I've not seen that particular blackbird, so cowbirds were my first choice and I've seen a few shiny cowbirds. 

 

Before picking this next one, I had to check that I had the right ID as I didn't know what it was when I first saw the photo so hopefully it will be a good choice, have ago at this one.

 

 0004.JPG.abe80de1c737fdbcce59644c6a407426.JPG

Edited by inyathi
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Well having become a past Master at working out what birds look like from where you see them from below, my first call here was Puffbacks but I doubt I would be that lucky.

Probably some obscure bird from where my Field guides don't work but let us rule out Pink-footed Puffback for the sake of form.:P

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18 hours ago, Galana said:

Probably some obscure bird from where my Field guides don't work

Thought so. So my guess is that you are somewhere neither @Soukousor myself have been to warrant a field guide purchase.

Latin America. The lands of Tyrants and Tanagers with only pink legs to guide us. Should not take long.:P

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@Galana @Soukous

 

You might find that your bookshelf is no help, I didn't choose this one with that in mind, when posting a new bird, I usually like it to be from somewhere completely different, to the where the last one I posted was from. I can say that the bird is not obscure in the sense of being rare, it has a wide distribution just one that may it seems, not include anywhere on your travel map, :lol: although the location isn't anywhere too obscure, it was somewhere that certainly a few members of this forum have been.  

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2 hours ago, inyathi said:

I usually like it to be from somewhere completely different, to the where the last one I posted was from.

So ruling out African from your Cisticola, and ignoring Indian Thrushes for the sake of harmony:),we are back where I suspected. Amazonian forest or at least Latin American Forest.

You're correct. I only have Ecuador and I cannot see anything fitting too closely. Some of the illustrations are crap anyway.

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5 hours ago, Galana said:

I only have Ecuador and I cannot see anything fitting too closely.

 

@Galana I thought perhaps you might only have that book, I wouldn't waste your time looking through it again, after posting, I looked up the distribution to see where else it occurs, the answer is in 9 other countries, but sadly for you Ecuador isn't one of them, I didn't know that before I chose it, not that knowing that would have made any difference to my decision.:lol:

Edited by inyathi
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On 2/20/2021 at 2:34 PM, inyathi said:

I didn't know what it was when I first saw the photo so

what chance do we have?:(

It is very like a puffback so I wonder if there is parallel evolution at work and we are looking at its South American cousin.

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Well I know the place, and I have the book...just have to find the bird :)

 

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@GalanaI will have to think of something to help, what I will say is that all of the photos I have on Flickr are labelled with the common name and tagged with the scientific name, but the original photos on my PC generally just have a file name they're not properly labelled, so as in this case I may come across a bird and not really know what it is, when I first look at it, I did though with the help of the relevant book find a good ID, and then confirmed that ID by looking at my checklist for the trip. That of course doesn't help you, because I have four books with this bird in it and you don't have any, so it's not much good, me saying that enough of the bird is visible to ID it from a book. The best I can perhaps say at this point, is that it belongs to a large and exclusively American bird family of 60% of which live in South America, I was hoping that @janzinmight have a go, but I didn't want to hand it to her on a plate, although as she has a book, of she has a rough idea, then I think it might not take her too long to come up with a suggestion.      

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Well I have the book and I know exactly what country but I’m not seeing an exact match. Closest I can find is Cinereous Becard but the eye seems wrong. 

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