GAME: name that bird!

[Galana]

3 hours ago, Soukous said:

So I'll suggest Yellow-throated Longclaw

Sorry not  a Longclaw.

[Pictus Safaris]

Following up on @mvecht's suggestion - Western Meadowlark?

[inyathi]

@GalanaMy mind has been elsewhere lately, but I'll have a guess at this one, I'd considered longclaws but the stripes on the head give away that it isn't one, but meadowlarks do have striped heads, I don't know if I've picked the right one, but I will suggest Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta).

[Galana]

Western Meadowlark it is.

It looks like @Pictus Safaristook it by a short claw.

Sorry @inyathithe bird had flown.

 

Over to @Pictus Safaris

[Pictus Safaris]

Oof, that was close, apologies @inyathi.

 

Thanks @Galana- I think this is probably not in the spirit of the game, but I think there's enough here to keep you busy for a little longer than my previous effort. 

 

 

[inyathi]

@Pictus SafarisNo worries, it happens sometimes, that someone else is also answering whilst you are typing and just gets in ahead, by a few seconds.

 

As for your bird, I will take a punt on white-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis)?

[Pictus Safaris]

@inyathi - well, you didn't have to wait long, it is indeed a white-headed vulture. Photographed (just about) in Gorongosa, Mozambique.

 

Over to you!

[Galana]

Too late, he was too quick this time. Just decided to post and zap.

Well done.

[inyathi]

@Pictus Safaris The long fingers immediately suggested a vulture, it was then the pale patches on the wing that caught my eye, suggesting I should take a bit of time and check all of the possibilities, rather than be too hasty and just make a guess, I wanted to be sure I nailed it, rather than get it wrong, and give away that it is a vulture, to anyone who might not have worked that out, and then have them guess it, when I looked at white-headed, I saw that the wings seemed to be a match. 

 

So as not to hold things up, have a go at this one.

 

 

Edited April 29, 2021 by inyathi

[Soukous]

A juvenile Turtle Dove maybe

[Galana]

Well Galana's Law would point to Red-eyed Dove here but there ain't no collar.

That takes me 'out of Africa' and west to the New World where one of the commonest doves is fairly non descript.

Whitewinged Dove almost fits (except there are no bloody white-wings) or strange tear drop mark on the neck.

I saw something similar in Ecuador though and looking at my check list by the active M. Verreaux  who gave a dove a name . verreauxi

Checking the drawing in my field guide looks nothing like it so that helps as it is bound to be correct.

Can't see any White-tips on that tail but I think we have a White-tipped Dove which is widespread in South America too.

[inyathi]

@GalanaThat's the trouble with being kind and posting a decent photo, it inevitably doesn't last long, yes it is a White-tipped dove in Brazil, so back over to you.

[Galana]

1 hour ago, inyathi said:

@GalanaThat's the trouble with being kind and posting a decent photo,

Indecent ones are not allowed on here not that I would know anything about that.

 

So perhaps we must be cruel to be kind?

 

How about this one then?

 

[lmSA84]

@Galana- I'll take a random guess - Tenerife Goldcrest?

[Galana]

Fascinating. A bird I had never heard of before today,  let alone seen or photographed.

[inyathi]

@GalanaActually, I think you have been quite kind, unless I am mistaken the tree looks like a Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) although it could be Midland Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata), but if you were at home, the former is more likely, neither are native to your particular island of the British Isles but the common is widely planted, it matters not though, what matters is just that we are in Europe, so I will simply suggest Firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus) based on the face markings which aren't entirely hidden.

[Galana]

Revealed, almost anyway.

Seen not far from Neuschwanstein in Germany. Well worked out with the Hawthorn.

I had actually been watching these fellows..

So that is one I can't use now.

Over to you.

 

[inyathi]

I did think that somewhere on mainland Europe might be more likely than your own back garden, I have no shortage of hawthorns in my back garden, I have a hawthorn leaf in front of me as I type this, so identifying the tree wasn't hard,  it's perhaps fortunate that the two species that I named are exclusively European, of course there are likely around 250 species of Crataegus, so I could have been wrong and you'd perhaps found a hawthorn in the Himalayas somewhere, but fortunately there was enough of the bird visible to see that it looked like a firecrest.

 

Try this one

 

 

[Galana]

Gosh. While I am preparing lunch can I suggest this is a female Whinchat? Something about the face is not quite right but it needs elimination if nothing else. They can look quite different out of Europe.

[inyathi]

@GalanaYou can suggest that, and I can also suggest, that it is not that

[Galana]

But your motto holds true. Utshani obulele buvuswa wumlilo

[Galana]

Lunch was rather nice so back to 'work'

Went through a fair number of pipits and larks before teh penny dropped and Wheatear came to mind. Not Northern so I was going for Isabelline  although the Desert types had a nice tempting whitish throat. Then using Stevenson and Fanshawe I saw my target. On the same bloomin page as I had started with the Whinchat.

Checked with Sinclair. Can't be two hasty and Botha's was tempting too.

But playing the hunch I will go for Heuglin's after all.

[inyathi]

@GalanaIt must have been a good lunch, it didn't take you too long to get there, it is indeed a Heuglin's Wheatear seen in Kidepo NP, back to you.

[Galana]

Dinner too.

Kidepo is a place in Uganda I have never been and I am running out of time to put that right. It is not pulling hard enough.

 

So here is another of my diminishing supply of puzzles.

 

 

[mvecht]

Hmm Looks like a new world bird to me and I dont have any good books on the subject.

Giant Cowbird perhaps?