GAME: name that bird!

[Galana]

3 hours ago, inyathi said:

it looks to me like a Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

It looks like that to me too. I snapped it only on Monday when I was looking for something else but rather than delete it I thought about using it on here.

Well done.

Your turn again.

[inyathi]

@GalanaThanks, I should have picked out my next one, as I was confident I was right, but I went out soon after I posted and haven't had a chance to look for something, but I will rustle up new bird soon enough when, I've had time for a proper search.  

[inyathi]

Okay how about this pair, should be nice an easy. 

 

[Galana]

Two for the price of one. I like a bargain.

The barring on the flanks are off putting but I think these are Speckled Piculet Picumnus innominatus.

[inyathi]

@GalanaI thought that might not be too hard, as you have been to the right part of the world, they are indeed Speckled Piculets, so back to you.  

[Galana]

Never seen one other than paintings in my Field guide but they are fairly distinctive little chaps.

I did not like the barring on the flanks but Googling Piculets of the world showed me that Speckled as barred as well.

Nice to change continents now and again.

[Galana]

See what you make of this.

[BRACQUENE]

@Galana

 

The picture according to me shows the most abundant grebe in the world, the Eared Grebe Podiceps nigricollis also known as black-necked grebe outside of North America ;  a small waterbird with a very thin bill and a bright red eye not visible in your picture 

 In the summer months, golden wisps fan out from their cheeks as they dance and run across the water courting. They breed in colonies in shallow wetlands in western North America and head by the hundreds and thousands to salty inland waters to feast on brine shrimp before heading farther south. In winter, they lose the golden wisps, turning gray and white which is the case here : 

 

 

http://wildlifeaction.co.uk/trips/eared-grebes-sea-cortez-2017/#video-group-1

 

Above a video made in 2017 in Baja California and the Sea of Cortez, with huge rafts of Eared Grebes. They  dive in synchrony and then re-emerge together. A most unusual sighting!

[Galana]

A very reasoned answer. As it was inside North America, just, I  was looking for Eared Grebe. Indeed at the time I had no idea this was the same species as the BN Grebe I had seen in Germany most years.

 

Off you go then.

[BRACQUENE]

Thanks @Galana; family visit this afternoon so give me some time for the next one 

[BRACQUENE]

 

Sorry @Galanabut I found one quicker than I thought sitting on the left hand side of course 

 

[Galana]

Now that is taxing.

A large Woodpecker? I think so and I can just see the black malar stripe . The only two species in my SASOL page that have that marking are female Bearded and Cardinal Woodpeckers. Way to big for aCardinal so it is Bearded. Dendropicus namaquus.

[BRACQUENE]

 

 

What can I say @Galana : In Mana Pools we saw this one the Female Bearded Woodpecker (Thripias namaquus or Chloropicus namaquus are synonyms for Dendropicus) as you correctly discovered  even if I thought it wasn't clearly visible  and the Golden-Tailed ; Over to you ! 

[Galana]

6 hours ago, BRACQUENE said:

 

What can I say @Galana 

It's odd. Sometimes you scratch your head for hours and sometimes you just 'know' what it is from even a part or the posture mixed with habitat.

Compare your offered bird with the full view and they are sitting exactly the same and to the left you can just make out the sharp bill (which I thought was a twig at first) and the black malar stripe..All that was missing was the "wik wik wik" call.

So if we are into parts I think I know where to look.

[Galana]

Try this one.

 

 

[BRACQUENE]

@Galana

 

Could this be a Scott’s Oriole – Icterus parisorum with the French name Oriole jaune-verdâtre giving more precise info about the yellow-black greenish colors ( distribution Mexico - SW USA ) : we would have to see the front to be sure if it is a young male or even a female but the picture below could be a match in my opinion ? 

 

 

 

 

[Galana]

Well researched and an intriguing prospect but sadly it is not a Scott's Oriole.

[Galana]

Just a note to Poirrot @BRACQUENE

If, as I suspect, you came upon Scott's Oriole from this photo of mine on my Web gallery about a trip to California you won't find what you are seeking there.

Keep going. You are the only player at the moment.

 

[BRACQUENE]

@Galana

Not from the start but as that species is found in the area where you went in 2007 I arrived of course after a while on your website ; but I had some doubts with other Orioles and especially the female Orchard Oriole Icterus Spurius which are greenish yellow so perhaps that’s the one?

 

 

[Galana]

3 hours ago, BRACQUENE said:

Icterus Spurius

Good name. Very spurious as an answer. Try again.

[BRACQUENE]

@Galana

i don’t understand icterus spurius is the scientific name 

 

 

 

[inyathi]

@GalanaI'm not sure, my first thought off the top of my head was Eurasian Siskin (Spinus spinus) but refreshing my memory with a look at few photos, I am now not convinced, but in the absence of a better suggestion at the moment, I will say Eurasian Siskin?  

[Galana]

19 hours ago, Galana said:

Very spurious as an answer.

"Not genuine or real!" A poor attempt at British Wit.

 

14 hours ago, inyathi said:

I am now not convinced,

Neither should you be. It is not a Siskin. Good to see another player.

You had me worried for a moment as it is SO like a Siskin and I had to check in case of operator error.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Galana
added text.

[BRACQUENE]

@ Galana

 

My next propositions : Yellow Tirannulets (Capsiempis flaveola) or Slender- Footed (Zimmerius gracilipes)Tirannulets : 

[Galana]

Good try but not enough white on the primaries and secondaries. Is not the tail on my subject shorter and with a slight fork?

Not a Tyrannulet.

Interesting that you are staying transatlantic whilst @inyathiwent European.