GAME: name that bird!

[pault]

I got it! I should have used my bird book when solving the anagram! I am so bad at this.

 

Whose going to say it though, and go next?

Edited May 19, 2012 by pault

[TZBirder]

I'm going to claim it, since I've got a recent pic to put here.Hope you've been paying attention... Yours was a chat flycatcher. You were so close with cath!

[pault]

Close with cath!

 

That looks like a sunbird but I'm sure not a common one - too uncommon for my books anyway.

[TZBirder]

It's certainly a sunbird. But as I've been travelling recently, it's not from my usual haunts... Not uncommon where I was (any botanists there?).

[Rainbirder]

I've never been to South Africa so I am weak on the birds from the Cape but I suspect that the plant is a Protea and so this is one of about 5 or 6 sunbird species. I don't think it's Amethyst, Southern Double-collared, Malachite, Olive or Scarlet-chested.

 

This is a real sneaky view but I suspect that this is a young male Orange-breasted Sunbird in transformation ......though I am far from certain and probably wildly off the mark!

[TZBirder]

Facing the right way round he's very smart:

[kittykat23uk]

Ah sneaky! They are lovely little birds, I saw them around the cape, especially at Kirstenbosch. But I didn't twig that was what it was from thei first pic!

[pault]

Oh my! Is that an Orange-breasted Sunbbird as suggested by Rainbirder? If so, it hardly matches the descripption of "metallic green head".

[TZBirder]

Yes, he certainly is. And like all metallic looking feathers in birds, it's a structural colour so when the light doesn't fall the right way it can look black or any number of other colours! (For more information on bird colours check here!) I think Rainbirder must be struggling to find any picture that isn't so sharp and clear that it's at all challenging to ID!

[Rainbirder]

Oh my! Is that an Orange-breasted Sunbbird as suggested by Rainbirder? If so, it hardly matches the descripption of "metallic green head".

 

Forgive the High School physics lesson :

 

A bird's colour is normally a consequence of structural pigment in the feathers & so a red bird looks red because it has red feathers!

However some birds, including Sunbirds and especially Hummingbirds, have complex feather structures which act as diffraction gratings splitting white light into component parts, some of which is absorbed & some reflected. The variable colours produced by this process are bright, reflective, metallic and ephemeral. Colours produced by this means constantly vary in intensity giving the birds a sparkle which brings the feathers to life. This moment-to moment variation is dependent on the angle & intensity of the incident light.

 

I can best illustrate this with two images of the same bird -one in shade and the other in direct sunlight (angled, not overhead). The bird is a Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird photographed in Trinidad and the images were taken only a few minutes apart:

 

Bird in shade.

 

Same bird in an oblique shaft of light.

 

I'll look out an image this evening when back home so we can continue the game.

Edited May 23, 2012 by Rainbirder

[pault]

Got it - beautiful pictures of beautiful birds too! Thanks, teacher.

[Rainbirder]

TZ I take no shortage of blurred images from bizarre angles, I just destroy the evidence afterwards!

Here's the next puzzle (and still a boy!):

 

[kittykat23uk]

Hmm is it, Trochocercus cyanomelas a Blue-mantled Crested flycatcher (African flycatcher)? I would guess at a subadult male maybe?

Edited May 23, 2012 by kittykat23uk

[Game Warden]

What a beautiful image.

[Rainbirder]

Hmm is it, Trochocercus cyanomelas a Blue-mantled Crested flycatcher (African flycatcher)? I would guess at a subadult male maybe?

 

Well done!!!

That didn't take long!

 

Your turn to take up the baton.

[kittykat23uk]

Try this one:

 

[TZBirder]

OK, this one's really hard! I think it's a canary, but that's a big group and one that is notoriously tricky to ID, so I've not got far... I know you've been to both south and east Africa and probably more places besides, so that's not going to help narrow it down very much either, so I'm starting from scratch...

 

The one thing I'm sure I see is a strong dark malar stripe

I think there might be whiter bits by the legs, but also think the vent might still be yellow, so not certain there.

I think I see a hint of colder grey on the sholders.

 

I'm sure I don't see any flank streaking.

 

So, the lack of flank streaking rules out the most wide-spread species over here - white-bellied. Which probably means my seeing whiter areas below is just imagination... The dark malar stripe is always a good pointer for yellow-fronted, but the light can make greener stripes look dark too. Still, the hint of grey is also good for yellow-fronted, and I have a feeling we're looking at a southern african bush here, where yellow-fronted are much commoner. So that's my guess...

[kittykat23uk]

TZbirder, you are correct! I took this shot in Balule Game reserve at Tremisana Lodge. Excellent deduction!

[TZBirder]

OK, there are lots of these around here at this time of year (though I shot this last year):

[Rainbirder]

A large Bee-eater.

Relatively dull coloration and no tail streamers suggest this is an immature.

The two options are Blue-cheeked Bee-eater and Madagascan (Olive) Bee-eater but being an immature makes this awkward!

I see a fairly uniform throat and a whitish border to the eye-mask; these coupled with the fact that Blue-cheeked visits East Africa mainly in the northern winter (Oct-April) whilst the Madagascan visits in the Austral winter (April-September) pushes me to vote for Madagascan.

 

Madagascar Bee-eater.

[TZBirder]

Absolutely faultless logic, Rainbirder. (I had to cut the adult out of the picture to try and make it even a littlle challenging!) Looking forward to your next offering...

[Game Warden]

Incredible stuff. Learning from the experts on ST

[Rainbirder]

A small forest pool perhaps at home in the dark recesses of Conrad's fevered mind?

[TZBirder]

Ah, very nice and one I've not seen (most of those things out west make me struggle...). We burble lentils, I think. There can't be many pictures of that plumage going around at all - so I'm guessing a bit!

[Rainbirder]

Ah, very nice and one I've not seen (most of those things out west make me struggle...). We burble lentils, I think. There can't be many pictures of that plumage going around at all - so I'm guessing a bit!

 

Lol!!!

On which day do you set The Times crossword?

 

I' ll post out some omeprazole for that evil attack of pulses-induced dyspepsia!

 

 

Meanwhile any other takers?