GAME: name that bird!

[Bugs]

I would guess that its some kind of widow finch or new name indigo bird.

[Rainbirder]

Look at the image and imagine the bird in very dark conditions. As red becomes black in poor light only one coloured feature would remain in the gloom -this bird is named for that feature. Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" was set in the Congo so this is a West African bird.

 

If still perplexed then check out TZ's anagram.

[kittykat23uk]

Okay this is not a bird I have seen before and I do not have a field guide to western Africa birds. But looking at the Anagram and corss referencing that with my birds of east africa book I can pick out Bluebill and the rest of the letters make out Western. So therefore, Western Bluebill is my answer.

[Rainbirder]

Give that Kat a coconut!!!

 

The competition bird is an immature. Here is daddy at the same pool:

 

Your turn again KittyKat.

[kittykat23uk]

Lovely shot Rainbirder. Well I must confess I am running out of good material here! Most of you will have seen my bird photos before. Hopefull in a few months I will have some new ones to show, including some hopefully tricky ones for you experts.

 

But for now, try this one- I hope I I.d'd. it correctly!!

 

[inyathi]

I was rather more certain of the last one but then I have the right books, after looking at the distribution I had to check my records to see if I’d seen one but sadly not, though I have seen the red-headed bluebill in Uganda.

 

This one is a female whydah, my first thought was pin-tailed but then I also wondered about the eastern or long-tailed paradise Vidua paradisaea, I guess it could be either. If you’re not certain KittyKat maybe TZBirder or Rainbirder will be able to pin it down.

[Rainbirder]

Must admit I'm tending towards an immature Pin-tailed Whydah but these non-breeding plumage whydahs are never easy!

[kittykat23uk]

I had it down as Pin-tailed Whydah. It was taken in Maun.

[TZBirder]

These female Vidua are incredibly difficult! My first impresion was of female village indigobird, and I think I'm going to stick with that... The main thing that points me there is the white-ish bill. Usually, female pin-tailed whydahs have either a dark blackish, or a pale pinkish bill (it changes with season). Also, they have dark lores (the black comes through the eye to the bill, not the rather 'open' face look we get here. We can rule out the paradise whydahs as they always have a much warmer buff tone to the breast, and usually also have a somewhat darker spot infront of the eye. Steel blue is very similar to the indigobirds, but usually darker on the back and with a short malar strip (not sure if you get them in Bots anyway). In fact, I'm without books at the moment and not so familiar with the southern African birds, so there might be other whydah species down there I don't know at all... And I'm afraid I'm unaware of any features you can use to reliably choose between the various indigobird species - even the males are best identified by song, not plumage (the song always includes the host species notes - don't forget all the Vidua are brood parasites, like cuckoos - and most firefinches are readily identifiable on call). So, when I say village indigobird, I'm just going on the balance of probabilities! The whole brood-parasite business makes these a real ID challenge, since males and females are so rarely together - and when they do get together (like at waterholes) they're often in mixed-species flocks anyway!

[inyathi]

I did wonder about indigobirds, the distribution would certainly be right for the village indigobird, in the Birds of Africa South of the Sahara it says

Non breeding male and female are streaked brown above paler beneath, with striped head; told from non-breeding pin-tailed whydah by pink (not dark) legs and less boldly striped head.

 

Well this bird clearly has pink legs so it can’t be a pin-tailed whydah

 

my first thought was pin-tailed

Shows how much I know

 

Having been back through all my books I think TZBirder has to be right and it’s a village indigobird Vidua chalybeata, the purple indigobird Vidua purpurascens does also just occur in the Okavango but has white legs

 

It's great to have someone here who really knows their birds back to you TZBirder

[kittykat23uk]

Yes thanks for the ID!

[Rainbirder]

This was never going to be easy but there's no faulting TZ's logic.

We are not worthy Master!

[TZBirder]

No special skills, I assure you, just more time out here looking at them than most! This next one shouldn't be too hard, for an lbj. I just rather like the picture!

[kittykat23uk]

Hmm is it a Sabota Lark?

[TZBirder]

nooo

[inyathi]

I don't know but maybe a rufous-naped lark?

[Jan Martin McGuire]

Looks to me like maybe a juvenile Long Claw of some sort. . . . .?

[Player23]

Hi! I would say Rufous-naped Lark, as well.

[TZBirder]

Yes, definitly RN Lark - photographed in Arusha NP. They vary so much from place to place (individuals with rufous napes are rather rare in TZ!), but the big bill is always a good starter (and rather long-clawesque). Well done - and welcome to ST player!

[inyathi]

I don't like to post anything too easy, however whenever I post one I think is going to be quite hard it turns out not to be. So I thought I'd see how hard this one proves to be.

 

 

Any Ideas what this bird is?

[TZBirder]

Now that IS tricky! First to decide if it's a canary or a weaver. Then to decide which! The ecologist part of me says we're looking at a relatively high rainfall area, which might help a bit... My feeling is that given the yellow tone and upright stance it's probably one of two extremely difficult to separate species - and I wouldn't want to give a certain ID based on this pic. But I'm far from certain, and it could easily be the other group entirely...

[Player23]

Wow, this is a tricky one! I do not see any streaking on the sides, so I will go with Black-faced Canary...

[Rainbirder]

Not easy!

The poise and bill are suggesting canary rather than weaver to me and my initial impression is of one of the Black-faced races of African Citril rather than Black-faced Canary as the bill doesn't look sufficiently short and stubby whilst I thought that I could make out some slight ventral streaking.

I'll come off the fence and go for Black-faced race of African Citril.

[Kavey]

Hmmm. Not sure. It could be a yellow bishop?

[inyathi]

And the first prize goes to.....

 

Player23

 

Yes this is a black-faced canary Serinus capistratus; this was quite tricky because it’s not the best photo and obviously I didn’t reveal the location which would probably have given it away at least to those with the right books.

 

It does look a lot like the western citril Serinus frontalis a split from the African and telling them apart is probably quite difficult but I didn’t have this problem. I know it’s the canary because I took the photo outside the WCS Office in the town of Ivindo in Gabon (definitely a high rainfall area) and the western citril is not found in Gabon. The western citril is an East Central African species, the two species do in fact just overlap in the far east of the DRC and in Burundi so if you’re adventurous enough to visit either of these places you’ll need to take a really good look at any canaries you see.

 

So welcome to Safari Talk and over to you Player23