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GAME: name that bird!


Jochen

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Hello all...

I'm New on Safaritalk but may i say i have been following the discussions with interest...

 

I believe this is an example of a Purple Grenadier..but with out the purple flecked chest..?

 

Riz

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Hello all...

I'm New on Safaritalk but may i say i have been following the discussions with interest...

 

I believe this is an example of a Purple Grenadier..but with out the purple flecked chest..?

 

Riz

 

I'm afraid not. You may be at a disadvantage here as its a southern african bird rather than an east african species.

 

I did have to look at the scientific names to check in case it was one of the species thats known by different names in different parts of the continent.

 

Welcome to Safaritalk by the way. :)

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Purple Grenadier is a purple eared waxbill.

 

Ah. In that case yes thats the right answer. My books list the purple grenadier as Uraeginthus ianthinogaster and the violet eared waxbill as Uraeginthus granatinus so thats why I didnt recognise them as being the same species :)

 

This bird photo topic is becoming a minefield

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Thats why birders can be so irritating!!!

 

But we learn as we go along.

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I was sitting 15 metres above ground in a tree-hide in Zambia which is famous for sitatunga sightings. What they don't tell you in brochures and travel guides is that even if you're equipped with 1000mm tele you rarely get any good picture of these shy antilopes from this place.

 

While trying to make the best out of my stay I suddenly heard some exciting bird calls from a tree next to the hide. My tele zoom wasn't mounted on the second body, so I had to use the 500 with 2x extender. I quickly unmounted it from my clamp and made about half a dozen shots before the birds flew away. These bird pictures belong to the very few images I ever made free-hand with 1000mm.

 

a. What's the name of this famous tree-hide?

b. What's the name of the bird?

 

gallery_3403_44_31609.jpeg

 

gallery_3403_44_31597.jpeg

 

gallery_3403_44_65092.jpeg

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1. Never been to Zambia. So couldn't say, altough I am sure I read about it, as what you write definitely sounds falmiliar.

 

2. A Ross' Turaco?

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Jochen, Ross's Turaco is correct.

 

Anybody who knows the name of the hide? (Hint: the area is also famous for the congregation of millions of fruitbats each November.)

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Fibwe Hide (thanks to Google)

 

BTW, the "yellow-eyed oystercatcher" is just something I made up.

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Tanya_in_Kenya

I have these around my house, so I think it's slightly wrong for me to jump in here as I have a bit of an unfair advantage...

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Tanya,

 

I suggest you answer anyway... and then post a pic of a really rare bird you saw around your house. :P

 

Give us a bit of a challenge. :D

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Tanya_in_Kenya

How embarrassing would it be if I get it wrong now?!!! :P

 

It's a White-browed Coucal, centropus superciliosus, right?

 

Here is my new challenge (two shots of the same bird) - I would find this one difficult, but there may be someone here who recognises it straight away!

 

quiz%20bird%20a.gif

 

quiz%20bird%20b.gif

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It's a White-browed Coucal, centropus superciliosus, right?

 

Right!

 

And your bird is... not that easy. Heh...

 

At first I thought it was a prinia but it lacks the black beak then.

 

I honestly had to go look it up. And I'm still not sure.

 

It could be a long-tailed cisticola (aka tabora cisticola). That one is known to be "prinia-like".

 

Then again it could be a wheat-ear too, like Nyamera says. But aren't their tails more black? I'd go for a Northern Wheatear if I had to pick one.

 

How about a simple nightingale? Naah. That one doesn't have such a pronounced white/dark stripe around the eye.

 

OK... so my guess is; wheatear! Northern Wheatear, since Nyamera took Isabelline.

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Tanya_in_Kenya

No...no correct answers so far I'm afraid....

 

This is a difficult bird to identify - but that's what you asked for, Jochen! (I had to look in the birdbook when I saw it...I took the photos so I could have a reference when scouring the bird book...so everyone here is starting from the same place as me - not having a clue what it is!)

 

My advantage in identifying the bird was that I could also observe its behaviour, which helped me in identifying it, so here are a couple of clues:

 

1. The bird flicks its tail up and down. This is considered one of the characteristic behaviours of this bird.

 

2. As is evidenced by the photo, the bird is in fairly thick undergrowth/bush...this is its preferred kind of habitat. It can often be seen feeding on the ground, in or near thick undergrowth.

 

3. In case it is not clear from the photo, the tail of the bird is rufous coloured, with a "black subterminal band" (which I observed when the bird flew, but not when it was perched.)

 

 

Jochen, you have correctly identified the eye stripe as being one of the distinguishing features...which as you say sets it apart from the ordinary Nightingale for one... As you correctly ascertained, it's not a prinia, although has similar behaviour, in many ways (flicking of the tail, same kind of habitat)...I'd also say this bird was slightly larger than a prinia. Cisticolas we have here too, but sorry - this is not one of them!

 

Nyamera: We do get the Wheatears here but this is not one of them either...as far as I know, the Wheatears prefer dry open grassland country. The Northern Wheatears can often be seen up on the bush airstrip on the neighbouring property to ours, which is essentially a strip of open grassland that planes occasionally land on. The bird in question here is more often found in or near thicker bush / undergrowth.

 

Next suggestions please! If there are no correct answers by tomorrow morning, I'll give you some more clues! :)

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Tanya_in_Kenya

Not a wagtail...more clues coming up tomorrow morning....

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Tanya_in_Kenya

Not a prinia...this bird is slightly larger than a prinia...but similar behaviour and similar habitat...

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Tanya_in_Kenya

OK - two additional clues this morning:

 

1. The bird perhaps most easily confused with this one (and found in the same kind of habitat) is the White-browed Scrub Robin (cercotrichas leucophrys) - the main difference in appearance being that the Scrub Robin has a streaky breast, which our mystery bird does not.

 

2. This bird is listed in my Wilderness Diary Bird List, where I record all the species I have actually seen and identified around our house which lies in the Tsavo Ecosystem, south eastern Kenya... essentially dry commiphora-acacia bush country.

 

I'm sure someone will get it now.... I'm waiting to write a blog entry about this bird, but can't do so until this mystery is solved, as that would rather give the game away... :)

 

PS: Riz - where are you? This is a Kenyan bird!

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Tanya..

I was waiting to see who else could..

but, please confirm..?

 

Rufous Bush Chat or Rufous Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas galactotes familiaris)

Palearctic migrant - Dry bush/scrub - Nov to April

 

Merci.

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