Number 60 January 2015

March 2015 Babbler 60 NUMBER 60 JANUARY 2015 CONTENTS Editorial 1 Articles Records of Burnt-necked Eremomela Eremomela usticollis in Kgalagadi and Ghanzi Districts 2 Chris A. Brewster Cut-throat Finches Amandina fasciata at Crocodile Pools, Notwane 3 Chris A. Brewster Breeding of Southern Red-billed Hornbill Tockus rufirostris in late summer at Crocodile Pools, Notwane 5 Chris A. Brewster and Mike & Daphne Goldsworthy A Visit to Lake Xau (Dow) between 19 and 21 August 2014 6 Records sub-committee Caspian Plovers Charadrius asiaticus in Botswana 9 Stephanie J. Tyler The Status of Caspian Plover in Zimbabwe 15 David Ewbank 1 Babbler 60 March 2015 Sighting of a ringed White-bellied Sunbird 19 Wendy D. Borello Waterbirds in Botswana in dry season 2014 (July) 21 Stephanie J. Tyler Reports from the Records Subcommittee Concentration of Bateleurs 26 Yellow-bellied Greenbul in a Gaborone garden 26 A summary of Category B records 27 Compiled by Chris Brewster and Stephanie Tyler Interesting and Unusual Sightings 36 Compiled by Stephanie J. Tyler & Chris A. Brewster Contributors of records 42 Some breeding records in 2013/2014 43 Compiled by Stephanie J. Tyler & Chris A. Brewster Recent publications on birds, relevant to Botswana 47 J o u r n a l o f B i r d L i f e B o t s w a n a 2 March 2015 Babbler 60 Editorial The continued mass poisoning of vultures in Botswana is so depressing and now with the drug dichlofenac being used in Europe too, it is hard to feel optimistic about the vultures’ future. In mid October Harold Hester mentioned to me that Dr Mark Bing had expressed his alarm at the reduction in numbers of vultures on the western side of the Delta. In his words, “The meat poaching in the delta, commercial buffalo and giraffe, is SO SEVERE, and the Habu, Etsa and Gumare area has nearly no vultures left. I have had two weeks darting there, with NO VULTURES coming to elephant carcasses from Nata on the Zimbabwe border as well as the western Delta. Some Vulture restaurants like Du Plessis in Lobatse have to keep moving the restaurant around as humans are stealing the meat; he needs money for a secure fenced area to be built.” Pete Hancock then told me of another 10 vultures including a Lappet-faced Vulture poisoned in the Chobe Enclave in early October. Amid all the depressing news for Botswana’s wildlife we must rejoice at the fact that the Okavango Delta was listed as the 1,000th World Heritage site, on 22 June 2014, following the recommendation of IUCN, UNESCO’s advisory body on nature. The IUCN Director General, Julia Marton-Lefèvre, commented that “The Okavango Delta has long been considered one of the biggest gaps on the World Heritage list and IUCN is proud to have been able to provide support to this nomination. “We congratulate Botswana’s authorities on their extraordinary commitment to make this historic listing a reality.” On a lighter note – it is not often that a new species is added to the southern African bird checklist so there was much excitement when a Red- necked Buzzard was identified in the Caprivi Strip in Namibia on 28 July 2014. Then a photograph of a Red-necked Buzzard was published taken by Peter McCalmont on 11 July 2014 – in Chobe National Park so it looked as though the first record went to Botswana. However, photographers dug out their old photos and other records of the buzzard materialised - in the KTP in June 2001, in Ngepi Camp in west Caprivi on 8 March 2009 and in the Mahango Game Reserve in Namibia on 11 August 2012. This species of buzzard is usually found in Angola so perhaps it is a regular visitor to the southern African region especially in the austral winter but had been overlooked as a phase of the very variable Steppe Buzzard. Stephanie Tyler (Editor) 3 Babbler 60 March 2015 Records of Burnt-necked Eremomela Eremomela usticollis in Kgalagadi and Ghanzi Districts Chris A. Brewster On 21 and 22 May 2011, four or five Burnt-necked Eremomelas were seen by Chris Brewster at Kang Rest camp-site (in 2322D1), about 25 km north- west of Kang along the road to Ghanzi (Tyler & Brewster 2011). On 27 January 2013 Jeff Randell saw three Burnt-necked Eremomelas at the same location and subsequently he saw one there on 10 March 2014. These three records over a period of three years indicate that the species possibly occurs regularly there. The vegetation around Kang, including at Kang Rest camp-site, is typical of parts of the western Kalahari with scattered well-developed Acacia trees, typically Acacia erioloba and A. luederitzii, often referred to as Western Woodland. On 28 December 2011 two or three Burnt-necked Eremomelas were seen by Chris Brewster at Dqae Qare Game Farm (in 2121D2), east of Ghanzi and on 28 February 2012 Chris Woolcott recorded the species at Farm 150KN (in 2121D3), also near Ghanzi (Tyler & Brewster 2012). The vegetation at Dqae Qare is Acacia savanna. On 19 May 2014 Chris Brewster saw one Burnt-necked Eremomela to the north-east of Kgokge Pan, east of Ncaang (in 2321A3). The species was foraging in Acacia in association with a number of other species. The vegetation to the north-east of Kgokge Pan is scattered well-developed Acacia trees, referred to as Western Woodland. Burnt-necked Eremomela is a species that is primarily associated with Acacia woodland (Berruti 1997). It occurs in north, east and south-east of Botswana, being a sparse to locally common resident (Penry 1994). Penry states that it was also recorded once in the Nossob Valley and once at Khuis in the western Molopo Valley, but otherwise it was unrecorded in the Kgalagadi and Ghanzi Districts or elsewhere in the Kalahari. These records in the vicinity of Kang, Ghanzi and Ncaang are therefore notable, all being outside of the known range of the species. It is regarded as resident with no seasonal movements indicated (Berruti 1997). The existence of two earlier records in the Nossob and Molopo Valleys (Penry 1994) indicates that it might possibly have been previously overlooked in Kgalagadi and Ghanzi districts. Any further records from the Kgalagadi and Ghanzi districts or elsewhere in the Kalahari will be of interest. J o u r n a l o f B i r d L i f e B o t s w a n a 4 March 2015 Babbler 60 REFERENCES BERRUTI, M. 1997. Burntnecked Eremomela in HARRISON, J.A., ALLAN, D.G., UNDERHILL, L.G., TREE, A.J., PARKER, V. & BROWN, C.A.. The Atlas of Southern African Birds, Vol 2 Passerines. BirdLife South Africa. Johannesburg. Page 274. PENRY, H. 1994. Bird Atlas of Botswana. University of Natal Press. Pietermaritzburg. TYLER, S.J. and BREWSTER, C.A. 2011. Interesting and Unusual Sightings. Babbler 56: 45 – 50. TYLER, S.J. and BREWSTER, C.A. 2012. Interesting and Unusual Sightings. Babbler 56: 54 – 62. Chris A. Brewster P.O. Box 26292 Gaborone Cut-throat Finches Amandina fasciata at Crocodile Pools, Notwane Chris A. Brewster From 2005 to March 2013, over a period of nine years, regular observations were made at Crocodile Pools, south-east Gaborone, to the south of Gaborone. During this period there was only one record of a single Cut-throat Finch Amandina fasciata, in January 2007 (Brewster 2014). On 1 April 2014 the calls of juvenile Cut-throat Finches were heard from an old nest of a Red-headed Weaver Anaplectes rubriceps hanging from the eaves of a house at Crocodile Pools. The calls of juvenile Cut-throat Finches, gradually becoming louder, were heard from this nest until 14 April 2014, when faint calls of juvenile Cut-throat Finches were heard from another old Red-headed Weaver nest hanging from the eaves of the same house. The calls from the first nest were heard until 19 April and from the second nest until 4 May. The young from both nests fledged successfully. Cut-throat Finch is an unobtrusive species and its presence was not noticed until young were heard from the Red-headed Weaver nest on 1 April. Egg-laying for the first nest was evidently in March and it is likely that the species arrived at Crocodile Pools in March 2014 but was not noticed. This record is only the second record of the species at Crocodile Pools over a period of nine years. The first two breeding records were followed by two more breeding records, in May 2014, when juveniles were again heard calling from the same two 5 Babbler 60 March 2015 nests. These two nests were utilised, despite there being five other similar old Red-headed Weaver nests hanging from the eaves of the house. There was a fifth breeding record in July when on the 6th juveniles were heard from the old Red-headed Weaver nest that juveniles had first been heard calling from on 1 April. Cut-throated Finches remained in the vicinity until the time of writing, (November 2014) when unexpectedly there was a sixth breeding record. On 16 November 2014 juveniles were heard calling from an old Southern Masked Weaver Ploceus velatus nest; this date indicates that egg-laying probably occurred in October. By this time Red-headed Weavers were again using their nests fror breeding purposes so were no longer available for use for breeding by the Cut-throat Finches. Skinner (1995) includes 19 breeding records of Cut-throat Finches all from January to May, so this October breeding record lies outside of the expected breeding season for this species.

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