Millstream Farm Bird List
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Birds Along Lehi's Trail
Journal of Book of Mormon Studies Volume 15 Number 2 Article 10 7-31-2006 Birds Along Lehi's Trail Stephen L. Carr Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Carr, Stephen L. (2006) "Birds Along Lehi's Trail," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 15 : No. 2 , Article 10. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol15/iss2/10 This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Title Birds Along Lehi’s Trail Author(s) Stephen L. Carr Reference Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 15/2 (2006): 84–93, 125–26. ISSN 1065-9366 (print), 2168-3158 (online) Abstract When Carr traveled to the Middle East, he observed the local birds. In this article, he suggests the possi- bility that the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi and his family relied on birds for food and for locating water. Carr discusses the various birds that Lehi’s family may have seen on their journey and the Mosaic law per- taining to those birds. Birds - ALOnG LEHI’S TRAIL stephen l. cARR 84 VOLUME 15, NUMBER 2, 2006 PHOTOGRAPHy By RICHARD wELLINGTOn he opportunity to observe The King James translators apparently ex- birds of the Middle East came to perienced difficulty in knowing exactly which me in September 2000 as a member Middle Eastern birds were meant in certain pas- Tof a small group of Latter-day Saints1 traveling in sages of the Hebrew Bible. -
South Africa: Magoebaskloof and Kruger National Park Custom Tour Trip Report
SOUTH AFRICA: MAGOEBASKLOOF AND KRUGER NATIONAL PARK CUSTOM TOUR TRIP REPORT 24 February – 2 March 2019 By Jason Boyce This Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl showed nicely one late afternoon, puffing up his throat and neck when calling www.birdingecotours.com [email protected] 2 | TRIP REPORT South Africa: Magoebaskloof and Kruger National Park February 2019 Overview It’s common knowledge that South Africa has very much to offer as a birding destination, and the memory of this trip echoes those sentiments. With an itinerary set in one of South Africa’s premier birding provinces, the Limpopo Province, we were getting ready for a birding extravaganza. The forests of Magoebaskloof would be our first stop, spending a day and a half in the area and targeting forest special after forest special as well as tricky range-restricted species such as Short-clawed Lark and Gurney’s Sugarbird. Afterwards we would descend the eastern escarpment and head into Kruger National Park, where we would make our way to the northern sections. These included Punda Maria, Pafuri, and the Makuleke Concession – a mouthwatering birding itinerary that was sure to deliver. A pair of Woodland Kingfishers in the fever tree forest along the Limpopo River Detailed Report Day 1, 24th February 2019 – Transfer to Magoebaskloof We set out from Johannesburg after breakfast on a clear Sunday morning. The drive to Polokwane took us just over three hours. A number of birds along the way started our trip list; these included Hadada Ibis, Yellow-billed Kite, Southern Black Flycatcher, Village Weaver, and a few brilliant European Bee-eaters. -
The Evolution of Nest Construction in Swallows (Hirundinidae) Is Associated with the Decrease of Clutch Size
© Biologiezentrum Linz/Austria; download unter www.biologiezentrum.at Linzer biol. Beitr. 38/1 711-716 21.7.2006 The evolution of nest construction in swallows (Hirundinidae) is associated with the decrease of clutch size P. HENEBERG A b s t r a c t : Variability of the nest construction in swallows (Hirundinidae) is more diverse than in other families of oscine birds. I compared the nest-building behaviour with pooled data of clutch size and overall hatching success for 20 species of swallows. The clutch size was significantly higher in temperate cavity-adopting swallow species than in species using other nesting modes including species breeding in evolutionarily advanced mud nests (P<0.05) except of the burrow-excavating Bank Swallow. Decrease of the clutch size during the evolution of nest construction is not compensated by the increase of the overall hatching success. K e y w o r d s : Hirundinidae, nest construction, clutch size, evolution Birds use distinct methods to avoid nest-predation: active nest defence, nest camouflage and concealment or sheltered nesting. While large and powerful species prefer active nest-defence, swallows and martins usually prefer construction of sheltered nests (LLOYD 2004). The nests of swallows vary from natural cavities in trees and rocks, to self-exca- vated burrows to mud retorts and cups attached to vertical faces. Much attention has been devoted to the importance of controlling for phylogeny in com- parative tests (HARVEY & PAGEL 1991), including molecular phylogenetic studies of swallows (WINKLER & SHELDON 1993). Interactions between the nest-construction va- riability and the clutch size, however, had been ignored. -
South Africa Mega Birding Tour I 6Th to 30Th January 2018 (25 Days) Trip Report
South Africa Mega Birding Tour I 6th to 30th January 2018 (25 days) Trip Report Aardvark by Mike Bacon Trip report compiled by Tour Leader: Wayne Jones Rockjumper Birding Tours View more tours to South Africa Trip Report – RBT South Africa - Mega I 2018 2 Tour Summary The beauty of South Africa lies in its richness of habitats, from the coastal forests in the east, through subalpine mountain ranges and the arid Karoo to fynbos in the south. We explored all of these and more during our 25-day adventure across the country. Highlights were many and included Orange River Francolin, thousands of Cape Gannets, multiple Secretarybirds, stunning Knysna Turaco, Ground Woodpecker, Botha’s Lark, Bush Blackcap, Cape Parrot, Aardvark, Aardwolf, Caracal, Oribi and Giant Bullfrog, along with spectacular scenery, great food and excellent accommodation throughout. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Despite havoc-wreaking weather that delayed flights on the other side of the world, everyone managed to arrive (just!) in South Africa for the start of our keenly-awaited tour. We began our 25-day cross-country exploration with a drive along Zaagkuildrift Road. This unassuming stretch of dirt road is well-known in local birding circles and can offer up a wide range of species thanks to its variety of habitats – which include open grassland, acacia woodland, wetlands and a seasonal floodplain. After locating a handsome male Northern Black Korhaan and African Wattled Lapwings, a Northern Black Korhaan by Glen Valentine -
South Africa : Cape to Kruger
South Africa : Cape to Kruger September 12 - 26, 2019 Greg Smith, with Dalton Gibbs & Nick Fordyce as local expert guides with 10 participants: Renata, Linda, Sandy, Liz, Terry, Rita & Mike, Laura & George, Rebecca & David List compiled by Greg Smith Summary: Our unspoken goal was to surpass last year’s species list in numbers – bringing even more magic to the trip than the three guides had viewed with 2018’s clients. And we accomplished this by finding 100 more bird species than last year! This success was due to weather, clients and past experience. Given that we were further south on the continent, there were still some migrants that hadn’t quite made it to the tip of Africa. We excelled on raptors with twenty-four species and with mammal numbers coming in at 51 species. We achieved great looks at Africa’s Big Five on two of our three days in Kruger National Park, which is a success given the status of the white rhinoceros. The weather cooperated both in the Western Cape where much needed sporadic rain happened mostly during the night time hours, and in the eastern part of the country where the summer rainy season waited until two days after our departure. The following list gives you an indication of just how rich South Africa is in diversity with wildlife and birds, but doesn’t even point to its world-renowned plant biomes. Take a read and enjoy what we experienced… BIRDS: 359 species recorded OSTRICHES: Struthionidae (1) Common Ostrich Struthio camelus— Our time in Kruger was where we saw most of the wild birds, not common though -
Namibia & the Okavango
Pel’s Fishing Owl - a pair was found on a wooded island south of Shakawe (Jan-Ake Alvarsson) NAMIBIA & THE OKAVANGO 21 SEPTEMBER – 8 OCTOBER 2017 LEADER: STEVE BRAINE For most of the country the previous three years drought had been broken and although too early for the mi- grants we did however do very well with birding generally. We searched and found all the near endemics as well as the endemic Dune Lark. Besides these we also had a new write-in for the trip! In the floodplains after observing a wonderful Pel’s Fishing Owl we travelled down a side channel of the Okavango River to look for Pygmy Geese, we were lucky and came across several pairs before reaching a dried-out floodplain. Four birds flew out of the reedbeds and looked rather different to the normal weavers of which there were many, a closer look at the two remaining birds revealed a beautiful pair of Cuckoo Finches. These we all enjoyed for a brief period before they followed the other birds which had now disappeared into the reedbeds. Very strong winds on three of the birding days made birding a huge challenge to say the least after not finding the rare and difficult Herero Chat we had to make alternate arrangements at another locality later in the trip. The entire tour from the Hosea Kutako International Airport outside the capital Windhoek and returning there nineteen days later delivered 375 species. Out of these, four birds were seen only by the leader, a further three species were heard but not seen. -
Bontebok Birds
Birds recorded in the Bontebok National Park 8 Little Grebe 446 European Roller 55 White-breasted Cormorant 451 African Hoopoe 58 Reed Cormorant 465 Acacia Pied Barbet 60 African Darter 469 Red-fronted Tinkerbird * 62 Grey Heron 474 Greater Honeyguide 63 Black-headed Heron 476 Lesser Honeyguide 65 Purple Heron 480 Ground Woodpecker 66 Great Egret 486 Cardinal Woodpecker 68 Yellow-billed Egret 488 Olive Woodpecker 71 Cattle Egret 494 Rufous-naped Lark * 81 Hamerkop 495 Cape Clapper Lark 83 White Stork n/a Agulhas Longbilled Lark 84 Black Stork 502 Karoo Lark 91 African Sacred Ibis 504 Red Lark * 94 Hadeda Ibis 506 Spike-heeled Lark 95 African Spoonbill 507 Red-capped Lark 102 Egyptian Goose 512 Thick-billed Lark 103 South African Shelduck 518 Barn Swallow 104 Yellow-billed Duck 520 White-throated Swallow 105 African Black Duck 523 Pearl-breasted Swallow 106 Cape Teal 526 Greater Striped Swallow 108 Red-billed Teal 529 Rock Martin 112 Cape Shoveler 530 Common House-Martin 113 Southern Pochard 533 Brown-throated Martin 116 Spur-winged Goose 534 Banded Martin 118 Secretarybird 536 Black Sawwing 122 Cape Vulture 541 Fork-tailed Drongo 126 Black (Yellow-billed) Kite 547 Cape Crow 127 Black-shouldered Kite 548 Pied Crow 131 Verreauxs' Eagle 550 White-necked Raven 136 Booted Eagle 551 Grey Tit 140 Martial Eagle 557 Cape Penduline-Tit 148 African Fish-Eagle 566 Cape Bulbul 149 Steppe Buzzard 572 Sombre Greenbul 152 Jackal Buzzard 577 Olive Thrush 155 Rufous-chested Sparrowhawk 582 Sentinel Rock-Thrush 158 Black Sparrowhawk 587 Capped Wheatear -
Crow Threat to Raptors?
PIED pirates CROW THREAT TO RAPTORS? There has been much debate about the effects on biodiversity of increasing Pied Crow and other corvid populations in Africa, but little has been quantified. It is evident from the latest bird atlas data that there are now more Pied Crows in southern Africa than there were a decade ago and that the species has spread into areas of the Karoo where it did not occur previously. But what effect is this having on other bird species? TEXT BY ROB SIMMONS & PHOEBE BARNARD ALBERT FRONEMAN arious reports indicate that one a Rock Kestrel and another a Southern crows are impacting negatively Pale Chanting Goshawk, all of which were on other creatures in their en- carrying mice in their talons. Prey-carrying vironment. Farmers complain raptors are usually provisioning dependent aboutV increasing predation by ‘crows’ on females or nestlings, so piracy affects more lambing ewes, birders suggest that more at- than simply the bird with the food. tacks are occurring on passerine birds, and The following three incidents serve to conservationists and members of the pub- highlight the modus operandi of the crows. lic report greater numbers of crows killing We then investigated other parts of Africa small tortoises. However, almost nothing to determine if piracy targeting raptors is has been quantified as to the level of such limited to western South Africa as a zone predation, the magnitude of the upsurge of Pied Crow range expansion or is a more in crow interactions and the effect on the widespread strategy. species being attacked. We do not yet have In the West Coast National Park in such data, but we do take a first look at 2008, our attention was drawn to a Black- what may be an increasing and somewhat shouldered Kite that was calling from a surprising addition to the negative effects height of over 150 metres and circling up- of crows – those on birds of prey. -
The Karoo Birds Research and Conservation Project
The Karoo Birds Research and Conservation Project Final Project Report based on fieldwork conducted through the Karoo south of the Orange River during 2017 and 2018 A BirdLife South Africa conservation project by Alan Lee and Dale Wright. Report by: Alan Lee January 2019 1 Summary The Karoo biome is a vast arid zone environment covering 26% of South Africa, as well as Namibia, and is home to 11 endemic bird species. The Karoo Birds Project was a BirdLife South Africa initiative run from 2017-2018, which aimed to provide a conservation assessment by obtaining data on population size, range and population trends primarily of the Karoo endemic bird species. This report was obtained through a point count and atlasing project across the Karoo region south of the Orange River, South Africa. This was partly run in conjunction with the Karoo BioGaps project. The South African National Biodiversity Institute’s (SANBI) Karoo BioGaps project aimed to gather foundational biodiversity data to support the impact assessments for Shale Gas and other infrastructure development projects in the Karoo basin. During 2017 and 2018 we conducted 2854 point counts across 150 pentads, mostly from end of July to October, largely corresponding to the late winter to early spring period. We found that avian species richness and bird abundance increased eastwards, mostly explained by increasing overall vegetation height, but accompanied by increasing grass cover and decreasing sand cover. In contrast, Karoo endemic bird species richness decreased eastwards, negatively correlated with increasing grass and acacia tree cover. Density and species richness were especially high around water locations and farmhouses, and we found that the presence of many species to be influenced by water, a surprising result for an arid environment. -
Exploring the Maintenance of Plumage Polymorphism in the Black Sparrowhawk
EXPLORING THE MAINTENANCE OF PLUMAGE POLYMORPHISM IN THE BLACK SPARROWHAWK GARETH JOHN TATE UniversityTTXGAR001 of Cape Town July 2016 SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN In fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science University of Cape Town SUPERVISED BY: DR. ARJUN AMAR & DR. JACQUELINE BISHOP The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town CONTENTS ABSTRACT------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 CHAPTER 1: Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 CHAPTER 2: Trait divergence in the presence of gene flow? A mitochondrial perspective on trait variation and colonisation of the Cape Peninsula by the black sparrowhawk Accipiter -
South Africa Mega Birding III 5Th to 27Th October 2019 (23 Days) Trip Report
South Africa Mega Birding III 5th to 27th October 2019 (23 days) Trip Report The near-endemic Gorgeous Bushshrike by Daniel Keith Danckwerts Tour leader: Daniel Keith Danckwerts Trip Report – RBT South Africa – Mega Birding III 2019 2 Tour Summary South Africa supports the highest number of endemic species of any African country and is therefore of obvious appeal to birders. This South Africa mega tour covered virtually the entire country in little over a month – amounting to an estimated 10 000km – and targeted every single endemic and near-endemic species! We were successful in finding virtually all of the targets and some of our highlights included a pair of mythical Hottentot Buttonquails, the critically endangered Rudd’s Lark, both Cape, and Drakensburg Rockjumpers, Orange-breasted Sunbird, Pink-throated Twinspot, Southern Tchagra, the scarce Knysna Woodpecker, both Northern and Southern Black Korhaans, and Bush Blackcap. We additionally enjoyed better-than-ever sightings of the tricky Barratt’s Warbler, aptly named Gorgeous Bushshrike, Crested Guineafowl, and Eastern Nicator to just name a few. Any trip to South Africa would be incomplete without mammals and our tally of 60 species included such difficult animals as the Aardvark, Aardwolf, Southern African Hedgehog, Bat-eared Fox, Smith’s Red Rock Hare and both Sable and Roan Antelopes. This really was a trip like no other! ____________________________________________________________________________________ Tour in Detail Our first full day of the tour began with a short walk through the gardens of our quaint guesthouse in Johannesburg. Here we enjoyed sightings of the delightful Red-headed Finch, small numbers of Southern Red Bishops including several males that were busy moulting into their summer breeding plumage, the near-endemic Karoo Thrush, Cape White-eye, Grey-headed Gull, Hadada Ibis, Southern Masked Weaver, Speckled Mousebird, African Palm Swift and the Laughing, Ring-necked and Red-eyed Doves. -
OSME List V3.4 Passerines-2
The Ornithological Society of the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia (OSME) The OSME Region List of Bird Taxa: Part C, Passerines. Version 3.4 Mar 2017 For taxa that have unproven and probably unlikely presence, see the Hypothetical List. Red font indicates either added information since the previous version or that further documentation is sought. Not all synonyms have been examined. Serial numbers (SN) are merely an administrative conveninence and may change. Please do not cite them as row numbers in any formal correspondence or papers. Key: Compass cardinals (eg N = north, SE = southeast) are used. Rows shaded thus and with yellow text denote summaries of problem taxon groups in which some closely-related taxa may be of indeterminate status or are being studied. Rows shaded thus and with white text contain additional explanatory information on problem taxon groups as and when necessary. A broad dark orange line, as below, indicates the last taxon in a new or suggested species split, or where sspp are best considered separately. The Passerine Reference List (including References for Hypothetical passerines [see Part E] and explanations of Abbreviated References) follows at Part D. Notes↓ & Status abbreviations→ BM=Breeding Migrant, SB/SV=Summer Breeder/Visitor, PM=Passage Migrant, WV=Winter Visitor, RB=Resident Breeder 1. PT=Parent Taxon (used because many records will antedate splits, especially from recent research) – we use the concept of PT with a degree of latitude, roughly equivalent to the formal term sensu lato , ‘in the broad sense’. 2. The term 'report' or ‘reported’ indicates the occurrence is unconfirmed.