Conundrum It’S Time to Put Your Identifi­Cation Skills to the Test… If You Can Correctly Identify This Species, You Could Win a Thule Camera Bag

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Conundrum It’S Time to Put Your Identifi­Cation Skills to the Test… If You Can Correctly Identify This Species, You Could Win a Thule Camera Bag QUIZZICAL CRYPTIC conundrum It’s time to put your identifi cation skills to the test… If you can correctly identify this species, you could win a Thule camera bag. WIN this Thule Perspektiv Daypack valued at R1 999. As you capture the action on any adventure, make sure your equipment is protected with the photographer’s ultimate camera bag. This award-winning product allows easy access to key equipment, has a removable SafeZone camera compartment, ergonomic chassis system and an organisation panel for three SD cards and two batteries. Whatever your passion, whatever your pursuit. Wherever you’re going, whatever you’re bringing. With Thule, you’re free to live your active life to the full. www.thule.co.za Send your entries by e-mail to [email protected] (with ‘Quiz’ in the subject line) or on a postcard to Quiz, African Birdlife, P O Box 23147, Claremont 7735, Cape Town. Remember to include your full contact details. Note that multiple electronic entries will be deleted. Entries close on Friday, 20 June 2014; the judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. The win- ner’s name and the solution to this quiz will be published in the September/October 2014 issue of African Birdlife. And the answer is… Solution to the Cryptic Conundrum that appeared in the January/February 2014 issue. his bird is being coy, and without a view of its face or bill you have to rely on its jizz. Knowledge of that depends on your experience so you could be excused for struggling a bit. It is a passerine, and the rather drab plumage and sparseT vegetation suggest an open-country species. But the jizz is wrong for a lark or pipit; the long legs and erect stance indicate a muscicapid, a family that includes the Old World flycatchers, robins, chats, wheatears, redstarts and rock thrushes. The relatively short tail rules out the robin-chats, scrub robins and most redstarts, the legs are too long for a flycatcher, and the plumage doesn’t fit a rock thrush. So we’re left with the chats and wheatears – a challenging group throughout much of Africa due to the annual influx of migrant wheatears. The plain head, lacking any hint of a pale supercilium, rules out Capped Wheatear and most migrant wheatears. The most likely candidates are the resident Cercomela chats. Enough of the tail is showing to exclude Familiar Chat and Brown-tailed Rock Chat, and the wing-edgings are too bright for a Sombre Rock Chat. The tail is too short for a Karoo Chat, and the buffy flanks and brown upperparts are too warm-toned for Tractrac or Karoo Chat, so we are left with the Sickle-winged Chat Cercomela sinuata. Most guides show it with pale underparts, but the flanks are often rich buff. Interestingly, a recent study suggests that most Cercomela chats are better placed in Oenanthe with the wheatears, and erects a new genus, Emarginata, for the three southern African endemic species: Karoo, Tractrac and Sickle-winged chats. Congratulations to the winner, Joshua Rogers of White River, Mpumalanga. 50 AFRICAN BIRDLIFE.
Recommended publications
  • Birds of Augrabies Falls National Park
    BIRDS OF AUGRABIES FALLS NATIONAL PARK Rob # English (Roberts 7) English (Roberts 6) Augrabies Falls 1 Common Ostrich Ostrich 1 8 Little Grebe Dabchick 1 55 Whitebreasted Cormorant Whitebreasted Cormorant 1 58 Reed Cormorant Reed Cormorant 1 60 African Darter Darter 1 62 Grey Heron Grey Heron 1 63 Blackheaded Heron Blackheaded Heron 1 64 Goliath Heron Goliath Heron 1 65 Purple Heron Purple Heron 1 67 Little Egret Little Egret 1 68 Yellowbilled Egret Yellowbilled Egret 1 71 Cattle Egret Cattle Egret 1 76 Blackcrowned Night-Heron Blackcrowned Night Heron 1 78 Little Bittern Little Bittern 1 81 Hamerkop Hamerkop 1 83 White Stork White Stork 1 84 Black Stork Black Stork 1 89 Marabou Stork Marabou Stork 1 91 African Sacred Ibis Sacred Ibis 1 94 Hadeda Ibis Hadeda Ibis 1 96 Greater Flamingo Greater Flamingo 1 97 Lesser Flamingo Lesser Flamingo 1 102 Egyptian Goose Egyptian Goose 1 103 South African Shelduck South African Shelduck 1 104 Yellowbilled Duck Yellowbilled Duck 1 105 African Black Duck African Black Duck 1 106 Cape Teal Cape Teal 1 108 Redbilled Teal Redbilled Teal 1 112 Cape Shoveller Cape Shoveller 1 113 Southern Pochard Southern Pochard 1 116 Spurwinged Goose Spurwinged Goose 1 117 Maccoa Duck Maccoa Duck 1 118 Secretarybird Secretarybird 1 120 Egyptian Vulture Egyptian Vulture 1 126 Black Kite Black Kite 1 126.1 Yellowbilled Kite Yellowbilled Kite 1 127 Blackshouldered Kite Blackshouldered Kite 1 131 Verreaux's Eagle Black Eagle 1 136 Booted Eagle Booted Eagle 1 140 Martial Eagle Martial Eagle 1 143 Blackbreasted Snake-Eagle Blackbreasted
    [Show full text]
  • Species List (Note, There Was a Pre-Tour to Kenya in 2018 As in 2017, but These Species Were Not Recorded
    Tanzania Species List (Note, there was a pre-tour to Kenya in 2018 as in 2017, but these species were not recorded. You can find a Kenya list with the fully annotated 2017 Species List for reference) February 6-18, 2018 Guides: Preston Mutinda and Peg Abbott, Driver/guides William Laiser and John Shoo, and 6 participants: Rob & Anita, Susan and Jan, and Bob and Joan KEYS FOR THIS LIST The # in (#) is the number of days the species was seen on the tour (E) – endemic BIRDS STRUTHIONIDAE: OSTRICHES OSTRICH Struthio camelus massaicus – (8) ANATIDAE: DUCKS & GEESE WHITE-FACED WHISTLING-DUCK Dendrocygna viduata – (2) FULVOUS WHISTLING-DUCK Dendrocygna bicolor – (1) COMB DUCK Sarkidiornis melanotos – (1) EGYPTIAN GOOSE Alopochen aegyptiaca – (12) SPUR-WINGED GOOSE Plectropterus gambensis – (2) RED-BILLED DUCK Anas erythrorhyncha – (4) HOTTENTOT TEAL Anas hottentota – (2) CAPE TEAL Anas capensis – (2) NUMIDIDAE: GUINEAFOWL HELMETED GUINEAFOWL Numida meleagris – (12) PHASIANIDAE: PHEASANTS, GROUSE, AND ALLIES COQUI FRANCOLIN Francolinus coqui – (2) CRESTED FRANCOLIN Francolinus sephaena – (2) HILDEBRANDT'S FRANCOLIN Francolinus hildebrandti – (3) Naturalist Journeys [email protected] 866.900.1146 / Caligo Ventures [email protected] 800.426.7781 naturalistjourneys.com / caligo.com P.O. Box 16545 Portal AZ 85632 FAX: 650.471.7667 YELLOW-NECKED FRANCOLIN Francolinus leucoscepus – (4) [E] GRAY-BREASTED FRANCOLIN Francolinus rufopictus – (4) RED-NECKED FRANCOLIN Francolinus afer – (2) LITTLE GREBE Tachybaptus ruficollis – (1) PHOENICOPTERIDAE:FLAMINGOS
    [Show full text]
  • Freshwater Fishes
    WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE state oF BIODIVERSITY 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Introduction 2 Chapter 2 Methods 17 Chapter 3 Freshwater fishes 18 Chapter 4 Amphibians 36 Chapter 5 Reptiles 55 Chapter 6 Mammals 75 Chapter 7 Avifauna 89 Chapter 8 Flora & Vegetation 112 Chapter 9 Land and Protected Areas 139 Chapter 10 Status of River Health 159 Cover page photographs by Andrew Turner (CapeNature), Roger Bills (SAIAB) & Wicus Leeuwner. ISBN 978-0-620-39289-1 SCIENTIFIC SERVICES 2 Western Cape Province State of Biodiversity 2007 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Andrew Turner [email protected] 1 “We live at a historic moment, a time in which the world’s biological diversity is being rapidly destroyed. The present geological period has more species than any other, yet the current rate of extinction of species is greater now than at any time in the past. Ecosystems and communities are being degraded and destroyed, and species are being driven to extinction. The species that persist are losing genetic variation as the number of individuals in populations shrinks, unique populations and subspecies are destroyed, and remaining populations become increasingly isolated from one another. The cause of this loss of biological diversity at all levels is the range of human activity that alters and destroys natural habitats to suit human needs.” (Primack, 2002). CapeNature launched its State of Biodiversity Programme (SoBP) to assess and monitor the state of biodiversity in the Western Cape in 1999. This programme delivered its first report in 2002 and these reports are updated every five years. The current report (2007) reports on the changes to the state of vertebrate biodiversity and land under conservation usage.
    [Show full text]
  • South Africa 3Rd to 22Nd September 2015 (20 Days)
    Hollyhead & Savage Trip Report South Africa 3rd to 22nd September 2015 (20 days) Female Cheetah with cubs and Impala kill by Heinz Ortmann Trip Report compiled by Tour Leader: Heinz Ortmann Trip Report Hollyhead & Savage Private South Africa September 2015 2 Tour Summary A fantastic twenty day journey that began in the beautiful Overberg region and fynbos of the Western Cape, included the Wakkerstroom grasslands, coastal dune forest of iSimangaliso Wetland Park, the Baobab-studded hills of Mapungubwe National Park and ended along a stretch of road searching for Kalahari specials north of Pretoria amongst many others. We experienced a wide variety of habitats and incredible birds and mammals. An impressive 400-plus birds and close to 50 mammal species were found on this trip. This, combined with visiting little-known parts of South Africa such as Magoebaskloof and Mapungubwe National Park, made this tour special as well as one with many unforgettable experiences and memories for the participants. Our journey started out from Cape Town International Airport at around lunchtime on a glorious sunny early-spring day. Our journey for the first day took us eastwards through the Overberg region and onto the Agulhas plains where we spent the next two nights. The farmlands in these parts appear largely barren and consist of single crop fields and yet host a surprising number of special, localised and endemic species. Our afternoon’s travels through these parts allowed us views of several more common and widespread species such as Egyptian and Spur-winged Geese, raptors like Jackal Buzzard, Rock Kestrel and Yellow-billed Kite, Speckled Pigeons, Capped Wheatear, Pied Starling, the ever present Pied and Cape Crow, White-necked Raven and Pin-tailed Whydah, almost in full breeding plumage.
    [Show full text]
  • The World of Jan Brandes
    The world of Jan Brandes, DRAWINGS OF A DUTCH TRAVELLER IN BATAVIA, CEYLON AND SOUTHERN AFRICA Editors Max de Bruijn and Remco Raben Editorial board An Duits Gyorgy NovAky Peter Sigmond Wim Vroom Kees Zandvliet Waanders Publishers Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam the banks of the Kali Besar or Ciliwung, the river scape or to portray the birds in their natural sur- that ran through Batavia. Doubtlessly sharks roundings. - were often caught by fishermen in the coastal From the drawings alone it is difficult to see if waters of the Java Sea, and eaten by the inhabi- these were made from dead birds or from living tants of Batavia. One can imagine the inquisitive specimens. In general, it is very difficult to sketch Brandes, dressed in his black minister's garb, a bird when it is flying around, because it rarely examining and drawing the shark amidst the perches long enough. Brandes had a good eye for fishermen, vendors and bustling crowd on the detail and most of the characteristics of the birds early morning market. in his drawings arecorrectly depicted. He may Probably catches such as these attracted the have drawn birds in nature, or in the aviary or curious inhabitants of the city, and maybe even cage in which they were kept alive. In the majori- the scientifically minded. Apparently Brandes ty of cases, he would have used dead birds for his had some time to make a drawing of the shark studies, however much he tried to give the from different angles and with some precision. impression that they were alive in their natural The description remains rather short, and under- habitat.
    [Show full text]
  • Disaggregation of Bird Families Listed on Cms Appendix Ii
    Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals 2nd Meeting of the Sessional Committee of the CMS Scientific Council (ScC-SC2) Bonn, Germany, 10 – 14 July 2017 UNEP/CMS/ScC-SC2/Inf.3 DISAGGREGATION OF BIRD FAMILIES LISTED ON CMS APPENDIX II (Prepared by the Appointed Councillors for Birds) Summary: The first meeting of the Sessional Committee of the Scientific Council identified the adoption of a new standard reference for avian taxonomy as an opportunity to disaggregate the higher-level taxa listed on Appendix II and to identify those that are considered to be migratory species and that have an unfavourable conservation status. The current paper presents an initial analysis of the higher-level disaggregation using the Handbook of the Birds of the World/BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World Volumes 1 and 2 taxonomy, and identifies the challenges in completing the analysis to identify all of the migratory species and the corresponding Range States. The document has been prepared by the COP Appointed Scientific Councilors for Birds. This is a supplementary paper to COP document UNEP/CMS/COP12/Doc.25.3 on Taxonomy and Nomenclature UNEP/CMS/ScC-Sc2/Inf.3 DISAGGREGATION OF BIRD FAMILIES LISTED ON CMS APPENDIX II 1. Through Resolution 11.19, the Conference of Parties adopted as the standard reference for bird taxonomy and nomenclature for Non-Passerine species the Handbook of the Birds of the World/BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World, Volume 1: Non-Passerines, by Josep del Hoyo and Nigel J. Collar (2014); 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Dieter Thomas Tietze Editor How They Arise, Modify and Vanish
    Fascinating Life Sciences Dieter Thomas Tietze Editor Bird Species How They Arise, Modify and Vanish Fascinating Life Sciences This interdisciplinary series brings together the most essential and captivating topics in the life sciences. They range from the plant sciences to zoology, from the microbiome to macrobiome, and from basic biology to biotechnology. The series not only highlights fascinating research; it also discusses major challenges associated with the life sciences and related disciplines and outlines future research directions. Individual volumes provide in-depth information, are richly illustrated with photographs, illustrations, and maps, and feature suggestions for further reading or glossaries where appropriate. Interested researchers in all areas of the life sciences, as well as biology enthusiasts, will find the series’ interdisciplinary focus and highly readable volumes especially appealing. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15408 Dieter Thomas Tietze Editor Bird Species How They Arise, Modify and Vanish Editor Dieter Thomas Tietze Natural History Museum Basel Basel, Switzerland ISSN 2509-6745 ISSN 2509-6753 (electronic) Fascinating Life Sciences ISBN 978-3-319-91688-0 ISBN 978-3-319-91689-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91689-7 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018948152 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018. This book is an open access publication. Open Access This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.
    [Show full text]
  • 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
    [Show full text]
  • Birding Tour South Africa: Western Cape Custom Tour
    BIRDING TOUR SOUTH AFRICA: WESTERN CAPE CUSTOM TOUR 8-12 OCTOBER 2016 By Chris Lotz Orange-breasted Sunbird (photo John Tinkler) www.birdingecotours.com [email protected] 2 | T R I P R E P O R T Western Cape custom tour October 2016 ITINERARY Date (2016) Location Overnight 8-Oct Cape Town to Tankwa Karoo Sothemba Lodge, Tankwa 9-Oct Full day in the Karoo Sothemba Lodge, Tankwa 10-Oct Tankwa Karoo to the Overberg Mudlark River Front Lodge 11-Oct Agulhas Plains Mudlark River Front Lodge 12-Oct Betty's Bay and Rooiels (back in Cape Town) Day 1: 8 October 2016 I fetched Robert and Elizabeth from Hotel Verde at Cape Town International Airport at 7:30 a.m., and we immediately started heading toward the amazingly endemic-rich Tankwa Karoo. But we had lots of birding to do before getting to the Karoo. En route we stopped in the famous Cape wine town of Paarl for an hour or two, as Paarl boasts some excellent birding sites and is perfectly right on the way to the Karoo. Just as we entered Paarl we were glad to be able to stop for a pale-phase Booted Eagle soaring above us – we actually ended up seeing a good number of this small eagle throughout our tour. After admiring the eagle we headed for the botanical garden within the Paarl Mountain Nature Reserve, where we got acquainted with a bunch of fynbos endemics and other goodies. This trip proved excellent for raptors. As we arrived at the botanical garden, we saw a Black Harrier hunting, then later we got amazingly close views of a perched African Goshawk – a two-accipiter morning is always a good morning! Three species of beautiful sunbirds were much in evidence: Malachite, Southern Double-collared, and Orange-breasted Sunbirds.
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • Ethiopian Endemics I 11Th to 29Th January 2014 & Lalibela Historical Extension 29Th January to 1St February 2014
    Ethiopian Endemics I 11th to 29th January 2014 & Lalibela Historical Extension th st 29 January to 1 February 2014 Trip report Abyssinian Roller by Markus Lilje Tour leaders: Wayne Jones & Andrew Stainthorpe. Trip report compiled by Wayne Jones RBT Ethiopian Endemics I Trip Report 2014 2 Top 10 birds as voted by participants: 1. Ruspoli’s Turaco 2. Abyssinian Roller 3. Half-collared Kingfisher 4. Fox Kestrel 5. Abyssinian Ground Thrush 6. Nile Valley Sunbird 7. Hartlaub’s Bustard 8. Quailfinch 9. Abyssinian Catbird 10. Abyssinian Woodpecker Tour Summary Our tour kicked off in the grounds of our hotel in Addis Ababa on what was, essentially, an arrival day. Despite its location in the middle of the bustling and chaotic capital city, the gardens yielded a good selection of birds including Wattled Ibis, African Harrier-Hawk, White-collared Pigeon, African Paradise Flycatcher, Brown Parisoma, Dusky Turtle Dove, Abyssinian Thrush, Montane White-eye, Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher, Brown-rumped Seedeater and Ruppell’s Robin-Chat. Common Cranes by Adam Riley We set out early the following morning so as to arrive at Lake Chelekcheka just after dawn, when the hundreds of Common Cranes that roost there start becoming active amid a cacophony of guttural bugling. With waves of cranes passing over us on their way to forage in the fields, we found plenty of other waterbirds including Northern Shoveler, Spur-winged Goose, Northern Pintail, Eurasian Teal, Greater and Lesser Flamingos, Spur-winged Lapwing, Three-banded Plover, Black-tailed Godwit and Temminck’s Stint. Yellow Wagtails abounded and one of the area’s specials, the tiny and gorgeous Quailfinch, gave excellent views.
    [Show full text]