My wife (Julie) and I had a wonderful trip up the west coast of South Africa at the end of September last year with the flowers in full bloom. We started with a couple of day in Tulbagh and then drove up into the Cederberg mountains and then back down the west coast over a 2 week period, including stops at the Biedouw Valley, Lamberts Bay, Elands Bay, Neuiwoudsville, Veldrif and Langebaan. This was a holiday but of course there was a lot of opportunity for incidental birding. Even armed with my SASOL Birds of SA 3rd Edition, though, there were quite a few that I have failed to identify. I have included them below and I would welcome any thoughts from SA Bird experts (apologies that some of the images are not great!):
There were many more that I did identify (honestly!). As a starter, I think Bird 13 is a Stark's Lark.
I would welcome any thoughts on IDs.
Thanks,
Steve
Hi Steve, I just got back home and took a look on the laptop at your images.
Bird 1: Karoo Chat - southern ssp pollux
Bird 2: Levaillant's cisticola
Bird 3: Levaillant's cisticola
Bird 4: Cape canary (Juv)
Bird 5: Weaver - Cape or Southern masked. ?
Bird 6: Neddicky
Bird 7: Karoo Prinia
Bird 8: Southern Red Bishop (Female) ssp turgidus from western cape.
Bird 9: With the picture being overexposed I would go with either Karoo or Familiar chat. Tulbach is way out of range for Tractrac, with the nearest recording on the other side of the Ceres mountain north-east towards Tankwa Karoo National Park (SABAP2). Habitat is also wrong for Tractrac (arid shrublands on plains). The paler ssp albicans from Namibia favour whitish gravel plains and coastal dunes.
Bird 10: Cape Siskin
Bird 11: Cape Siskin
Bird 12: Larklike Bunting
Bird 13: Larklike Bunting
Hope these will help.
Thanks for taking the time to look at these, Mark, I really appreciate it.
The weaver looks likely, Steve, but Forest Canary & Tractrac Chat are slightly out of range, although according to the ebird range map, Tractrac Chat occurs only a few kilometers further east of Tulbagh, higher in the hills. With the pic being slightly overexposed, it's difficult to assess the true colour of the bird, but TC isn't a bad call.
Many thanks Mark and William. That's really helpful. For the remainder I was thinking:
Bird 4 - Forest Canary?
Bird 5 - Southern Masked Weaver?
Bird 9 - Tractrac Chat?
Bird 2 & 3: Levaillant's cisticola (Cisticola tinniens)
Bird 6: Neddicky ( Cisticola fulvicapilla)
Hi Steve,
I don't have any SA books out here with me, but you might want to check the following:
Bird 1 - Familiar Chat?
Bird 7 - Karoo Prinia?
Bird 8 - Brimstone (Bully) Canary juv?
Birds 10 & 11 - Cape Siskin?
Bird 12 - Lark-like Bunting?
Nice group of photos, Steve. Sorry I can't help
eBird and their photo library should be able to sort it though