Afew African queries (1 Viewer)

5 unsure types taken south Africa August. Hope Rasmus is looking or other experts. Thanks.

1) Grosbeak (Thick-billed) Weaver (Amblyospiza albifrons).
2) Some Ploceus I think. I'll need a deeper look into a fieldguide for this one (exact species doesn't spring to mind as it did in the others).
3) male Jameson's Firefinch (Lagonosticta rhodopareia).
4) Yellow-throated Petronia (Petronia superciliaris).
5) Lizard Buzzard (Kaupifalco monogrammicus).

Hi there,

Agree with most comments. Bird 2 appears to be a female Village (Spotted-backed) Weaver judging by the back colouration and markings. Bird 3 I would suggest is a young male African (Blue-billed) Firefinch. It appears to be developing a grey crown from what I can see in the photo and this should eliminate Jameson's.

Kind Regards
Trevor
Cape Town, South Africa
www.zestforbirds.co.za

Hi Trevor,

It has been quite some time since I had to deal with the firefinches of SA and you most certainly could be right. However, a few observations:

1) The crown actually seem more brown than grey to me (I guess that could be explained by different computer screens?).
2) There are reddish markings on the wing coverts. This is, as far as I am aware, one of the main features for separating African (aka Blue-billed) and Jameson's of the South African subspecies.
3) While not a 100% feature the red forecrown point to Jameson's rather than African (Blue-billed).

Anyway, there can be little doubt that you most definitely have more experiance with these species than I do, and, as said, it's been quite a few years since I had to deal with them. Above observations just made me wonder.

Hi Rasmus,

Sorry, just been back to have a look at the photo again. I suppose I should have actually spent a little more time look closely at the photo before saying anything!

My humble apologies. The colour on the crown is definitely brown, not grey (I am not sure how I interpreted it as grey last night...) and is restricted only to the centre of the crown. It is DEFINITELY a Jameson's Firefinch!!

Sorry about that!
Kind Regards
Trevor
www.zestforbirds.co.za

Thick-billed (Grosbeak) Weaver,
Lesser Masked Weaver, because eye is white (female or non-breeding male),
Jameson's Firefinch on the basis of grey bare part colours,
although both plumage and bill tend towards Red-billed Firefinch (juvenile Jameson's?)
Yellow-spotted Petronia,
Lizard Buzzard.

Mos said:

Thick-billed (Grosbeak) Weaver,
Lesser Masked Weaver, because eye is white (female or non-breeding male),
Jameson's Firefinch on the basis of grey bare part colours,
although both plumage and bill tend towards Red-billed Firefinch (juvenile Jameson's?)
Yellow-spotted Petronia,
Lizard Buzzard.

Click to expand...

Admittedly, I am completely unable to see the eye-colour on that photo of the weaver! However, while the mantle is heavily spotted the legs most certainly are dark grey which strongly indicate Lesser Masked. Secondly, I did a bit of fast "research" on the firefinch in the other thread and after doing that, I see absolutely no reason why this isn't a pure Red-billed, too. As you mentioned there are some things that suggest this in the plumage. The single place where we seem to disagree is the colour of the bare parts (I presume you're referring to the eye-ring). It is, just like in the other thread, far too distinct for the Jameson's I suggested earlier. The colour is fine in my opinion, it seems to range from whitish to pure yellow in the Red-billed. I don't know what this relates to (age, season, race?), but regardless it's still far too distinct for a Jameson's. I guess the thing to learn from this thread is to spend just a bit more time on those Firefinches, they seemingly can be harder than one would think! Finally, on the Petronia: Once upon a time the Yellow-spotted was considered conspecific with the Yellow-throated, but I don't think that threatment has been followed by anybody for many years. Hence, Yellow-spotted Petronia is restricted to NC Africa far from South Africa (and it is quite different as it lacks the eye-brow), while the individual involved in this thread is the southern group, known as the Yellow-throated Petronia.

The Lesser Masked Weaver's white eye only appears after image
enhancement, and the grey legs indeed point to the same species.

Yes, it must be Yellow-throated Petronia for the southern species,
not Yellow-spotted.