-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Firefinch ID challenge, Senegal (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter gambirder
- Start date
lewis20126
Well-known member
African Firefinch male - blue grey bill is the key; greyish shawl over the nape, a supporting feature.
cheers, alan
cheers, alan
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
Hey Kev - if this wasn't Senegal I'd've said it's an African (black-blue bill, brown-grey uppers).....but not sure if they've been recorded that far east??
Woodchatshrike
Registered User
I'd just go with African but I'm sure I'm wrong. Any more pictures?
gambirder
Kev Roy
Nope, just the one...
James Lowther
Well-known member
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
gambirder
Kev Roy
Top marks Roy - it is indeed a Mali Firefinch. Payne is the authority on the species and on estrildids generally. I was mistaken in thinking the shot was taken in Senegal. As Payne said it was taken in Mali during field work by him and Clive Barlow in Mali. A discussion with Clive re a post on another ID forum got the ball rolling on this one.
The picture is helpful in clearly showing the key field mark distinguishing Mali Firefinch Lagonosticta virata from African Firefinch L. rubricata, namely, the comparatively "straight and narrow" bill. As Payne says, "the culmen is deep and curved in African Firefinch". Mali Firefinch also lacks the pink wash to the crown of African and has several distinctive calls.
Cheers all who had a go. Happy hunting if you haven't bagged it already! :t:
The picture is helpful in clearly showing the key field mark distinguishing Mali Firefinch Lagonosticta virata from African Firefinch L. rubricata, namely, the comparatively "straight and narrow" bill. As Payne says, "the culmen is deep and curved in African Firefinch". Mali Firefinch also lacks the pink wash to the crown of African and has several distinctive calls.
Cheers all who had a go. Happy hunting if you haven't bagged it already! :t:
lewis20126
Well-known member
Crikey - I excluded Mali Firefinch because they are "only in Mali"....obviously not!
Is the Senegal site easily accessible?
Instructive stuff, cheers, alan
gambirder
Kev Roy
Cheers, Alan. If you simply want to tick Mali Firefinch the area around Bamako in Mali is a better bet. I've had them there and can send you details of sites, contacts etc if you need them. The Senegalese records are from the extreme SE of the country, nr the town of Kedougou. It is a bit of a trek but there are lots of good birds, mammals, invertebrates etc in several different habitats (mountains, forests etc). Quite a few species in Barlow, Wacher and Disley's Field Guide to the Birds of Gambia and Senegal have been recorded only from that area - and it's got a kind of 'wild frontier' feel about it with who knows what lurking just around the next corner and just waiting to be discovered. I was lucky enough to bag a national first myself not far away (Yellow-breasted Apalis Apalis flavida), and the brood parasite of Mali Firefinch, Barka Indigobird Vidua larvaticola has got to be down there somewhere... :t:
Similar threads
