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Mystery birds of Tanzania, 14 - 28 Oct, 2012 (1 Viewer)

M

Marc Suller

Well-known member
Would be very grateful for help in identifying these birds.

Photo 1: Taken at Selous. My feeling is a compact weaver but according to my field guide (Stevenson and Fanshaw ; Birds of East Africa) are not present here.

Photo 2 : Selous. Perhaps a winding cisticola. Had a curious behavior of walking around and jumping straight up into the air.

Photo 3 : Tarangire car park. The main bird in question is the mating pair (and single one back right). They seem to be Somali Sparrows but again are out of range according to the book. The larger sparrow is either a grey headed or Swahili sparrow, and the other smaller species Chestnut Sparrow.

Photo 4 : Not sure what the bird to the right of the (suspected) Somali sparrows is. I was wondering whether it might be female red headed weaver but not sure about the bill colour.

Photo 5 : Taken at Serengeti but haven't a clue


Thanks, Marc
 

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Hi Marc,

First is a juvenile weaver, always tough to ID alone, but definitely not compact. May be Village.

Second is Rattling Cisticola IMO.

Third photo: Swahili and Chestnut (moulting male + female type) Sparrows.

Fourth photo: same with female/iimmature Ploceus weaver (therefore not Red-headed).

Fifth photo: another female type Ploceus weaver.

Cheers
 
Thanks for the reply. It was too small for a village weaver, so I think it is an imm lesser masked weaver. They were in the camp and it has a dark eye.

These female and immature weavers are difficult (for me), so I suppose the last two will remain unidentified.
 
Sparrow - Weaver

Valéry Schollaert said:
Hi Marc,

First is a juvenile weaver, always tough to ID alone, but definitely not compact. May be Village.

Second is Rattling Cisticola IMO.

Third photo: Swahili and Chestnut (moulting male + female type) Sparrows.

Fourth photo: same with female/iimmature Ploceus weaver (therefore not Red-headed).

Fifth photo: another female type Ploceus weaver.

Cheers
Click to expand...

I visited the same bird bath in September and Oct this year. I revisited my shots and found the birds above. Birds of East Africa has a Somali Sparrow but distribution is north Kenya. Birds in shot 1 size and id seems to fit image 1. After reviewing shot 2 I changed my ID from Grey-headed to Swaahili, Thanks for help.
 

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Stephen,

Swahili Sparrow isthe one occuring at Tarangire, I know very well the place where you took them. Both are very similiar; except for the range, note the less contrasted chin (pale with dark edge in Northern Grey-headed) and greyer mantler.

Therefore, on pic one you have Chestnut Sparrows, and on pic 2 Swahili Sparrows and one Chestnut Sparrow,female.
 
Agree with Valéry. The first weaver is probably a juv Village and there is also a red-billed quelea in the 3rd pic (in flight).

Edit: and the weaver in pic 3/4 is probably Vitelline (or alternatively Lesser masked).
 
Last edited:
I can Id the bird bath! One of my few semi-successful attempts at semi-artistic photography. - Toby
 

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Marc Suller said:
Would be very grateful for help in identifying these birds.

Photo 1: Taken at Selous. My feeling is a compact weaver but according to my field guide (Stevenson and Fanshaw ; Birds of East Africa) are not present here.

Photo 2 : Selous. Perhaps a winding cisticola. Had a curious behavior of walking around and jumping straight up into the air.

Photo 3 : Tarangire car park. The main bird in question is the mating pair (and single one back right). They seem to be Somali Sparrows but again are out of range according to the book. The larger sparrow is either a grey headed or Swahili sparrow, and the other smaller species Chestnut Sparrow.

Photo 4 : Not sure what the bird to the right of the (suspected) Somali sparrows is. I was wondering whether it might be female red headed weaver but not sure about the bill colour.

Photo 5 : Taken at Serengeti but haven't a clue


Thanks, Marc
Click to expand...
Off the top of anyone's head are there any shoe billed storks in selous or endemics you must get there? Tia dd
 
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