Kenyan Weavers 1 (1 Viewer)

Tully · Jul 25, 2006

Need a little help to ID / confirm some weaver species found in the garden of the Fairview Hotel in Nairobi in early July.
For 1 and 2 suggest Baglafecht Weaver race reichenowi male
For 3&4 same species female
Thanks

JWN Andrewes · Jul 25, 2006

Absolutely correct Tully. First two male, and second two female, Baglafecht Weavers. I photographed them at the same hotel (indeed, by the look of it on the same feeder) last month! Did you get anything else there? My highlights were White-headed Barbet, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill and Northern Pied Babbler!

James

Tully · Jul 26, 2006

JWN Andrewes said:
Absolutely correct Tully. First two male, and second two female, Baglafecht Weavers. I photographed them at the same hotel (indeed, by the look of it on the same feeder) last month! Did you get anything else there? My highlights were White-headed Barbet, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill and Northern Pied Babbler!

James

Hi James,
Only had a short time but had a lovely family of Speckled Mouse Birds, Variable Sunbird, White-browed Robinchat, Olive Thrush, Black Kite, Common Bulbul and the birds below. I think they are
1 Streaky Seedeater
2,3,4 Parrot-billed Sparrow
plus one more I still have to have a go at
Cheers

doug_newman · Jul 26, 2006

On the weavers, yes Baglafecht weaver. Saw a nice pair of them in the rainforests of port Gentil in Gabon.

As for the birds added later in this thread, the first one is not a Streaky-headed Seed-eater, The seed-eater had a plane belly and the supercilium does not extend onto the side of the nape. I think it might be one of the female paradise-whydahs.

As for teh sparrow, the plain grey underparts and lack of a white throat-patch rules out all but Swainson's Sparrow and Parrot-billed Sparrow. The differences here is parrot-billed has a brown shoulder to the wing and a bron mantle, whereas on Sainson's, these parts are grey.

I would make it Parrot-billed although it is Swainson's that occurs more in gardens etc that Parrot-billed.

Cheers.
Doug

Tully · Jul 27, 2006

doug_newman said:
On the weavers, yes Baglafecht weaver. Saw a nice pair of them in the rainforests of port Gentil in Gabon.

As for the birds added later in this thread, the first one is not a Streaky-headed Seed-eater, The seed-eater had a plane belly and the supercilium does not extend onto the side of the nape. I think it might be one of the female paradise-whydahs.

As for teh sparrow, the plain grey underparts and lack of a white throat-patch rules out all but Swainson's Sparrow and Parrot-billed Sparrow. The differences here is parrot-billed has a brown shoulder to the wing and a bron mantle, whereas on Sainson's, these parts are grey.

I would make it Parrot-billed although it is Swainson's that occurs more in gardens etc that Parrot-billed.

Cheers.
Doug

Hi Doug,
Thanks for your input
Stevenson & Fanshaw shows two seedeaters, a Streaky-headed with a plain breast as you say but also a Streaky one Serinus striolatus with a streaked breast. As the latter has also greenish edges to the primaries, that is why I had plumped for this one.
Thoughts?

JWN Andrewes · Jul 28, 2006

I reckon you're spot on with Streaky Seedeater Tully. Also, thanks to you (and Doug) I've revised my opinion on the Sparrows. I'd figured they must be Swahili Sparrows, as it appeared that the only other "Grey-headed" Sparrow in range was Parrot-billed which in the field guides it seemed to suggest tended to stay away from human habitation. I've now been back to the books and one of them (Stevenson & Fanshaw I think), adds that in spite of this they are found in the Nairobi area.

Living & learning!

James

cuckooroller · Jul 28, 2006

James,
For me they look like Parrot-billed because of the chestnut-brown scapulars. I will wait til tomorrow on this one for anyone else wanting to comment. In the meantime, I know there is at least one video on IBC of the male Parrot-billed. I will probably download it and grab the photograms to have a better look. Unfortunately, many of these sympatric African Passer sp. belonging to the once Grey-headed Passer complex are confusing and I am still waiting for my African ID books from Lynx.

Tully · Jul 30, 2006

cuckooroller said:
James,
For me they look like Parrot-billed because of the chestnut-brown scapulars. I will wait til tomorrow on this one for anyone else wanting to comment. In the meantime, I know there is at least one video on IBC of the male Parrot-billed. I will probably download it and grab the photograms to have a better look. Unfortunately, many of these sympatric African Passer sp. belonging to the once Grey-headed Passer complex are confusing and I am still waiting for my African ID books from Lynx.

Hi Steve,
We value your comments and look forward to any further views you may have
Cheers

M Cowming · Jul 30, 2006

As has been mentioned, the only 2 possibilities seem to be Parrot-billed and Swainson's. I googled both and only one photo of a Swainson's seems to exist;

http://bird.incoming.jp/45/8544-1.html

Parrot-billed;

http://home.hetnet.nl/~tamaravandenbroek/8335 Parrot-billed Sparrow.html

Comparing both to the bird in question, with particular reference to bill shape and strength, I would also suggest the bird to be Parrot-billed.

Regards,

cuckooroller · Jul 31, 2006

Tully · Aug 2, 2006

cuckooroller said:
Tully,
I did grab some photograms from videos, but prefer for copyright reasons to just add the URLs to the videos themselves. Probably the best feature I can see for this ID separation is from the bird with the face in half-profile where the upper contour of the bill culmen is conspicuously convex - good only for the Parrot-bill. So, I see no problem with this being Passer gongolensis.

Videos:

http://ibc.hbw.com/videos/Passeridae/Passer_gongonensis_2g.wmv
http://ibc.hbw.com/videos/Passeridae/Passer_gongonensis_1g.wmv

http://ibc.hbw.com/videos/Passeridae/Passer_swainsonii_4g.wmv
http://ibc.hbw.com/videos/Passeridae/Passer_swainsonii_1g.wmv
http://ibc.hbw.com/videos/Passeridae/Passer_swainsonii_2g.wmv
http://ibc.hbw.com/videos/Passeridae/Passer_swainsonii_5g.wmv
http://ibc.hbw.com/videos/Passeridae/Passer_swainsonii_7g.wmv
http://ibc.hbw.com/videos/Passeridae/Passer_swainsonii_6g.wmv
http://ibc.hbw.com/videos/Passeridae/Passer_swainsonii_3g.wmv
http://ibc.hbw.com/videos/Passeridae/Passer_swainsonii_8g.wmv

Steve
Thanks very much for that. If you think its any use you are welcome to put it in the database
Cheers

Kenyan Weavers 1 (1 Viewer)

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