2 IDs from Arusha, Tanzania (1 Viewer)

Both spotted near Arusha NP:

(1&2) A cuckoo of some kind

(3&4) Something sparrow-like?

First is f or immature Klaas's cuckoo, I believe. Reasons include white streak behind the eye (but not in front), no clear, strong bars on the breast sides.

3, 4: Fischer's Starling?

Sorry, not convinced. Surely beak shape is wrong and eye colour would be white for the starling?

THE_FERN said:

Sorry, not convinced. Surely beak shape is wrong and eye colour would be white for the starling?

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Juvenile has dark eyes. And we can't see them or the bill very well anyway.Wattled might be OK, but the bill shouldn't be black (I think).

But as TzMonster doesn't reply to answers to his posts anyway, I'm not that bothered about getting the correct answer.

Second bird is Grey-headed Sparrow.

Agree that's probably the most plausible

Wow, tough crowd. I've tried to follow up to virtually every post I've made since joining (albeit without the amazing rapidness of most folks here!), so not sure why the hostility. My apologies if I missed one, MacNara.

In any event, immature Klaas' hadn't occurred to me, but makes sense. I've seen loads of Klaas', Didric, and Red Chested Cuckoos, so would've been smarter to start there and assume a juvenile.

I agree grey-headed sparrow is the most plausible - I'm just not used to seeing them SO grey.

Thanks, everyone!

tzmonster said:

Wow, tough crowd. I've tried to follow up to virtually every post I've made since joining (albeit without the amazing rapidness of most folks here!), so not sure why the hostility. My apologies if I missed one, MacNara.

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Dear tzmonster. Please forgive me. At the time I responded to your post, it was late in the evening, and I was tired. I mistook you for another poster, rezMole, who had posted at least half a dozen posts about African birds (with multiple IDs in each post) in the same few days. Maybe it was the fact that your user names have some features in common (lower case, 'z' in the prefix, main part begins with 'm'), and when I was tired I conflated the two of you.

I had spent some time trying to ID the birds I could for rezMole, and anyway making some reply so that the questions would be bumped to the top of the forum. I'm not so knowledgeable about African birds, but I can do some IDs, and with the help of books, even more. And the real African experts are often busy, and miss threads, but if you bump the thread, there is more likelihood they will see it, so sometimes I make my best guess in the hope that someone who really knows will see the post after it is bumped.

It was this other poster who had annoyed me. I simply think it's very rude to post a question, and even more a long series of questions, without acknowledging the replies - not every single reply, but at the end after discussion seems to be over, at least. And since I had spent an hour or two trying to help, I felt a little bit personally aggrieved. But, even so, perhaps I shouldn't make such a fuss about it.

rezMole still hasn't replied to any of his/her threads since posting them a couple of weeks ago. (Of course, there might be a good reason, but it only takes a few seconds to say you won't be around for a while.)

So, once again, I apolgise for my comments to you, which were misdirected.