Unknown bird @ Thendele Camp, Drakensberg Mtns KZN South Africa Sept (1 Viewer)

Please help ID this thrushlike/chatlike bird from Thendele Camp high in the Drakensberg mountains from 14 Sept this year.

The chats, robin-chats and thrushes that are present there have undertails that are the opposite of the one this bird has. I.E. red on the outside and black in the center. The bill is also quite long....I'm stuck!:-C Please help.

My friend took this photo, but unfortunately no others, so we can't see the full tail.

Thanks very much

Isn't this just Familiar Chat? The upperside of the tail has mostly black in the centre, but the underside is red with a narrow dark edge and a strong black tip which can't be seen in the photo. Unfortunately I don't have a photo which shows this really clearly. But this photo from Alamy shows it.

SASOL depicts the undertail as having a black T with the top of the T at the end of the tail and the rest of it rufous, which is exactly opposite to what this has. I have looked back at previous trips and the few photos showing the undertail show a similar pattern to this bird too. In every case that the undertail is clearly visible, it shows more of a U shaped dark edge with a red/rufous centre.
Thanks for clearing this up, MacNara. It would appear that this is a mistake in the SASOL. Not the first I have noticed either. The drawing of the Eastern Long-billed Lark has the text "rather short bill" underneath the bill, which is a bit curious.

Andy Hurley said:

SASOL depicts the undertail as having a black T with the top of the T at the end of the tail and the rest of it rufous, which is exactly opposite to what this has.

Click to expand...

Sasol's pictures on page 319 show and describe the upperside of the tail, not the undertail. I agree it's not very clear, but if you look at the Karoo Chat tail picture, the rump is marked. I agree it would be useful to have both, but I guess they can't do everything. When I first started using it, I thought it was the underside also, but it isn't. So, the Sasol tail pictures are correct.

Well, sorry SASOL I have made a mistake. I always thought they were depicting the underside:-C. Thanks again for clearing that up, MacNara