Cisticola in South-Africa (1 Viewer)

P

pietern2

Well-known member

• Jul 10, 2012

• #1

It is a cisticola, that I know, but is it Levaillant's cisticola because of the black and grey mantle, or a wailing cisticola because of the black eye and the reddish head? Photograped a few miles east of Johannesburg, South-Africa

 

Attachments

• 
  cisticola.jpg

  142.7 KB · Views: 49

foresttwitcher

Virtually unknown member

• Jul 10, 2012

• #2

The tail pattern looks better for Levaillant's IMHO.

 

Jacana

Will Jones

• Jul 10, 2012

• #3

Yes, Levaillant's

 

Larry Sweetland

Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'

• Jul 11, 2012

• #4

Can someone please explain why it's Levaillant's and not Wailing? Googling images of the two spp mentioned has left me totally confused, eg same tail pattern to my eyes (some might be labelled wrong of course), and I'm hoping to be in SA later this year.

 

Tib78

Well-known member

• Jul 11, 2012

• #5

Hi Larry,

It's indeed a Levaillant's, Wailing is never that rufous on the head and even in fresh plumage the tail is not so reddish as well. On top of that, the 2 species occur in totally diffenrent habitat, so don't worry too much about those 2 species for your forthcoming trip.

 

Larry Sweetland

Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'

• Jul 11, 2012

• #6

Tib78 said:

Hi Larry,

It's indeed a Levaillant's, Wailing is never that rufous on the head and even in fresh plumage the tail is not so reddish as well. On top of that, the 2 species occur in totally diffenrent habitat, so don't worry too much about those 2 species for your forthcoming trip.

Click to expand...

thanks for that Tib :t:

 

P

pietern2

Well-known member

• Jul 11, 2012

• #7

Thanks for all your replies. Too bad it is Levaillant's, since that one was already on my life list. It's good to know these birds better thou, so next time I may positively identify Wailing cisticola.

Larry, if you're going to vist SA, be sure to visit different habitats. That's something which keeps surprising me for SA, the diversity in birds between dissimilar area's, even if the distance between them is minimal.