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Kenya Black Birds (1 Viewer)

M

MacNara

Well-known member
Japan
New Year 2008-2009 Kenya (Maasai Mara).

These all-black birds are difficult for me.

1&2: This bird was on the ground at the roadside twenty or so kilometres north of Maasai Mara. I thought it might be Cape Rook because the area would be right, and it seemed right, but I might have been psychologically influenced by the fact that Zimmerman et al (Kenya) has a picture of the bird in flight which looks just like my second picture.

3&4 This bird was in a tree inside Maasai Mara. We were a bit busy looking at the leopard in the tree next door, but I got these two shots. Is it a Square-tailed Drongo, or just a regular Drongo? No red eye, but juveniles don't I think.

5. This was on the ground under trees in the lodge garden in Maasai Mara. I thought it might be a Slate-coloured Boubou. Only one shot, and it disappeared.

Any help gratefully received.
 

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How bout Sooty Boubous for the lot? For the first two photos: I know they're less than half the size of crows but these birds look about right. The second photo shows a long tail, crows have short tails.
 
I don't think they can be Sooty Boubous, because according to the books the Sooty Boubou has only been seen once in Kenya.

But they might be Slate-coloured Boubous. However, it would be right on the edge of its range if the distribution maps are right.

In the case of the rook-thing, I only saw it briefly, and I can't be clear about its size. When I was trying to work out what it could be, Cape Rook seemed good at first sight. Then I put it aside, intending to ask. And now I have. You are probably right; it's not a rook. Then it could be a Slate-coloured Boubou.

The other one: surely it's a Drongo, probably a juvenile Fork-tailed. It was just that it didn't have red eyes, and the other Drongos we saw had a very clear fork. Isn't the tail too rich for a Boubou? I think Square-tailed is very unlikely there. Zimmerman et al say 'local in w. Kenya' which is why I thought it might be possible, but on closer examination, it seems it would be a find there.

I'm still confused, but I think Sooty Boubou is less likely than any of my three suggestions.
 
Sorry about that, I meant Slate-coloured. I forget which one's which.

If I remember correctly Square-tailed Drongos are forest birds. Either way the tail does not look like a drongo. Square-tailed also shows pointed tail edges. Tail looks rounded to me. Also bill looks like a boubou rather than drongo
 
Well, I'm happy with Slate-coloured Boubou for 1&2 and 5. They are on the ground, and look right, and 5 I thought was a Boubou to begin with, while it was one option for 1&2. This latter was in dryish savannah, and I thought this made Boubou less likely, but I'm happy to be wrong on this.

But the other one was in a tall tree in a small group in the middle of the Maasai Mara open savannah. The tail looks too wide and lush to me when I look at the Boubou pictures, and the pose is vertical, while Boubou is said to be horizontal. It's true that you can't see the hook at the tip of the bill, but you can't clearly see that it's not there either.

Just a point of interest: Stevenson and Fanshawe say the Slate-coloured Boubou is 'invariably in pairs'. 1&2 and 5 might have had a partner nearby, since I saw them for only a few seconds. But 3&4 was in the tree for most of the hour we were observing the leopard nearby. It didn't try to hide when we looked at it (as 1&2 and 5 did). And it was definitely alone. I will take a lot of persuading that 3&4 is the same bird as the others (but that's not to say it absolutely can't be done).

Thanks for your comments and help. I'm happy with two of the three birds!
 
I'm curious about this one too. I have a similar pic (sent to me) taken in Ngorongoro. Is the range OK for Slate-coloured [edit!] Boubou for this one ?
 

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Well, that bill looks crow-like to me, and different to the bills in my pictures. I would go for the Cape Rook for that. Also, it clearly has the slightly shaggy throat feathers that the books describe. But I've already showed how little I know about the matter!

Either would be OK in principle at Ngorongoro, I think.
 
I agree with SJC, all birds from the first set of pictures are Slate-coloured Boubous. Told from Drongos by the tail shape, bill shape, eye colour, legs length (much longer in Boubous) and behaviour. Drongos have a behaviour similar to flycatchers, hunting from a vantage point and catching insects on the wing. Boubous are constantly on the move and creep in the vegetation, searching for insects.

Your picture George is a male Red-winged Starling, note the strong bill and the peculiar feathering to the neck, like a ruff.
Compare:http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/photos/mraz/red-winged-starling-05a08044.jpg
 
Ah, glad I asked! I see what you mean about the different bills and the neck feathers. Since Cape Rook seems to have a longer bill and shaggier neck feathers, I think Tib is probably spot on with Red-winged Starling - that one on nature-photo.cz looks identical.
 
OK, thanks all. As I said, it wasn't going to be absolutely impossible to convince me about the 'Drongo'.

Going by the books: it wasn't in a pair, it had a vertical stance, and it was quite high in a tree, not on the ground. I remembered it as bigger than it presumably was. The pictures in Stevenson and Fanshawe and (especially) Zimmerman et al (compare with the Black-backed Puffback next to it in the same plate) gave me the impression that the tail was fairly 'ordinary', whereas my one is the tree has a quite long and wide and (to me) distinguished tail. Presumably this is because the tails are shown from the side. I was expecting a black-billed Blackbird.

Thanks for the lesson.

I think these two birds from Lake Edward (Mweya) are Northern Black Flycatchers. My confidence will really go if you say they aren't.

(Sorry: pressed the wrong button the first time.)
 

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Agree with Mark. To me, the best field mark to tell Southern from Northern is the graduated tail of Northern (front view), this is visible in the 1st picture. Glossiness or non-glossiness of the plumage sometimes difficult to assess.
 
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