[MacNara]

The Bale Mountains in Ethiopia are famous for a local race or possibly species of Brown Parisoma

I think pictures 1 and 2 show this bird. They were taken in the area by me with no-one else seeing the bird and show two different birds, but they match the book Parisoma pictures well.

Pictures 3 and 4 show (three different) Willow Warblers, I think. However, it's not a bird I see where I normally am, so I'd like to check. More importantly, this is the bird that the local Bale Park guides - three of them - identified as the Parisoma, even insisting that we get out of the van to find it, and continuing to insist that this was right while looking at these photos on my camera and the Parisoma picture in the Horn of Africa book.

Picture 5 shows, I think a Puffback also in Bale NP. It's higher than the book says this bird goes, so I wonder if I'm wrong?

I suspect that one reason is that none of these guides has ever had a bird book to look at and study slowly. They seem to concentrate on the major mammals - Ethiopian Wolf and Mountain Nyala. The also misidentified the local endemic Black-headed Siskin (as a Baglafecht Weaver). But when we finished, I found out from the guide who accompanied us from Addis (the one who thought a Go-Away Bird was a Secretary Bird) that the local guide was paid 170 Birr for the day's guiding (about $10) and only gets this work for about one day a week or less). No wonder he looked happy with his tip (200% - I thought I was being mean; it's only four beers where I live, which I think is not a great tip for a day's work).

[DMW]

I think #1 is a Moorland Chat; #3 and #4 look like Chiffchaff.

#2 is indeed a Parisoma -it looks like Brown rather than Bale, but I wouldn't like to bet the farm on this, as the differences can be rather subtle. Where exactly did you see this bird? Both taxa occur in Bale, but seem to have different habitat preferences.

[MacNara]

Thank you very much for replying DMW.

If you think it's Moorland Chat, I'm sure you're right. That's what I had it down as at first, but it looked darker and less contrasty than Moorland Chat photos I was sure of (one attached).

The Parisoma was in Goba, so a little lower than the Sanetti Plateau. Either would be a new species for me. But the local guides' insistence that the Warbler was the Parisoma put me off. I think that if you haven't seen both the Brown and the Bale that you could tell the difference just from the book.

I've lived in Japan for 30 years, and only looked at birds for the last ten years or so. Japan doesn't have that wide a variety of birds. Only a few Warblers, mostly in passage. I've seen Chiffchaff once in Britain in April last year, but I thought the strong lemon yellow colour indicated Willow Warbler (which I had seen once before, I thought in Africa). But I have no idea of the lemon colour balance of the two Warblers.

By the way, what's the bird in pictures 2 and 3 (same individual) on this post? I thought it was Willow Warbler also. It's from just north of Addis.

[DMW]

Thanks for the extra info. Moorland Chat's appearance is quite variable depending on the light - look at the bill and you will see that it's too heavy to be a Parisoma (and the stance and structure are different).

If the Parisoma was in Goba, it would definately be Brown. I have seen both forms and found the difference to be reasonably obvious in good light (Bale is sootier), but judging plumage tones from a photograph can be difficult.

Your warblers all look like Chiffchaff to me. Don't worry if you find separating Chiff from Willow difficult - I often do too! If you look at the leg colour, you will see that all your birds have blackish legs, a feature of Chiffchaff.

[MacNara]

Thanks very much DMW. I learnt a lot.

If you do have time to look at the Wheatear threads, I'd be very grateful.

The number of Ethiopia threads that I've posted makes it look as though I have just stuck all of my photos here. But I live in Japan (I'm English) and we have short holidays. So, strange as it may seem, I take a lot more photos than I would if we had longer holidays and could go more slowly; and I hope to identify a lot of stuff after I get back. And we have only been going to Africa for four years - about one week each year, and we're over 50.

We saw about 200 birds in Ethiopia. Of these, there are some photos I am not sure of, although I have other good definite photos of the bird I think it is. And a few photos, I would like to know if photo x is in fact of this bird, in which case it will be the only photo. And there are a few photos which are in terrible light or not in focus, but really good people of whom there are a lot on BF can identify them, so I can add them to my list of birds seen, even if I don't have a photo worth looking at. As a proportion of photos I took, the ones I post here are very few.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=223395
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=223394

[MacNara]

By the way, the Warbler that the guides insisted was a Parisoma had red legs. Does this make it a Willow Warbler. Four photos attached all the same bird).

[TZBirder]

Are you sure No2 in the original set isn't Dusky Fly? The last warblers certainly aren't parisomas, but could be willow. Not quite sure...

[MacNara]

Hi TZ: Thanks for looking at these.

The thing about the Warbler in the four later pictures (and in one of the originals) is that the guides insisted they were Parisomas even after looking at the camera screen, and while looking at the pictures in the book! It's not that I thought they were Parisomas. But I still think the first one is Willow - it does seem to have red legs - and the one north of Addis is Chiffchaff as DMW says. But I've hardly ever seen these either, so I don't know.

As regards the 'Parisoma', no I'm not sure it isn't Dusky Flycatcher. Bale is a Parisoma hotspot, and the guides specifically mentioned it, so it was in my mind. I posted it to see if anyone would confirm it. Obviously, I've never seen it before, and no-one was with me. Here are four more photos of the same bird. I thought the back was too dark for Flycatcher, and I thought the tail showed signs of white edging, but maybe it's just the light or my imagination.

[DMW]

I agree with TZBirder that it is Dusky Flycatcher, not a Parisoma.

[MacNara]

Hi, DMW.

I'm fine that it should be Dusky Flycatcher, if that's what it is. Either would be the only time for me in Ethiopia. I thought the back was a lot darker than the book shows for Dusky Fly, and photos 1, 2, and 3 show a light-coloured tail feather on the side, and the book mentioned this as a feature. In addition, the whole bill is black, whereas the book suggests yellow lower mandible. On the opposite side of the scale, there does seem to be a lighter coloured loral patch.

DMW, I'd still like your opinion on the Warbler with pink legs in this thread. And I'd be really grateful if DMW and TZBirder would be kind enough to look at my thread 'Ethiopia 11 Flycatchers' and give me an opinion on the birds there:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=223470

And nobody looked at my White-eyes, either.
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=223468