Help with finding this birds name - Ghana (1 Viewer)

[Dorcoo]

Hello! First time bird-watcher here and I'm from Accra Ghana. I live in the city but at every day at dawn, we have a wide variety of birds that pass through. Today I saw a bird I just can't seem to identify. I use the Avibase bird site to check off the birds I see around but this particular bird just isn't there.

Ghana bird checklist - Avibase - Bird Checklists of the World

avibase.bsc-eoc.org

Initially I thought it might've been an African Pied Wagtail but the pale yellow colouration threw me off. It's tail was also split but I honestly can't tell if that's what the bird is naturally like, or if it's feathers were wet after taking a bath (it was on an electric line above me) Perhaps it isn't native to Ghana? Or it's a rare coloured mutation of an existing bird here...

Please let me know if you can identify what sort of bird this is.

 

[Butty]

Welcome to BF.
Sounds like a swallow. You need to get hold of a field guide! 👍🏼

 

[delia todd]

Hi Dorcoo and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. It would appear to be a swallow species, but perhaps the "yellow" bib was either a trick of the light, or maybe picked up some pollen or something.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[tconzemi]

maybe a juvenile Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica, some show a very yellowish throat, even more than this one

Barn Swallow

www.birdforum.net

 

[Andy Adcock]

Sounds like a Swallow but there is also this.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/yellowthroated-leaflove-or-yellowthroated-greenbul-atimastillas-flavicollis--353180795772335936/

I'll be in Ghana in less than a month

 

[Jim M.]

Dorcoo,

[edit: sorry Dorcoo, missed that you said it was sitting on a wire--so probably a swallow despite what I suggest below]

Nice drawing of a Collared Pratincole!: https://ebird.org/species/colpra

According to eBird, they should be in your area throughout the year: https://ebird.org/barchart?byr=1900&eyr=2023&bmo=1&emo=12&r=GH-AA

But they are fond of certain types of habitats, and might be found in different areas during migration, so perhaps not always seen regularly in your immediate vicinity.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Dorcoo,

Nice drawing of a Collared Pratincole!: https://ebird.org/species/colpra

According to eBird, they should be in your area throughout the year: https://ebird.org/barchart?byr=1900&eyr=2023&bmo=1&emo=12&r=GH-AA

But they are fond of certain types of habitats, and might be found in different areas during migration, so perhaps not always seen regularly in your immediate vicinity.

Never seen a Pratincole sat on a phone wire, that doesn't meant they don't though?

 

[James Lowther]

Agree with Andy, even allowing for artistic license this doesn’t look like a pratincole to me and the behaviour doesn’t strike me as plausible either.
Looks fine for swallow of some type, difficult to say which exactly.
James

 

[Jim M.]

Agree with Andy, even allowing for artistic license this doesn’t look like a pratincole to me and the behaviour doesn’t strike me as plausible either.
Looks fine for swallow of some type, difficult to say which exactly.
James

Ah. I confess I missed the sitting on a wire part. So probably a swallow.

 

[Butty]

A (very!) rare occasion with a photo-less ID query when one can give a worthwhile answer - indeed, a definite answer - or as definite as a small species-group anyway. The OP clearly saw (and drew remarkably well, given that it's a bird s/he wasn't familiar with) an Ethiopian swallow or an immature barn swallow (immature red-chested swallow possibly, but that seems not to be present on the coast).

 

[Dorcoo]

Welcome to BF.
Sounds like a swallow. You need to get hold of a field guide! 👍🏼

Will do! Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Dorcoo]

Sounds like a Swallow but there is also this.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/yellowthroated-leaflove-or-yellowthroated-greenbul-atimastillas-flavicollis--353180795772335936/

I'll be in Ghana in less than a month

Very cool haha! Hope you have a great time here!

 

[Dorcoo]

A (very!) rare occasion with a photo-less ID query when one can give a worthwhile answer - indeed, a definite answer - or as definite as a small species-group anyway. The OP clearly saw (and drew remarkably well, given that it's a bird s/he wasn't familiar with) an Ethiopian swallow or an immature barn swallow (immature red-chested swallow possibly, but that seems not to be present on the coast).

I just looked up the Red-chested Swallow, and that honestly might be it! Except for the reddish neck being pale yellow, the resemblance is spot on. Thank you very much. This was fun

https://ebird.org/species/recswa1

 

[MacNara]

I'll be in Ghana in less than a month

Don't forget your wellies.

Ghana floods: ‘My entire farm is under the water and so is my house’

Some 26,000 people have been left homeless after water was released to prevent a dam bursting.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Andy Adcock]

Don't forget your wellies.

Ghana floods: ‘My entire farm is under the water and so is my house’

Some 26,000 people have been left homeless after water was released to prevent a dam bursting.

www.bbc.co.uk

Really,
I asked the guide specifically about a week ago and he said it will be dry by then but thanks for the heads up. Still about three weeks away so a lot can change.

A