South-African bird Id (Mogalakwena River Reserve, Limpopo, Polokwane) (1 Viewer)

[Gregoire BD]

Hello everyone,

I hope I'm posting this in the right place. I would like to identify several birds that I saw in the Mogalakwena River reserve between September and end of December 2017 (if you need exact dates I can provide them as well). The biome was a savana with a lot of thorned bushes (not large mammals around except for girafes) and it was a very harsh dry season. Approximate sizes are given below with comparison to another bird/group of birds for reference. Your help is welcomed. Thanks in advance !

Grégoire

 

[Andy Adcock]

15 and 22 Black-chested Snake Eagle
71 and 74 Red-headed Weaver
49 and 54 Jameson's Firefinch I'd say?
71 Marico Flycatcher?
62 Southern Grey-headed Sparrow

 

[Gregoire BD]

15 and 22 Black-chested Snake Eagle
71 and 74 Red-headed Weaver
49 and 54 Jameson's Firefinch I'd say?
71 Marico Flycatcher?
62 Southern Grey-headed Sparrow

Hello Andy,

Thanks a lot for your quick answers. Maybe others will confirm the identification you're not sure of. Just to be sure, I assume you were referring to picture 61 for the Marico flycatcher ? Also are you positive on the Southern Grey-headed Sparrow ? I don't want to question your bird knowledge it's just that the area around the vent/under tail coverts seems a bit orange to me and I though it ruled out the Southern Grey-headed Sparrow (I don't have much knowledge in South-African birds though). I might also just be reflection for the light bouncing on the tree branch which is orange but I wanted to confirm it with you.

PS : Here are three more for you if you want. I think the first one might be a Marico flycatcher and the two others Crimson-Breasted shrikes (although the one in picture 891 seems to have a larger beak than I would expect). What do you say ? I might add other pictures as I go through my photos from South-Africa if you are interested

 

[Andy Adcock]

91 and 64 are Crimson-breasted Bushshrike.

 

[MacNara]

71 Marico Flycatcher?

61 not 71?

 

[MacNara]

66 & 67 Southern Masked Weaver female

But what's the second bird in 67?

 

[dwatsonbirder]

66 & 67 Southern Masked Weaver female

But what's the second bird in 67?

View attachment 1357845

Southern Black tit

 

[MacNara]

Southern Black tit

Thanks!

 

[Andy Adcock]

61 not 71?

Yes, sorry...........

 

[Gregoire BD]

Thank you all for your super quick answers !! 🤩 Maybe one day I'll be this good at identifying things (I hope). I keep going through my pictures and I already have other birds for you to identify if you want more challenge (I hopeI can actually give you some challenge but I don't know if that's going to happen). I was thinking to add the new pictures in the original post as I go so that people can see them even though they have not answered in this thread previously or should I include them in a new reply here (I don't know what's more efficient given I'm not familier with this forum) ? Anyway thanks again for your help. If some of you are familiar with african trees I also posted a picture of one I'd like to identify from the bark (that actually might be a challenge ^^) in the plant forum. Have a great everything. Cheers

PS : do you guys confirm the Jameson firefinch ID by Andy for pictures 354 and 349 ?

 

[MacNara]

PS : do you guys confirm the Jameson firefinch ID by Andy for pictures 354 and 349 ?

I think so. Two or three birds are visible. The bill in all cases is black, so Red-billed should be ruled out. The crown is red, so African should be ruled out.

As for more photos, I think it would be better to start a whole new thread - especially as the birds in your original post have all now received IDs, so in that sense, the thread is 'finished' (although it's possible someone new will come along and challenge one of the IDs). However, if the new photos are closely related to the original set - e.g. if you want to ask 'Is this [new photo] also bird xxxx' then that would be OK in a new post in the same thread, I think.

I would never add more photos to the starter post after there have been a few replies, as I think it will confuse people; if you want to add more to the same thread, then I think it's better to put them in a new post in the thread. If you look at the top right of each post you will see that each post in a thread gets a number - e.g. your post to which I am now replying is #10 - and it's easier to reference, say, photo three in post #10 than it is to go back to the beginning and count through a large number of photos to reference photo seventeen in post #1.

I notice that the three photos you added in post #3 are also at the end of post #1 - if you added them at post #3, then I would not add them to post #1.

Personally I find about five different birds per thread enough usually (this may just be me). Under the old system (until a couple of weeks ago and with which I guess you are not familiar) you could only add five photos (attachments) to one post, though you could begin a thread with several posts, each containing five attachments. Also when reading a thread you could easily open photos in separate tabs on your browser which made it easy to follow which birds you were answering about, but that's more difficult to do in the new system. I find writing an answer about one bird, then having to scroll back to the top of the thread to see the next bird(in this new system), very annoying (but again, it may just be me).

 

[Gregoire BD]

Hello MacNara,

Thank you for your detailed answer. I've been in a few forums in different topics before but this is probably the most efficient and pleasant that I've been in so far ! I'll try to limit the number of photos per thread and I will delete the ones I added at the end of the post #1 (those numbers are actually quite useful).

So to sum up, new thread if I want to post more pictures. It's okay to add to the existing thread if I think the photos are from the same species and want confirmation.

Finally do you think I should rename my post with a list of the names of the species that are identified in it (I seem to understand that's what people do here) ?

Cheers.

 

[MacNara]

Finally do you think I should rename my post with a list of the names of the species that are identified in it (I seem to understand that's what people do here) ?

You are very welcome to BirdForum. Without this site I would probably I would probably have remained a passive ('aren't these birds pretty?') as opposed to an active ('I wonder what this bird is called and how it relates to other birds?') birder. I'm not an important person on this site. I think you should leave the title of the thread that you started as it was, even if it seems to contain IDs that later turn out to be wrong. But that's just my opinion. Basically, just post your questions in a way that is likely to maximise the viewership and the number of answers - too many photos in one place and I tend to not answer, but others may differ.

Andy - if you are still reading - what advice would you give a new member on posting etiquette, or getting a good number of views and answers?

 

[IDidiot]

91 and 64 are Crimson-breasted Bushshrike.

Lovely creatures, the Laniarius atrococcineus

 

[Andy Adcock]

You are very welcome to BirdForum. Without this site I would probably I would probably have remained a passive ('aren't these birds pretty?') as opposed to an active ('I wonder what this bird is called and how it relates to other birds?') birder. I'm not an important person on this site. I think you should leave the title of the thread that you started as it was, even if it seems to contain IDs that later turn out to be wrong. But that's just my opinion. Basically, just post your questions in a way that is likely to maximise the viewership and the number of answers - too many photos in one place and I tend to not answer, but others may differ.

Andy - if you are still reading - what advice would you give a new member on posting etiquette, or getting a good number of views and answers?

Hi Mac,
personally, it annoys me (and some others) greatly, when someone posts dozens of images and clearly has no real interest in ID'ing anything for themselves or learning enough to at least have a go.

Another nusiance for me, is when someone posts a dozen ID requests, with just one pic in each post. It doesn't bother some people but these are my pet annoyances.

The other thing is, don't posty shots that are simply and obviously, unidentifiable though again, some seem to rise to this challenge.

In summary, try to use up the maximum number of images per post, not sure what that is now, it was five. Post reasonable images that people have a decent chance of identifying and try at least, to learn the families of birds and show that you're not just using the forum as a labelling service but again, some don't mind that either.

 

[bonxie birder]

Some do, some don’t. My head is spinning

 

[RafaelMatias]

I'd suggest juv. Southern White-crowned Shrike for 87.
#62 looks more like a juv Melba Finch or Orange-winged Pytilia (an Estrildid finch, rather than a sparrow).

 

[Gregoire BD]

I'd suggest juv. Southern White-crowned Shrike for 87.
#62 looks more like a juv Melba Finch or Orange-winged Pytilia (an Estrildid finch, rather than a sparrow).

Hello Rafael,

I can see the ressemblance with then juv Melba Finch or Orange-winged Pytilia but are these two not supposed to have a reddish beak ?

Thanks for you help

 

[Gregoire BD]

You are very welcome to BirdForum. Without this site I would probably I would probably have remained a passive ('aren't these birds pretty?') as opposed to an active ('I wonder what this bird is called and how it relates to other birds?') birder. I'm not an important person on this site. I think you should leave the title of the thread that you started as it was, even if it seems to contain IDs that later turn out to be wrong. But that's just my opinion. Basically, just post your questions in a way that is likely to maximise the viewership and the number of answers - too many photos in one place and I tend to not answer, but others may differ.

Andy - if you are still reading - what advice would you give a new member on posting etiquette, or getting a good number of views and answers?

Thank you for you kind welcome message. Given you have asked Andy for advice I think I'll follow what he suggested, meaning maximising efficiency by posting a larger number of photos in one post (not too large though but I think around 10 is good) that way I can limit it to 1 or 2 more posts of birds I can't identify

Cheers,

Grégoire BD

 

[MacNara]

Thank you for you kind welcome message. Given you have asked Andy for advice I think I'll follow what he suggested, meaning maximising efficiency by posting a larger number of photos in one post (not too large though but I think around 10 is good) that way I can limit it to 1 or 2 more posts of birds I can't identify

Cheers, Grégoire BD

That sounds fine to me.

Just as a matter of interest (no need to reply if you don't want to) - where are you in France? I worked in Brittany and Loire-Atlantique (Muscadet) for a few years, several decades ago. And have travelled through most of France at some point.