Larry Sweetland
Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
I'm in the weavery zone. Like Fern I've got that annoying feeling that it's intangibly familiar somehow too!
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Nakuru Kenya November 2019 (#3) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Seth Miller
- Start date
Jean FRANCOIS
Well-known member
I wonder if it might not be a very young Wattled Starling.
Jean
Jean
Here's a link which illustrates a very similar Village Weaver:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ploceus_cucullatus_-Gambia_-immature-8.jpg
Also, take a look at the second and third pictures in the bottom row of this gallery. It's a Village Weaver actually taken at Nakuru:
http://www.didiphoto.co.uk/OUTnABOUT/AFRICA/BirdGallery/Weavers/index.html
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ploceus_cucullatus_-Gambia_-immature-8.jpg
Also, take a look at the second and third pictures in the bottom row of this gallery. It's a Village Weaver actually taken at Nakuru:
http://www.didiphoto.co.uk/OUTnABOUT/AFRICA/BirdGallery/Weavers/index.html
Seth Miller
Well-known member
Seth Miller
Well-known member
Looking at both pictures again, I'm not completely sure it's actually the same bird, but if not it is a similar one.
Jean FRANCOIS
Well-known member
So all you had to do was wait a little while. :-@
Jean
Seth Miller
Well-known member
I suppose that after my earlier poor reasoning, I should drop out of this thread, but given the large range of IDs given by very experienced African Birders for the OP's bird, please excuse me a couple more comments.
1. I would really like to hear which 'large weaver' Tib thinks the original bird is or might be. It's very unusual for Tib to comment in a vague fashion. Adding Tib's vagueness to the many alternative IDs, it does seem that this is a somewhat unusual bird (or at least photographed in a way that makes it look unusual).
2. I don't think the second bird of which Seth posted three pictures is the same as the original bird. And as regards the ID of this second bird, Waxwings goes for Speke's Weaver (female, presumably). It might be; but I wonder if Northern Masked Weaver female could be considered? I have seen these at Bogoria and Baringo. Nakuru isn't far, and the weather in this region of Kenya has been strange in recent years (a few years ago we could go to Bogoria, but not Baringo because of flooding; this year the reverse), and I wonder if Northern Masked could have spread to Nakuru for natural or climate reasons. Anyway, I attach a photo of Speke's which does indeed look a lot like Seth's three-photo weaver bird, and a photo of a Northern Masked female with a male in the background. The Northern Masked bill looks more like Seth's bird in my opinion; the Speke's bill is longer and more robust. Also (although it's difficult to see at this size) my Speke's shows the yellow eye of Speke's, whereas Seth's bird shows a black/dark eye like Northern Masked (juvenile Northern Masked apparently has a white eye).
3. I think the weaver, if it is, in post #1 is not the same as the weaver in Seth's later post. In Zimmermann (Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania) there is an illustration of a juvenile Baglafecht which looks quite a lot like the original bird (except that the whole breast is yellow), so maybe that could be the ID of the original bird?
4. I don't think that the birds in Waxwings links to photos of Village Weaver look much like Seth's original bird, and in the case of the Gambia birds, I'm not sure if they are Village Weavers, or at least of the same race. Seth's original bird has a very distinctive facial pattern and the yellow on the throat is very strong compared to the breast which is why I made my original wrong ID. But I still can't find anything that I am sure it is.
1. I would really like to hear which 'large weaver' Tib thinks the original bird is or might be. It's very unusual for Tib to comment in a vague fashion. Adding Tib's vagueness to the many alternative IDs, it does seem that this is a somewhat unusual bird (or at least photographed in a way that makes it look unusual).
2. I don't think the second bird of which Seth posted three pictures is the same as the original bird. And as regards the ID of this second bird, Waxwings goes for Speke's Weaver (female, presumably). It might be; but I wonder if Northern Masked Weaver female could be considered? I have seen these at Bogoria and Baringo. Nakuru isn't far, and the weather in this region of Kenya has been strange in recent years (a few years ago we could go to Bogoria, but not Baringo because of flooding; this year the reverse), and I wonder if Northern Masked could have spread to Nakuru for natural or climate reasons. Anyway, I attach a photo of Speke's which does indeed look a lot like Seth's three-photo weaver bird, and a photo of a Northern Masked female with a male in the background. The Northern Masked bill looks more like Seth's bird in my opinion; the Speke's bill is longer and more robust. Also (although it's difficult to see at this size) my Speke's shows the yellow eye of Speke's, whereas Seth's bird shows a black/dark eye like Northern Masked (juvenile Northern Masked apparently has a white eye).
3. I think the weaver, if it is, in post #1 is not the same as the weaver in Seth's later post. In Zimmermann (Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania) there is an illustration of a juvenile Baglafecht which looks quite a lot like the original bird (except that the whole breast is yellow), so maybe that could be the ID of the original bird?
4. I don't think that the birds in Waxwings links to photos of Village Weaver look much like Seth's original bird, and in the case of the Gambia birds, I'm not sure if they are Village Weavers, or at least of the same race. Seth's original bird has a very distinctive facial pattern and the yellow on the throat is very strong compared to the breast which is why I made my original wrong ID. But I still can't find anything that I am sure it is.
Attachments
Seth Miller
Well-known member
I got more pics of the second bird and agree it's a female Speke's weaver. Which makes sense since I've now also seen male Speke's here as well.
I've no clue on what the first one was but love hearing all the ideas.
I've no clue on what the first one was but love hearing all the ideas.
Tib78
Well-known member
Hi Mac,
Sorry if my posting was a little cryptic, but with a 9 months old toddler to take care of, I don’t have much time to type long comments these days..
The reason I was vague is that the quality of the pic simply didn’t allow to go further than large weaver sp in my view. And the 2 species I had in mind were Village and Speke’s.
From what I have read later on the thread Speke’s is more likely but I still don’t see how Village can be objectively ruled out. Even with the 2nd set of pics (that may show a different bird). Indeed I am currently on Mauritius and was watching (introduced) Village Weaver just yesterday and well, one juvenile looked very similar to the 2nd bird ...
I think my vote for the first is village weaver: why I thought it looked familiar.
