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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Lake Manyara NP Tanzania January 2020 -1 (1 Viewer)

A few birds that i would like to confirm ID.

1. Winding Cisticola
2. Could that be a Usambiro i think i see some green , maybe just a d,Arnaud,s
3-Baglafecht Weaver
 

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I'm not at all expert enough to be definite about the Barbet, so these are just comments.

Firstly, Usambiro should have a full black breastband - this is one of the features that distinguishes it from plain D'Arnaud's. But this bird doesn't.

(Also this bird has no red vent, a feature shared between the species, just a hint of orange in the vent area. Therefore I wonder if it is a young bird, and judgements of 'green-ness' might be delicate.)

(And, incidentally, I'm not convinced that the 'diffuse greenish wash' on the head is such a great ID feature; in my limited experience (I've seen both birds) the apparent head colouring depends very much on lighting conditions.)

Secondly, Usmabiro is not on the birdlist for Manyara. (The linked list does recognise the split, as Usambiro is on the Serengeti list.) The distribution area in Stevenson and Fanshawe also doesn't stretch to Manyara.

In Northern Tanzania, the ssp of D'Arnaud's should be boehmi, I think, which has a fully black (i.e. not just streaked) front to the head in the adult which is quite striking in full light. In this photo, however, this area is behind a branch, so it's difficult to judge. Usambiro has some black streaking in this area, which can look like a light black cap, but can also be invisible in bright light head on.
 
Thank you both.

McNara , agree ,i will keep the D'Arnaud's as registration only , i might get lucky as i still have a lot of pictures from Serengeti to classify .
 
Hi Rogerio,

I think you may be lucky with your photos from Serengeti. We saw Usambiro there in a couple of places.

Just for reference, here are some shots to show what I take to be the differences.

1. D'Arnaud's nominate (from Bogoria, western Kenya)

2. D'Arnaud's nominate, mating display pair (western Kenya)

3. D'Arnaud's boehmi - note the strong black throat and forehead patches (Samburu, central Kenya; this should be the ssp in Tanzania)

4 & 5 Usambiro - note the complete black breastband and the black bill both features which differentiate from D'Arnaud's (Serengeti, two different birds)

Hope this helps.
 

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Hi Rogerio,

I think you may be lucky with your photos from Serengeti. We saw Usambiro there in a couple of places.

Just for reference, here are some shots to show what I take to be the differences.

1. D'Arnaud's nominate (from Bogoria, western Kenya)

2. D'Arnaud's nominate, mating display pair (western Kenya)

3. D'Arnaud's boehmi - note the strong black throat and forehead patches (Samburu, central Kenya; this should be the ssp in Tanzania)

4 & 5 Usambiro - note the complete black breastband and the black bill both features which differentiate from D'Arnaud's (Serengeti, two different birds)

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the detailed explanation McNara really improving my learning,

Have a look on the birds i took pictures in Serengeti , in 4 different locations , they all look Usambiro for me.
 

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