SA Cedarberg ID help (1 Viewer)

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RichardP

Well-known member

• Oct 24, 2020

• #1

Going back to photos of a trip to Bushman's Kloof in the Cedarberg area - start of November - my first thought on this was Scrub-Robin, but the combination of Rufous tail, primaries and head, with the greyish back and sides and pale legs and beak have me completely baffled. Is it a juvenile? Any help appreciated.

Richard

 

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Larry Sweetland

Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'

• Oct 24, 2020

• #2

It"s a cisticola. Don't know location, which would narrow down options, eg Rattling looks like this and is common in dry scrubby lowland, Wailing looks like this and is commoner in wet ferny Highlands. Just googled Cedarberg, and see it's in western cape, so maybe try Grey-backed?

 

Last edited: Oct 24, 2020

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frogstar

Well-known member

• Oct 24, 2020

• #3

Red-headed cisticola for me.

 

Larry Sweetland

Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'

• Oct 24, 2020

• #4

frogstar said:

Red-headed cisticola for me.

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Pretty sure that doesn't occur in western cspe

 

Larry Sweetland

Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'

• Oct 24, 2020

• #5

It has to be Grey-backed. Only similar options in that part of the country are Levaillant's and Neddicky, which I believe don't quite fit.

 

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frogstar

Well-known member

• Oct 24, 2020

• #6

Larry Sweetland said:

Pretty sure that doesn't occur in western cspe

Click to expand...

Appears we're talking about the same bird. As usual, common names are confusing. One of my guides has it as Red-headed Cisticola and the other guide has it as Grey-backed Cisticola. They both have it as Cisicola subruficapilla.

 

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frogstar

Well-known member

• Oct 24, 2020

• #7

Just as an aside, I put your image into the Merlin app, (using the South Africa pack), and it came out with Red-headed Cisticola.

 

Larry Sweetland

Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'

• Oct 24, 2020

• #8

frogstar said:

Appears we're talking about the same bird. As usual, common names are confusing. One of my guides has it as Red-headed Cisticola and the other guide has it as Grey-backed Cisticola. They both have it as Cisicola subruficapilla.

Click to expand...

Aha! Didn't realise it had 2 common names :t:

 

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RichardP

Well-known member

• Oct 24, 2020

• #9

Thank you chaps - I'm very happy that is it!

Richard