Does anyone know the Dekedekê afrikan bird? (1 Viewer)

[CRISTINA FREUND]

Hello. I´m a brazilian teacher. I´ve read a literary book written by Nathalie Dieterlé (Zékéyé et Maïna) and she mentioned a Dekekê bird. Does anyone know this bird? If so, it is possible to send me some photos and information, and different names from this bird? I´m really uset, because I couldn´t find anyinformation about it....

 

[RafaelMatias]

Hello Cristina and welcome to Birdforum,

I'm not sure it'll be possible to answer your question correctly, but first it would be important to know 2 things:

• which area or country in Africa is this bird supposed to occur
• what is the correct name of the bird (note you use two different versions, one on the thread title, another in the body text)

 

[mummymonkey]

It seems it's Dékédéké (also a place in Niger according to Google).

 

[CRISTINA FREUND]

Hello Cristina and welcome to Birdforum,

I'm not sure it'll be possible to answer your question correctly, but first it would be important to know 2 things:

• which area or country in Africa is this bird supposed to occur
• what is the correct name of the bird (note you use two different versions, one on the thread title, another in the body text)

Well, thank you for answering. The country is Camaroon, at the Bamilekê people. I don't know its cientifical name, sorry.

 

[CRISTINA FREUND]

It seems it's Dékédéké (also a place in Niger according to Google).

Thank you! Do you have any Picture from ir?

 

[mummymonkey]

Thank you! Do you have any Picture from ir?

I'm not sure what species is being portrayed in the book to be honest or even if it supposed to be an actual real bird. They are also called in the book "l'oiseaux de pluie" - rainbirds. There are a few species called rainbirds but I don't know if there are any birds in Cameroon with that local name.

 

[RafaelMatias]

Well, thank you for answering. The country is Camaroon, at the Bamilekê people. I don't know its cientifical name, sorry.

Thank you Cristina. Note I wasn't asking for its scientific name (obviously, if you knew it you'd be able to answer your own question). I was asking for the correct name (a question now answered above by mummymonkey), so that we could search more effectively, because you call it Dekedekê in the title and Dekekê in the body text.

 

[RafaelMatias]

I'm not sure what species is being portrayed in the book to be honest or even if it supposed to be an actual real bird. They are also called in the book "l'oiseaux de pluie" - rainbirds. There are a few species called rainbirds but I don't know if there are any birds in Cameroon with that local name.

Agree with all of this here. I also thought of one of the cuckoos, in particular the red-chested cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius), but I'd expect the name dekedeke to be onomatopaic and the call of that species does not resemble the word "dekedeke".

 

[dandsblair]

I think that people call the Red (or Pink headed) Picathartes( aka Rockfowl) the rainbird in Cameroon as it is usually only seen after rains.

 

[jurek]

I tried to look by name, and by the Cameroon and bird folklore rain and came to nothing. Maybe some BF lived in Cameroon and can track the bird to the name. I suppose it is a local name of some common bird, and having some information about it would make it easy.

 

[CarstenFog]

Hello. I´m a brazilian teacher. I´ve read a literary book written by Nathalie Dieterlé (Zékéyé et Maïna) and she mentioned a Dekekê bird. Does anyone know this bird? If so, it is possible to send me some photos and information, and different names from this bird? I´m really uset, because I couldn´t find anyinformation about it....

Hi Christina
Maybe the author just referred to birds in general. The Swahili name for bird is Ndege, which when pronounced is very close to Deké and the bantu languages do have words that to some extent are similar.
Carsten

 

[nartreb]

Wiktionary.fr came up with "de_ke_" == "to stoop" in Douala, and "na dekedeke" meaning "same height". "Deke" is apparently also a woman's name in Karang. I couldn't find anything to do with birds.