Eastern Long-billed Lark Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens South Africa Oct 5 (1 Viewer)

[49bentley]

Can someone please confirm this to be an Eastern Long-billed Lark? Taken in Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens South Africa Oct
Thanks
Chris

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Looks like one of the larger cisticolas and definitely not a lark. Am not totally sure which kind of cisticola though. If you have more pictures, they would be helpful.

 

[49bentley]

Thanks Andrew. These are the only pics.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Thanks Andrew. These are the only pics.

My best guess would be Wailing Cisticola.

 

[49bentley]

Thanks Andrew. It seems to fit.

 

[49bentley]

Could these three pics be related?

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Could these three pics be related?

The first could be the same species and is a cisticola. The other bird isn't a cisticola - maybe a moulting Long-tailed (Eastern) Paradise Whydah?

 

[49bentley]

Thanks Andrew.

 

[01101001]

Do you remember the habitat of the cisticola? Apart from Wailing (grassy hills with bushes), Merlin also returns Levaillant's (wetlands), Grey-backed/Red-headed (fynbos, karoo), and Rattling (woodland) as possible matches. Of all four, Levaillant's comes on top most often, not that it means much here (they're all quite similar). Not Lazy/Rock-loving because of the undertail pattern: https://faansiepeacock.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Cisticolas-Faansie-Peacock.jpg.

I think what makes it a cisticola (as opposed to a lark) would be the fine bill (somewhat thicker in larks, which is related to different food choices), the long graduated tail (sometimes with undertail spots, which lack on larks), and--usually--smaller overall body size in absolute terms.

The neatly conical bill of what was identified as the whydah excludes cisticolas and most larks (also many other groups, such as pipits or flycatchers, for example).

EDITs in italics

 

[49bentley]

Thanks 01101001. Habitat was dry hilly with bushy vegetation. Thanks for the info.