SANParks.org Forums

Thanx WTM!

(I may have seen this birdie before, but as this is the first confirmed ID, it's a new lifer for me )

Hello Bird forum, I'm almost done with sorting out my South Africa pictures, but still struggle with a couple of birds, hope you can help me with identifying them. Pictures are all taken in the Kimberley area last may this year.

Thank you again!

Starting with some cisticola's;

I've got the feeling the first 4 birds below might be the same species, but the 5th is a different on (plain backed).

Cisticola 1;




Cisticola 2;






Cisticola 3;





Cisticola 4;



Cisticola 5;

This bird was very far away, so heavily cropped and may be impossible to ID. My first guess would be some sort of canary? Seen at Maloutswa hide, Mapungubwe, on 15 April 2012.

Anyone? (or is this one really too far away for any sort of ID?)

too far yes...

Thanks, Lizet, pushing my luck again!

Hi again ,

Theses are my last pipits I need some help with please, I first thought they were all African and the last one Buffy, but then the coloration/head patterns etc. of some started confusing me again .....what do you think?

Still Kimberley area May this year;

Pipit 1 (African?)




Pipit 2 (African?)





Pipit 3 (African with broken leg?)


Pipit 4 (African?)


Pipit 5 (African?)


Pipit 6 (African juv.?)


Pipit 7 (African, white tail but plain back?)



Pipit 8 (Buffy?)

Hi Maurice

You seem to enjoy tormenting us with all these LBJ's.

I'd say for 1-6 you are right. These are African pipit. 7&8 could be buffy or plain backed. they are hard to seperate with picutres and no behavioural notes. At a stretch, I'd say they are probably plain backed.

Maurice,
The first lot seems to be African Pipit yes, but it is Pipit 7/8 (which I believe can be the same species) that's got my attention. Do you remember any behaviour detail from this bird? Did you see it walk at some stage maybe?

Regards
Lizet

What are you thinking? Long tailed?

Thank you once again adrianp for your reply, I'm very sorry for that, I'm just trying to sort everything out . The help on this forum is much appreciated!!!



Thank you Lizet,

The first 6 pipets went into the African pipit folder, thanks to you and Adrianp. The last 2 pipits, I unfortunately can't tell anything about behavior of either of the two, I do know for sure it are 2 different birds but they were photographed in the same area. It was right where I've seen the Blue Korhaan for what it's worth. One thing I do remember about bird number 8 is that I thought it was a very big pipit compared to all the other pipits I'd seen so far.

I'll add some more pictures of the 2, maybe (hopefully) it will help;

Bird 7 (this is all the pictures I have of this bird)



Bird 8 (I've got more pictures of this bird but don't know if they add something for determination)

Another one that has me puzzled, is it possibly a lark-like bunting? The only other birds about were a pair of little bee eaters. Seen along the H1-8 on 17 April 2012.

Hi Maurice.

I will try to weigh in my thoughts, but as with all "plain backed" pipits, they are difficult to distinguish at the best of times.

The habitat surrounding the pipit and Behavioural elements will be best to try and ID a pipit.

From experience with Buffy Pipits, this looks pretty good to me. The General upright stance, perched on shrub, looking very "Big Chested" are things that stand out for me.

I have included a photo of one I took in the KNP for some comparison.

_MG_8148 by DvdBergh, on Flickr

Unfortunately your photo doesn't allow us to see the mandible clearly enough to see what the true coloration of the bill is.

On Giss alone, I would guess Buffy Pipit, but lets wait and see what the other experts reckon

Yes I'm considering long-tailed for pipit #8. This bird seems very big with a square tail and the head seems small compared to the chest but the bill is maybe too long
We need a video snap of this bird. Maurice please send us a video of #8 feeding on the ground and preferably very close-up head shots showing the bill base colour as well!

Yes, most of the DSLR's these days do HD video... what's wrong with you guys

Seriously though, I am trying to build a collection of this kind of material. At the moment I have African and Bufffy pipit film clips. It would be great to one day have a resource that people can look at and learn from the behavioural characteristics. If there are any keen birders/pipitologist who would like to host such a collection I would gladly contribute just pm me, to arrange drop-box transfer as these files are big.