Bulletin 327 - South Africa #4 - Part 1 - Miscellaneous Songbirds; dogs and a small cat

I had an amazing 2 week trip to South Africa and scored almost 280 new species of birds as well as fantastic mammals and a few reptiles. My guide Casper Badenhorst was outstanding. You can see his web site here. He can be contacted through the web site or if you want his email it is info@birdingandwildlifesafaris.com. I recommend him highly as he showed me so many rare birds and animals. I will use him again when I go to Southern Africa.

As usual my birding luck was 100% and we saw almost every thing expected to be found and many that were not expected!

The 5" African Broadbill (Smithornis capensis) is a gray backed bird with heavy black streaking on the chest. It is an uncommon bird and my guide said I was lucky to see it. It took several tries to find it. The male shown here has a black cap. Notice the white puffball on his lower back. This is part of his display.

African Broadbill - male

We saw 2 members of the shrike family. The 9" Southern Fiscal (Lanius collaris) is a black and white bird with a white wing stripe. He has the usual hooked beak typical of shrikes.

Southern Fiscal

Long-tailed birds seem to be common in Africa. The 24" male Magpie Shrike (Urolestes melanoleucus) is all black with a very long tail.

Magpie Shrike

Despite the similarity of names, cuckooshrikes are a separate family from the shrikes above. The 10" Gray Cuckooshrike (Coracina caesia) is all gray with a white eye-ring.

Gray Cuckooshrike

The 7.5" White-crested Helmetshrike (Prionops plumatis) is in a different family again from the previous birds. It is a peculiar bird with a white bushy crest on his forehead, yellow wattles around his eye and pink legs.

White-crested Helmetshrike

The larks are a family with 98 species, but only 1 is in the New World. Many of the are LBJs (little brown jobs). I found 4 on this trip. The 7" Long-billed Lark (Certhilauda semitorquata) is a rufous backed lark best IDed by voice.

Eastern Long-billed Lark

The 6" Rufous-naped Lark (Mirafra africana) at least has some color with a bright rufous crown and wings. I could ID it after seeing few times.

Rufous-naped Lark

The 6" Sabota Lark (Calendulauda sabota) is another LBJ best IDed by voice. That is one reason I always have a guide on my travels.

Sabota Lark

The last is the distinctive 5" male Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark (Eremopterix leucotis). He has a black head and underside, brown back and white patches on the head.

Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark - male

Continue to part 2