Bulletin 352 - South Africa 2020 #6 - Old World Flycatchers, corvids, antelope

I was enthralled with my first visit to Africa in November 2018 and so I scheduled another trip with the same guide Casper Badenhorst. As we had done the eastern part of the country from Durban to Kruger NP, we went to the Capetown area and the famous fynbos habitat.

The old world flycatchers are a very large family of small songbirds. Many of them are brightly colored. I saw some on the first trip, but found some new ones on this trip.


The 7" Capped Wheatear (Oenanthe pileata) is a brown-backed bird with distinctive black and white head.

Capped Wheatear

The 8" female Cape Rock Thrush (Monticola rupestris) has a grayish back and head and brick red underparts.

Cape Rock Thrush - female

The  7" Cape Robin-Chat (Crossypha caffra) has a gray back, orange breast and white eye line.

Cape Robin-Chat

The 6" Familiar Chat (Cercomela familiaris) is a dull gray bird with buffy under tail.

Familiar Chat

The 6" Karoo Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas coryphoeus) inhabits the semi-desert scrubland in the western Cape area known as the karoo. He is a gray backed bird with buffy underparts and a white eyebrow.

Karoo Scrub Robin

The last is the 8" Fiscal Flycatcher (Melaeornis silens). He is an attractive bird of dark gray back and white underneath.

Fiscal Flycatcher

Crows, jays and magpies make up the corvidae family. The crows and ravens have to be the largest songbirds, as they are the size of ducks or hawks. There are 2 native crows in South Africa. The all black one is the 20" Cape Crow (Corvus capensis). 

Cape Crow

The third corvid is the 22" White-necked Raven (Corvus albicollis). This bird I had photographed far away on the first trip, but this time we had a pair very close to the car. He has a massive bill with a white tip. And of course the white neck feathers make an easy ID.

White-necked Raven

I photographed 2 antelope species on the trip that I had before, but I was much closer and hence improved pictures this time.

The Common Eland (Taurotragus oryx) is the largest antelope in Southern Africa. They are gray brown with straight horns and a dewlap on the neck. Males are huge weighing up to 1000kg. Their meat is highly prized and thus they have been domesticated both for meat and their milk, which interestingly if properly prepared can be stored for up to 8 months! The main problem with raising eland on a farm is the ability of younger animals to jump over a 10 foot fence. Also the big bulls can just push their way through many fences.

Common Eland

The beautiful Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) is cinnamon above and pure white on the belly with a chocolate brown stripe between. He has curved horns. Males can weigh up to 120 pounds.

Springbok

I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 51 of the 328 species of  old world flycatchers

I have photos of 43 of the 134 species of crows and jays

I have photos of 23 of the 147 species of cattle, sheep, goats

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

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