Bulletin 350 - South Africa 2020 #4 - Finches, Sunbirds, Hyrax

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.

Finches are a large family of small seed eating birds. I found several new ones on the trip as well as a couple of repeats for the previous trip.

The most unusual is the 6" Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs). The male is pinkish below and has a gray cap. The reason it is unusual as it is a European resident and has been introduced into the Capetown area, so it was nice to see and photo for the first time.

Common Chaffinch - male

The most beautiful resident finch on the trip was the 5.5" Brimstone Canary (Crithagra sulphurata). It is bright yellow with olive wings.

Brimstone Canary

The male 4" Black-headed Canary (Serinus alario) is a striking bird with brown back, white underpart and black head and throat.

Black-headed Canary - male

And of course there is a Cape Canary (Serinus canicollis). The male is a 5" bird with gray and yellow head and yellowish body. The female is streaky brown.

Cape Canary - pair

The 5" Forest Canary (Crithagra scotops) is dark streaked green above and yellow below with some streaks. He has a black chin and a pale bill.

Forest Canary - male

The 6" White-throated Canary (Crithagra albogularis) is a pale grey bird with a pure white throat and white eyebrow.

White-throated Canary

Lastly is the 5" Streaky-headed Seedeater (Crithagra gularis) is a darker gray canary with dark cheeks.

Streaky-headed Seedeater

Sunbirds are small curved-billed nectar drinking songbirds with males that are often brightly colored and some have long tail feathers. The 5" male Southern Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus) has narrow red breast band.

Southern Double-collared Sunbird - male

The larger 6" male Greater Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris afer) has a wider breast band and larger bill. These 2 similar birds are best IDed by voice.

Greater Double-collared Sunbird - male

The last of the sunbirds is the beautiful 6" male Orange-breasted Sunbird (Anthobaphes violacea). If you see this bird, he is an easy ID with his purple chest and orange belly.

Orange-breasted Sunbird - male

The most unusual mammal of the trip is the Rock Hyrax or Rock Dassie (Procavia capensis). There are 5 species of these small mammals that resemble marmots. All of them are in Africa and the Middle East. This species is 20-24" in length gray brown with small round ears. They are in their own family Procaviidae. Plants are their food and despite the  resemblance to rabbits or rodents, their nearest relatives are elephants and manatees! This was my first time to see a hyrax.

Rock Hyrax or Rock Dassie

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

I have photos of 56 of the 212 species of  finches.

I have photos of 17 of the 145 species of sunbirds

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

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