Bulletin 354 - South Africa 2020 #8 - Larks and other passerines

I was enchanted 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 larks are a family of brown-streaked ground dwelling songbirds. There are 98 species mostly in Africa and just a single member in North America. I found 3 new ones on this trip. The 8" Agulhas Long-billed Lark (Certhilauda brevirosris) is one of the 5 species in the split of "Long-billed Lark" complex about 20 years ago. This one has the smallest range along the coast east of Capetown. It is dark brown, but is best IDed by voice.

Agulhas Long-billed Lark

The 7.5" Large-billed Lark (Galerida magnirostris) is a heavily streaked lark with buffy eyeline.

Large-billed Lark

The only one identified by color is the 6" Red-capped Lark (Calandrealla cinerea). He has a red cap and shoulder and the breast is not streaked.

Red-capped Lark

The 10" Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis) is glossy black with a forked tail. For some reason I just like the name drongo, so I like to find these birds!

Fork-tailed Drongo

The 11" Pied Starling (Lamprotornis bicolor) is a brown-black bird with white vent and white eye. The bill is mostly yellow.

Pied Starling

The 9" Bokmakierie (Telophorus zeylonus) is a member of the bushshrike family. These birds are often brightly colored. This one has a gray head, yellow breast with a black bib. He reminds me of our meadowlarks in the USA. This cooperative bird was 15 feet from the car.

Bokmakierie

The 9" Olive Thrush (Turdus olivaceous) is similar to our American Robin.

Olive Thrush

I saw my first male Bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus). The males weigh up to 100 lb. Only the males have the corkscrew horns. Animals in the south are much darker then further north. For comparison, here is a reddish-brown female from Kruger Park.

Bushbuck - male

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2020 David McDonald

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Bulletin 329 - South Africa #6 - Part 2 - Starlings, Thrushes, Oxpecker, Sugarbird, Duikers

Continued from part 1

Thrushes are a worldwide family of common birds and one of my favorite families. I saw 6 new species on the trip. Several of them look like pale versions of the American Robin.

The 9" Olive Thrush (Turdus olivaceus) has orange belly but darker throat.

Olive Thrush

The 9" Karoo Thrush (Turdus smithi) is duller on the orange belly and their ranges do not overlap.

Karoo Thrush

The 8.5" Kurrichane Thrush (Turdus libonyanus) was the most common of the 3. It has only white flanks and the belly is white. It also has a black malar stripe.

Kurrichane Thrush

The 8" Groundscraper Thrush (Psophocichla litsitsirupa) is brown above and light below with lots black spots and black streaked face.

Groundscraper Thrush

The next 2 are the same genus and both listed as secretive forest birds. They have very tiny ranges and are both on the 'target list' for South Africa birders.

I saw the 8" Spotted Ground Thrush (Zoothera guttata) in dense forest a couple of times, but was only able to get  a blurry photo, It looks like a Wood Thrush with 2 wing bars.

Spotted Ground Thrush

The 8" Orange Ground Thrush (Zoothera gurneyi) is found in montane forest and we only saw 1 bird. It is brown backed with an orange throat and breast and 2 white wing bars.

Orange Ground Thrush

Interestingly, the species name (gurneyi) of the bird above leads to the next bird. Sugarbirds are a family of 2 species of songbirds endemic to southern Africa.. They have very long tails and are associated with protea flowers. I saw one of them, the male 15" Gurney's Sugarbird (Promerops gurneyi). Here he is on a protea flower. It is a brown bird with a long tail and rusty cap and chest. It is found at high elevation. This was in the Drakensberg Mountains in eastern South Africa.

Gurney's Sugarbird - male

We saw the largest antelope and buffalo last time. This time we will look at some of the smaller antelope. The smallest antelope in South Africa is the Suni at a weight of 11 pounds. We saw one the first afternoon in a forest and I saw it first and thought it was a feral dog. I pointed it out to the guide as he had not seen it but unfortunately did not take photos as soon as I saw it. He said it was a Suni and it is so rare in South Africa, that it was only the second time he had seen it!. By this time it had run into dense brush and I never got a photo.

The duikers (pronounced diker) are species of antelope named for their habit of diving into brush when frightened. Duiker means 'diver' in Afrikaans. The smallest is the 12 pound Blue Duiker (Philantomba monticola).It is a forest resident that eats fallen fruit and leaves. 

Blue Duiker

The next is the 26 pound Red Duiker (Cephaloophus natalensis).It is also a forest dweller. The fur on the body is red. The front legs are shorter so they tend to hop and this allows them to run quickly for cover.

Natal Red Duiker

The largest is the 42 pound Common Duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia). It is also known as the Grey Duiker.

Common Duiker
AKA Grey Duiker

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

I have photos of 15 of the 118 species of  starlings

I have photos of 48 of the 167 species of thrushes

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

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.