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Interesting, just what I was hoping for. Disagreement on the id of the bird.

I will let it go a little further to see what else is said about its id.

Why not?
What colour would you say that belly was?

Maxwell, for me it is a bit of coin-toss between juvenile yellowthroated and juvenile cape longclaw. The belly looks darkly yellowish to me (which can be interpreted as "buffish to orange" as stated in my Sasol guide), but I made my decision in the end based on what looks (unclearly) like yellowish edging to the wing feathers (supposedly a distinguishing feature between the juveniles of the two species...). But Wildtuinman will probably tell me I'm wrong for some reason or the other...

Dabchick I am agreeing with all your observations. And that's exactly why I am unsure of this bird's identity. I will let the discussion carry on for today still.

The throat colour and belly seem to be from the same shade card to me too.
I can see yellowish tinted primaries but not on the rest so know what you mean so how about the habitat and where it is perched? Viz ,my old copy of Newman's.

Looks like we are being left to our devices by the absence of further commentary so for devilment if nothing else I will stick by my first call. Anyway wildtuinman a decent photo would be nice.

You're all wrong. It's neither a Cape Longclaw nor a Yellow-throated Longclaw but a juvenile Yellow-breasted Pipit.
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Haha, sorry about that, I just had this strong desire today to throw a cat amongst the pigeons. But no, I don't believe the bird is a Yellow-breasted Pipit.

I can't say that I am 100% sure but I am leaning very strongly towards Cape Longclaw here. Yellow-throated Longclaw is generally a more brightly coloured and boldly marked bird, even when comparing the juveniles. Where Cape Longclaw has more of a brown back with buff feather edging, Yellow-throated Longclaw has more of a grey back with white feather edging. Ignoring the throat for the moment, the yellow belly of YTLC is much brighter yellow than the yellow belly of CLC. This can be seen on the juveniles as well. Juvenile YTLC typically has brighter yellow underparts than juvenile CLC, even though it is still paler than adult YTLC.

So to summarize:
1. I believe that, if this bird was a YTLC, the back would have been more boldly marked.
2. I believe the particularly pale underparts points to CLC rather than YTLC, fairly similar to this here bird on yonder webpage (the last picture). -> Ama-click-click

Ha Ha. No need to apologise. I had you down for a jester or a nutter when reading the first bit above.

Hey watch it! I may be stupid but I'm not good looking

Wish it was a Yellow-breasted Pipit! Still need to see one of those!

Thanks everyone! It was another interesting discussion.

Now to unveil where the bird was seen. Suikerbosrand NR, Gauteng. I wonder how many people would've ticked it as a Yellow-throated Longclaw? I certainly tried to change it into one!

I see that Yellow-throated Longclaw is listed on the Gauteng challenge list, but I am now starting to wonder if it wasn't one of these blokes that was ticked incorrectly. There are no records of them occurring anywhere near Gauteng on SABAP. Has anyone ever seen a Yellow-throated Longclaw in the greater Gauteng area?

(And sorry about the horrendous photo! I blame it on the cyclists who came past me with their interesting (idiotic) comments: "Do you see the lions? Look there! Lions!" )

All this for a Cape Longclaw?

Nee WTM.. come now man

Just joking.. luckily you told me from the beginning where you saw it, and that to me is probably the clincher. If I am not mistaken then YTLC is rather habitat specific and will stick to the Lowveld areas?

Anyway.. if Deefstes can turn that blerry thing into a Pipit.. then I shall be at Suikerbos if you need me.

I am convinced that the ones that I am going to ask for confirmation/ IDs on will not spark the debate that the CLC or YTLC has.

These were taken in Cape Town during the last week:

Is this a Karoo Prinia


A Red Bishop


A Levaillants Cisticola


and then what are these??
Could it be a hybrid?


My initial though was a grey wagtail or a cape wagtail.


Easy for you all I a sure.
Ta

Hi Rookie

1 is correct, karoo prinia
2 is correct, red bishop.
3 is a grey backed cisticola
4 some escaped domestic duck hybrid/variant sort of thing
5 is a female cape sparrow

Thanks Adrianp, well I get to tick off some more then! This is fun!

Hi,
Please could someone confirm whether these are spur-winged geese. They were seen on a farm in the Bredasdorp area near Agulhas National Park. Hope the pics are clear enough for an ID.
Thanks, Buglette

Hi Buglette,

Yes, I can confirm that they are Spur-winged Geese - but not all of them; On the first picture there are also Egyptian Geese and on the second picture there are also cows