SANParks.org Forums

It works like this.

Everyone can participate!

10 birds will be displayed in here every Friday, pm the answers to me or JVR. The answers will be revealed the following friday. There by every one will get enough time to id them.

Your answer must consist of the bird name and your reason for why you think it is the bird you think it is.

So keep an eye on this topic this coming Friday!

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I require your answers before next week Wednesday as I will be in Kruger from Thursday morning onwards.
Good luck!

I am really struggling to get on the forums lately. So I will just post the answers for now and later get into the discussing bit.

I will also try to post the 10 new id's later today. I am a bit pushed for time with this Kruger trip tomorrow...

1. Finfoot (female)
2. Bat hawk
3. Senegal lapwing
4. Yellow weaver (male)
5. Bronze mannikin (male)
6. Mountain Weatear (female)
7. European Honey-Buzzard
8. Common Sandpiper
9. White-Backed Duck
10. Squacco Heron

2, 6 and 7 proved to be the difficult ones.

Well done to everyone!

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(Joe can you please take the pm's till sunday? i will be in Kruger till then....)

This is how every bird did: highlighted ones are the right guesses.

1. Afican Finfoot (Female 7). (4 no gender specified)
1. African darter 1
2. Ayre's Hake-Eagle. 1
2. Eurasian Hobby 1
2. Brown Snake Eagle.1
2. African Hawk Eagle 1
2. Bat Hawk.(Immature 3) (5 no gender specified)
3. Senegal Lapwing. 9
3. black winged lapwing 3
4. Yellow Weaver.9 (male 1)(female 2)
5. Bronze Mannikin (Male 1) (10 no gender specified)
5. Magpie Mannikin 1
5. Black Headed Canary. 1
6. Mountain Wheatear (Female 6).
6. Boulder Chat.1
6. Juv Wattled Starling 1 ( 1 no gender specified)
6 Red winged starling 1 (non breeding 1)
7. European Honey-Buzzard. 3
7. Brown Snake-Eagle (Immature 2) (1 no gender specified)
7. ?Ayres Hawk Eagle. 1
7. Steppe Buzzard (Imm 1) (1 no gender specified)
7. African Goshawk 1
7. Greater Kestrel 1
7. Gabar Goshawk imm 1
8. Common Sandpiper. (10 no gender specified) (juv 1)
9. White-Back Duck. 8
9. African Black Duck. 1
9. southern pochard (1 no gender specified) (female 1)
9. imm knob-billed Coot 1
10. Squacco Heron (non-breeding 2). (7 no gender specified) 1 breeding
10. Water Thick-knee. 1

The most easiest bird being: Yellow Weaver with 12 correct id's.
The most difficult bird being: European Honey-Buzzard with only 3 correct id's.

The answers for week 2:

1. Yellow-throated petronia
2. Brown-throated martin
3. Cape gull
4. Grey plover
5. Little rush-warbler, adult, male
6. Double-Banded Sandgrouse, female
7. Malachite Kingfisher
8. African Black Duck
9. Egyptian Gosling
10. Orange-Breasted Bush-Shrike

This was considerably more difficult than week 1.


Well done to everyone for participating!

I have no idea what is keeping WTM up. Hope he is OK!

In the meantime, here is challenge #3...

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Don't put away that baby duck fieldguide

Answers to bird quiz 3:

1. Grey Waxbill
2. Black-bellied Starling
3. Water Thick-knee
4. African Openbill
5. Yellow-fronted Canary
6. White-backed Vulture
7. Whiskered Tern
8. Cardinal Woodpecker male
9. Red billed teal
10. Marico Flycatcher

Sorry everyone. I am heck of a busy at work at the moment. I will only be able to post 10 new birds next week Monday!

Postmortem

1. Grey Waxbill
- No red base to bill and no visible red flanks, thus not a Cinderella Waxbill.

2. Black-bellied Starling
- Lower breast and belly dark violet blue, almost black, with bronze sheen. Tail dark violet blue. No spots on wing coverts.

3. Water Thick-knee
- Eye not yellow enough and 'blood speckled' (Observation from various of my own and other photos). Yellow on upper bill extends into nostril, thus not a Spotted Thick-knee.

4. African Openbill
- Unique bill shape.

5. Yellow-fronted Canary
- Tail retrices are distinctly white tipped.

6. White-backed Vulture
- Black face and beak, dark brown eyes, cant be a Cape Vulture.

7. Whiskered Tern
- Diagnodtic please?

8. Cardinal Woodpecker
- Only one with brown fore crown.

9. Red billed teal
- Diagnodtic please?

10. Marico Flycatcher
- Strong contrast between upper (brown) and lower (white) parts, not a Pale Flycatcher.

Please add any obvious observations I might have missed to help future identifications.

Would love diagnostics on 7 and 9, cause even after reading the big Roberts I would still not get them

Now what on earth could be the problem

We can't have our contestants hanging

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Ok, don't ever say I never give you anything.

Here are 5 new ones and they are not easy. Joe will post his 5 later.

The photos are on purpose not the best ones.

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WTM, you're a bleeding heart

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Enjoy your weekend, chaps and chapesses!

Here is the solution to challenge #4:

1. Crested Francolin (juv)
2. Swallow tailed Bee-eater.
3. Northern Black Korhaan.
4. Yellow Throated Pertonia. The orange spot is due to pollen
5. Sociable Weaver.
6. Natal Francolin (juv)
7. Black Sparrow Hawk (immature)
8. White-backed Duck
9. Collard sunbird. (Female)
10. African Cuckoo-hawk, male and female

It is NOT possible to distinguish between Southern and Northern korhaans unless:
1. Seen in flight
2. Heard its call
3. Know it distribution.
Since none of those features were provided, we magnanimously decided to accept all BK nominations, North and South. Stictly speaking, only peeps that mentioned the impossibility of a more detailed ID should get a point here.

No sympathy for us... between work and chasing the elusive lesser black-backed gull at Leeupan, time for the challenge has been tight

Here are the answers for #5

1. Yellow canary
2. Non-breeding male pin-tailed Whydah and the backside of a laughing Dove
3. Female cutthroat finch
4. Thick-billed Weaver, male
5. Chesnutbacked Finchlark, male
6. Juvenile Lesser Spotted Eagle
7. Female Redheaded Weaver
8. Red Crested Korhaan, young female
9. Juvenile Eurasian Hobby – White eyebrow and downward stripes on legs distinguish it from Peregrine Falcon. The prey remains unknown
10. African Pipit

I have mailed my contribution to challenge #6 to WTM. Bug him to post it

Ok... her is Joe's 5.

My 5 will follow a little bit later.

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