Michael's Ninth Year

[michael-ibk]

-/N39) Eared (ebird taxonomy) aka Black-necked (IOC taxonomy) Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) / Schwarzhalstaucher

 

Walvis Bay Bird Paradise, 22/5. I am not posting doubles for Namiba in general (quite a few from Oman and a few others for Europe) but am making an exception for this one. My first Black-necked Grebe in Africa, and probably my best sighting so far altogether.

 

[michael-ibk]

326/N40) African Swamphen (Porphyrio madagascariensis) / Smaragdhuhn

 

Walvis Bay Bird Paradise, 22/5. Another lifer I was delighted to get.

 

[michael-ibk]

327/N41) African Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus baeticatus) / Zimtrohrsänger

 

Walvis Bay Bird Paradise, 22/5. Another lifer. Just a subspecies of Common Reed Warbler according to ebird, but I'm (of course) going with IOC here. Also a good species according to "Birds of Greater Southern Africa" by Barnes, Stevenson and Fanshawe (nice new book btw).

 

[michael-ibk]

328/N42) Hartlaub's Gull (Chroicocephalus hartlaubii) / Hartlaubmöwe

 

Walvis Bay, 22/5. The default Gull along the Western Coast. Karel Johan Gustav Hartlaub (8 November 1814 – 29 November 1900) was a German physician and ornithologist. Has a Babbler, Duck, Bustard, Spurfowl and a Turaco named after him, and sneaked the "hartlaubii" in some additional scientific names.

 

[michael-ibk]

329/N43) Grey-hooded (ebird taxonomy) aka Grey-headed (IOC taxonomy) Gull (Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus) / Graukopfmöwe

 

Walvis Bay, 22/5. Rare in the area. The yellow eyes give it away.

 

[michael-ibk]

330/N44) Damara Tern (Sternula balaenarum) / Damaraseeschwalbe

 

Walvis Bay Salt Pans, 22/5. Lifer. A very small, short-tailed tern of coastal waters. Like many of these a bit of an ID nightmare. The local ebird reviewer confirmed it is a Damara and not a Little (which is a rarity here).

 

[michael-ibk]

331/N45) Dune Lark (Calendulauda erythrochlamys) / Rotdünenlerche

 

Walvis Bay area, 22/5. Very important lifer - the only true Namibian endemic! Even on stamps, that's how important they are.

 

Difficult bird, played very hard to get.

 

[michael-ibk]

332/N46) Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross (Thalassarche chlororhynchos) / Gelbnasenalbatros

 

Walvis Bay Pelagic, 23/5. My very first Albatros! I just wish I could have gotten a decent photo.

 

[michael-ibk]

333/N47) White-chinned Petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis) / Weißkinn-Sturmvogel

 

Walvis Bay Pelagic, 23/5. The Pelagic was nice but was definitely lacking in pelagics. This Petrel, a lifer, was basically the only bird around.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

334/N48) Sooty Shearwater (Ardenna grisea) / Dunkelsturmtaucher

 

Walvis Bay Pelagic, 23/5. Another lifer. Almost deleted the photos (BAH, another poor sequence of White-chinned Petrel), but the long bill, the more slender silhouette and the silvery wings gave me sufficient pause to keep it.

 

[michael-ibk]

335/N50) Cape Gannet (Morus capensi) / Kaptölpel

 

Walvis Bay Pelagic, 23/5. A few juvs were flying by.

 

[michael-ibk]

336/N51) Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) / Rosapelikan

 

Walvis Bay, 23/5. Common along the Coast.

 

[michael-ibk]

337/N52) Orange River White-Eye (Zosterops pallidus) / Oranjebrillenvogel

 

Skakopmund, 23/5. Quite common in town.

 

[michael-ibk]

338/N53) Kittlitz's Plover (Charadrius pecuarius) / Hirtenregenpfeifer

 

Skakopmund, 23/5. Much rarer that its White-fronted cousin.

 

[michael-ibk]

339/N54) Common Waxbill (Estrilda astrild) / Wellenastrild

 

Skakopmund, 23/5. Last bird for the Swakopmund area - moving inland now (or tomorrow rather).

 

[Zim Girl]

Nice collection of Namibian birds so far.  Congratulations for whizzing past 300!

[michael-ibk]

Thanks Angie!

 

340/N55) White-backed Mousebird (Colius colius) / Weißrücken-Mausvogel

 

D1927, Erongo Region, 24/5. The only sighting.

 

[michael-ibk]

341/N56) Great Rufuous (ebird taxonomy) aka Great (IOC taxonomy) Sparrow (Passer motitensis) / Rostsperling

 

D1927, Erongo Region, 24/5. Fairly common, almost forgot to take a photo.

 

[michael-ibk]

342/N57) Grey Go-away-bird (Crinifer concolor) / Graulärmvogel

 

Ai Aiba Rock Painting Lodge, 24/5. Another pretty common bird.

 

 

Edited August 29 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

343/N58) Common Scimitarbill (Rhinopomastus cyanomelas) / Glanzsichelhopf

 

Ai Aiaba Rock Painting Lodge, 24/5. Heard once in a while but this was the only (ebc) sighting.

 

[michael-ibk]

344/N59) Monteiro's Hornbill (Tockus monteiri) / Fleckentoko

 

Ai Aiba Rock Painting Lodge, 24/5. An important lifer - only occurring in Namibia and Angola.

 

Edited August 29 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

345/N60) Rock Kestrel (Falco rupicolus) / Felsenfalke

 

Ai Aiba Rock Painting Lodge, 24/5. Extremely similar (and previously considered a subspecies) to our Common Kestrel but an exclusively sub-saharan bird.

 

Edited August 29 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

346/N61) White-tailed Shrike (Lanioturdus torquatus) / Erdschnäpper

 

Ai Aiba Rock Painting Lodge, 24/5. Another Namibia/Angola-endemic. High priority target bird (and lifer) for me. Fascinated me when flicking through the bird book in preparation for the trip since it's such an unusual "Shrike". "Suspected to be a Bush-shrike by some authorities but behaviour, song, morphology and nest design suggest it is a giant terrestrial Batis" (Roberts Birds App).

 

Edited August 29 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

347/N62) Southern Pied Babbler (Turdoides bicolor) / Elsterdrosselhäherling

 

Ai Aiba Rock Painting Lodge, 24/5. Only my second sighting of this species.

 

 

This one confused me a bit but must be a juvenile.

 

Edited August 29 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

348/N63) Red-backed Scrub-Robin (ebird taxonomy) aka White-browed Scrub Robin (IOC taxonomy) (Cercotrichas leucophrys) / Weißbrauen-Heckensänger

 

Ai Aiba Rock Painting Lodge, 24/5. Not as common as its Kalahari cousin in Namibia.

 

Edited August 29 by michael-ibk