Michael's Ninth Year

[michael-ibk]

412/N128) Spike-heeled Lark (Chersomanes albofasciata) / Zirplerche

 

Etosha, 1/6. Took me a while to figure this one out. Seems to be a different subspecies (eriksoni?)from the birds in the Kgalagadi ("kalahaariae")where I had previously seen this species.

 

 

[Galana]

Congratulations on the 400 and a great little bird to do it with. One of my favourites.

 

Re Jacana.

Surprisingly not as uncommon in Etosha as you would think. Often seen around natural waterholes where there are reeds and sedges to lurk in. Such as Rietfontein and Goas. But rarely at open ones such as Okaukuejo so it was not so lost as may appear.

[michael-ibk]

413/N129) Crowned Lapwing (Vanellus coronatus) / Kronenkiebitz

 

Etosha, 1/6. Always common in dry country.  Occurs contiguously from the Red Sea coast of Somalia to southern and southwestern Africa.

 

[michael-ibk]

1 minute ago, Galana said:

Surprisingly not as uncommon in Etosha as you would think. Often seen around natural waterholes where there are reeds and sedges to lurk in. Such as Rietfontein and Goas. But rarely at open ones such as Okaukuejo so it was not so lost as may appear.

 

Thanks Fred! Ah ok, makes sense. I thought it was more of an oddity here since ebird flagged it as rare once I submitted the list with it.

[michael-ibk]

414/N130) Common Ostrich (Struthio camelus) / Strauß

 

Etosha, 1/6. Doing well in Namibia, esp in Etosha.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

415/N131) Double-banded Sandgrouse (Pterocles bicinctus) / Nachtflughuhn

 

Etosha, 1/6. It was already pitch-dark when they came in to the waterhole.

 

[michael-ibk]

416/N132) Swallow-tailed Bee-Eater (Merops hirundineus) / Schwalbenschwanzspint

 

Etosha, 1/6. The only Bee-Eater we saw. Fairly common.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

417/N133) African Golden Oriole (Oriolus auratus) / Goldpirol

 

Etosha, 1/6. Only one sighting in (Okakuejo) camp.

 

[michael-ibk]

418/N134) White-breasted (ebird taxonomy) aka White-bellied (IOC taxonomy) Sunbird (Cinnyris talatala) / Weißbauch-Nektarvogel

 

Etosha, 1/6. Definitely one of most stupid ebird name changes.

 

[michael-ibk]

419/N135) Bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus) / Gaukler

 

Etosha, 2/6. Several sightings of this cool Eagle, but never in good photo range.

 

[michael-ibk]

420/N136) Southern Grey-headed Sparrow (Passer diffusus) / Damarasperling

 

Etosha, 2/6. Subspecies "diffusus" here.

 

[michael-ibk]

421/N127) African Harrier-Hawk (Polyboroides typus) / Höhlenweih

 

Etosha, 2/6. I prefer the old name "Gymnogene" but modern taxonomies don't use that one anymore.

 

[michael-ibk]

422/N138) Marico Flycatcher (Melaenornis mariquensis) / Maricoschnäpper

 

Etosha, 2/6. A very common Flycatcher. Attracted to burnt ground, typically arriving within one hour of afire. Does not need to drink.

 

[michael-ibk]

423/N139) Sabota Lark (Calendulauda sabota) / Sabotalerche

 

Etosha, 2/6. Abundant in Etosha. A complicated bird with many subspecies, and two in Etosha, one thick-billed (naevia?) and one slender-billed (waibeli?).

 

Thick-billed, the most commonly seen form:

 

 

And Slender-billed:

 

[michael-ibk]

424/N140) Secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) / Sekretär

 

Etosha, 2/6. Always a special one to see. Secretarybirds face no pressing conservation threats. They are still common in many areas of Africa, even preferring some farmed areas to unaltered natural areas.

 

[michael-ibk]

425/N141) Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis) / Trauerdrongo

 

Etosha, 2/6. One of the most familiar safari birds. African Cuckoo almost exclusively focuses its efforts on this drongo which is clearly its principal one. However, the Fork-tailed Drongo “gets its own back” by routinely kleptoparasitizing a range of other birds, even including fellow members of mixed-species flocks, and in parts of the Kalahari and some southern African savannas Dicrurus adsimilis also routinely robs meerkats of their prey.

 

[michael-ibk]

426/N142) Red-billed Duck (ebird taxonomy) aka Teal (IOC taxonomy) (Anas erythrorhyncha) / Rotschnabelente

 

Etosha, 2/6. Common to abundant; population appears stable, with estimates from late 1990s of 500,000–1,000,000 birds in S Africa.

 

[michael-ibk]

427/N143) Red-necked Falcon (Falco chicquera) / Rotkopffalke

 

Etosha, 2/6. Attractive small Falcon. A birdhunter.

 

[michael-ibk]

428/N144) Desert Cisticola (Cisticola aridulus) / Kalaharizistensänger

 

Etosha, 2/6. The only Cisticola we saw. Forages low down in grasses and on the ground, searching among grass leaves or at bases of tufts, or on bare soil.

 

[michael-ibk]

429/N145) Violet Woodhoopoe aka Wood Hoopoe (IOC taxonomy) (Phoeniculus damarensis) / Damarabaumhopf

 

Etosha, 2/6. Lifer, important target bird for me. Easy to find at Halali where they frequent the picnic spots. Two disjunct populations (maybe different species), one here in Namibia and Angola, another around Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya.

 

[michael-ibk]

430/N146) Southern Red-billed Hornbill (Tockus rufirostris) / Mopanetoko

 

Etosha, 2/6. Only seen within Halali camp.

 

[michael-ibk]

431/N147) Golden-tailed Woodpecker (Campethera abingoni) / Goldschwanzspecht

 

Etosha, 2/6. A widespread species, not threatened.

 

[michael-ibk]

432/N148) Carp's Tit (Melaniparus carpi) / Carprußmeise

 

Etosha, 2/6. Another lifer, a Namibia/Angola endemic.  Large Tit with extensive areas of white in wing.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

433/N149) Cape Teal (Anas capensis) / Fahlente

 

Etosha, 2/6. Widespread and locally common to abundant, though patchily distributed and scarce over much of its range.

 

[michael-ibk]

434/N150) Double-banded Courser (Rhinoptilus africanus) / Doppelband-Rennvogel

 

Etosha, 3/6. Beautiful, delicate Courser. Feeds by pursuing prey during fast run, stopping and pecking at it on ground; does not dig. In S Africa, feeding association observed with bat-eared foxes, the coursers moving to feed on harvester termites in wake of the foxes.