Day 5 Sightings

Day 5

The Day of the Hyphenated Double-Barreled Names

While we were in England in June, we treated ourselves to two nights at the lovely "Twitchers Retreat" - a cosy little B&B in north-west Norfolk, specialising in catering for birders. So they have a beautiful bird-friendly garden with abundant bird-feeders and even an occupied barn-owl nest-box, which offered us sightings of lots of bird species we might not otherwise have seen, such as woodpeckers, jays, and the beautiful barn owls themselves. 

During our stay there, we spent a morning at Titchwell Marsh RSPB reserve on the north coast of Norfolk, and saw plenty of wetland birds, including some adorable little juvenile avocets - like furry little balls on stilt-like legs!

I've tried to put together a list of all the birds we saw during our 4 weeks in England - it's definitely short a few waders (I can't remember exactly which ones we saw and which we didn't!) and maybe a few others I've forgotten, but I'm actually surprised by just how long the list is - I always considered the bird diversity in the UK to be quite poor compared to here! Maybe I just didn't take the time to look before...

1. Avocet

2. Spoonbill

3. Lapwing

4. Oystercatcher

5. Mallard

6. Coot

7. Moorhen

8. Shelduck

9. Goosander

10. Mute Swan

11. Cormorant

12. Egyptian Goose

13. Greylag goose

14. Canada Goose

15. Mute Swan

16. Great Crested Grebe

17. Grey Heron

18. Black-headed Gull

19. Common Tern

20. Kingfisher

21. Pied Wagtail

22. Jay

23. Magpie

24. Jackdaw

25. Starling

26. Reed bunting

27. Wren

28. Greenfinch

29. Chaffinch

30. Dunnock

31. House sparrow

32. Robin

33. Blackbird

34. Goldfinch

35. Bluetit

36. Great tit

37. Song thrush

38. Great spotted woodpecker

39. Barn owl

40. Woodpigeon

41. Collared Dove

42. Rock Dove

43. Pheasant

44. Red-legged Partridge

One thing that stands out for me, though, when I compare this list to our Namibian bird list, is the length of the names. Most of the British birds have simple, one-word names. But not the Namibian ones, oh no. Here, we like double-barreled, hyphenated, tongue-twisting names! The more descriptive, the better!

As an example, here are our sightings from Day 5 (20th July), all seen on our farm, Vreugde:

62.       Yellow-bellied Eromomela

63.       Chestnut-vented Tit-babbler

64.       Violet-eared Waxbill

65.       Southern Grey-headed Sparrow

66.       Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

This apparently lengthy naming is a result of the sheer diversity of bird species and sub-species across the vast and diverse African continent. Short names are simply not sufficient to describe this diversity. And in keeping with a standard international nomenclature (naming system), this means that related, but distinct, (sub-)species all have to be given related but distinct names, with the differences indicated using appropriately descriptive prefixes. The lesser bird diversity in the UK simply doesn't require such complicated and descriptive naming!

More soon!

Rachel

Day 4 Sightings

Day 4

So, to take over where Danie left off....

As the more scientific half of the couple, I'm always the more interested in the numbers of any project we pursue. And as with any collection of data on sightings of different species, you would expect our sightings to follow a pretty predictable pattern: specifically, you'd expect the most sightings on the first few days, as you cross off the more common species, with the numbers of species seen per day dwindling pretty steadily after that. 

As a result, if you plot the total numbers of birds seen to date on each day (a cumulative sightings graph), you'd expect to see a nice curved line that increases sharply at first, before gradually slowing down, until it almost become a horizontal line (an asymptote). 

And that's exactly what our numbers do, albeit with a rather sharp bend in the curve as we approached the 100-mark...

But soon it'll be the summer, and the rainy season, and with that comes a swathe of new species to be seen: seasonal migrants from Europe, as well as waders, ducks and geese.


Day 4 sightings were fairly numerous still, and included a couple of shy residents from our garden (the two owls) as well as a real surprise in Etosha (the stork!). 

19 July 2014

   53.      White stork (Etosha)

   54.      Dusky sunbird (Etosha)

 

   55.     Marico sunbird (f) (Etosha)
   56.     Red-capped lark (Etosha)

57.     Red-crested korhaan (Etosha)

58.     Chestnut-backed sparrow lark (Etosha)

59.     Little Grebe (Etosha)

60.    Southern White-faced Owl (Vreugde)

61.   African Scops Owl (Vreugde)

More tomorrow...

Rachel

Day 3 Sightings

Day 3

Can you cheat at birding?

It's a good question. I mean, how do people know I don't just open the Sasol bird book/app, see which birds occur here, in this specific season and this specific habitat, and write them down? Then hope that some sharp-eyed birder doesn't spot a mistake...? Sounds like way too much effort to me. Much more fun to actually spot the birds anyway! I did do a small cheat though, and I hope it's forgivable: number 47: Domestic Fowl. Chickens. Well, it's an additional bird species! 

Anyway, herewith the list for day 3. All fairly common birds here in the Etosha area. The Black-shouldered Kite (no. 42) was a nice road-side sighting on the way into town. The Cattle Egret (43) we saw outside the Ministry of Finance in Otjiwarongo (who says paying your taxes is all bad news?). Surprisingly the Lark-like Bunting took me ages to identify. When we were working in Gondwana Canyon Park in the south of Namibia, a friend of ours, Holger Kolberg, visited us one weekend with his bird ringing equipment. We got loads of nice species, and also about 50-60 Lark-like Buntings! Suppose I just didn't really expect them up here in the Bushveldt.

18 July 2014

    41.       Helmeted Guinea Fowl (Vreugde Guestfarm)

42.       Black-shouldered Kite (Outjo)

43.       Cattle Egret (Otjiwarongo)

44.       Black-chested Prinia (Otjiwarongo)

45.       House Sparrow (Vreugde Guestfarm)

46.       Red-billed Spurfowl (Vreugde Guestfarm)

47.       Domestic Fowl (Vreugde Guestfarm)

48.       Red-billed Quelea (Vreugde Guestfarm)

49.       Golden-breasted Bunting (Vreugde Guestfarm)

50.   Lark-like Bunting (Vreugde Guestfarm)

51.   African palm Swift (Vreugde Guestfarm)

52.   Red-billed Buffalo weaver (Vreugde Guestfarm)

   53.   Black-throated Canary (Vreugde Guestfarm)

So, who has watched the Hollywood movie called the Big Year? Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. Not the three guys you would associate with a 'serious movie'! But I really liked it. That movie is partly what got us started on our own "big year". Watch it when you can! I bet you, you'll feel different about birding afterwards, for better or for worse!

I was in Etosha again the other day, with three guests. They were nice enough to allow me to stop right at the end of the tour, when they were tired and wind swept and sun-burnt, and identify this guy which is a completely new species for me! And then to try and get a photo on my cellphone. This shot is taken through my Swarovski bino's:

Southern White-crowned Shrike ( number 121)

In addition, we saw the mother Cheetah with her three cubs that Rachel had seen a week earlier (see Sightings day 1). It was a good sighting, and is it just me, or is Etosha's cheetah population increasing? I have the feeling there might be more than 80 at the moment!

All for now!

Danie