a field guide to the planet - by Damon Ramsey
AFROTROPICAL Tropical & Subtropical Savanna
passerine birds
Most people look for large mammals in the African savanna, but the songbird life is equally impressive. Many of the species are simply beautiful to look at, with stunningly colourful groups such as starlings and sunbirds.
Family Malaconotidae: Bush-shrikes & Puffbacks
Laniarius major, 'Tropical Boubou' (Isunga Lodge, Uganda).
Family Platysteiridae: Wattle-eyes & Batises
Family Dicruridae: Drongos
Family Laniidae: Shrikes
Family Corvidae: Crows & Jays
Family Macrosphenidae: Crombecs & African Warblers
Family Cisticolidae: Cisticolas
Prinia subflava, 'Tawny-flanked Prinia'. (Isunga Lodge, Uganda).
Family Pycnonotidae: Bulbuls
Family Zosteropidae: White-eyes
Zosterops virens, 'Cape White-eye' (Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, South Africa).
Family Leiothrichidae: Laughingthrushes Babblers
Babblers often hang out in noisy 'gangs'.
'Arrow-marked Babbler' Turdoides. The bright-eyed adult on the left, the darker eyed juvenile on the right (Enjojo Lodge, Uganda).
Family Buphagidae: Oxpeckers
Family Sturnidae: Starlings & Mynas
Lamprotornis corruscus, 'Ruppell's Long-tailed Starling'. Large and striking. Common and seems comfortable near roads and lodges.
Cinnyricinclus leucogaster, 'Violet-backed Starling', (Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, South Africa).
Family Nectariniidae: Sunbirds
Nectarinia kilimensis, 'Bronze Sunbird' (Isunga Lodge, Uganda).
Cinnyris venusta, 'Variable Sunbird' (Isunga Lodge, Uganda).
Chalcomitra senegalensis, 'Scarlet-chested Sunbird' (Kilwa, Tanzania).
Family Ploceidae: Weavers
Family Ploecidae: Widowbirds
The breeding males of Widowbirds have long black tails.
Euplectes ardens, 'Red-collared Widowbird' (Enjojo Lodge, Uganda).
Euplectes albonotatus, 'White-winged Widowbird' ( (Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, South Africa).
Family Viduidae: Indigobirds & Whydahs
Vidua macroura, 'Pin-tailed Wydah' (Isunga Lodge, Uganda).
Family Ploecidae: Quelea
Quelea Quelea, 'Red-billed Quelea'. Usually seen in large flocks, and often claimed to be the most numerous bird in the world.
Family Estrildidae: Estrildid Finches
Family Passeridae: Sparrows
Passer griseus, 'Northern Grey-headed Sparrow' (Isunga Lodge, Uganda).
Family Motacillidae: Wagtails & Pipits
Thinking of travelling again after everything settles down? One of the first expeditions I am booked to work on is the NZ sub-Antarctics with Silversea Expeditions. And here is a shortened version of one of my lectures in a warmer part of the world.