Good painting of Red Sea swallow on photo bucket

I was just searching on Google for 'Red Sea Swallow' and I came across this good painting of one on photo bucket. I thought I would add the link here as others might be interested in seeing what they would look like if anyone ever gets the chance to see one. It was uploaded by Carlos Urdiales.

photobucket.com/Hirundoperdita.jpg

Tom

Netting in Sennar

I have been on my mid-semester break this week, so I decided to head down to Sennar for a couple of days of ringing. My main hope was to try and catch some Cinnamon Weavers in non-breeding plumage. First priority was to locate the non-breeding flocks, so I drove around with my local helper Mohamed to try and find some birds. We also saw other good birds on our travels, with the best being my first ever Zebra Waxbills. We saw about 40 in total in two locations a few km apart. Although found throughout South Sudan, they have only previously been reported in Sudan from Darfur, making this a considerable range extension for the species. Some Winding Cisticolas were also in the same reed-filled ditches.

Zebra Waxbills, near Sennar March 2014

Winding Cisticola, near Sennar March 2014

We headed down to a farm beside the Blue Nile owned by a friend Husam. We could't find any weavers in the area and Husam commented that they sometimes bred nearby, but mostly were in the fields along the irrigation ditches, which is where I was netting them back in October and November. There were a few good birds around, including an African Skimmer fishing on the river, plus an Osprey, a yellow-billed Stork and some Grey Herons.

African Skimmer, near Sennar March 2014

We headed back to the main nesting areas the next morning and found some big flocks of weavers in some of the fields, but it was very open and the birds were unapproachable, so it was necessary to set nets at the field edges near some bushes. This was not very successful and all the first birds I caught were Village Weavers. Closer observation showed that most birds in the flock were this species, so we moved to a new location near where we had seen the Zebra Waxbills, where we had also seen a few Cinnamon Weavers. There were not many around and we only caught 4. However, as always, there were some other good birds that entered the nets. Most exciting was a couple of Malachite Kingfishers, which proceeded to put on a bit of a display.

Malachite Kingfisher, near Sennar March 2014

Malachite Kingfisher, near Sennar March 2014

Another surprise was this Squacco Heron which flew up into the net when we were trying to flush some weavers from a bush.

Squacco Heron, near Sennar March 2014

Cinnamon Weaver, near Sennar March 2014

I was very pleased to catch this Eastern Bonelli's Warbler. I have been looking out for them for a long time, but without success and this was my first in Sudan. Warblers are often very difficult to observe well in Acacia trees and many interesting birds have to be left unidentified. This is one area where a mist-net can be a big help. I was surprised with how bright the rump was, as this is not a feature I have noticed when I have seen this species in the field. Usually the bright yellow-green edges to the flight feathers are more easily noticeable.

Eastern Bonelli's Warbler, near Sennar March 2014

Black-Scrub-Robin, near Sennar March 2014

Isabelline Shrike, near Sennar March 2014

I have seen surprisingly few Red-billed Queleas in Sudan. Sometimes referred to as the Sudan Dioch, this species is renowned for forming huge flocks that decimate farmers crops, and they are supposedly abundant in the area of the Gezira Scheme, the large area of land between the two Niles irrigated by various canals and ditches. This is the first time that I have seen big numbers of them in this area. 

Red-billed Quelea, near Sennar March 2014

Rufous Scrub-Robin, near Sennar March 2014

Although they are supposedly present, I have yet to see a Tawny-flanked Prinia anywhere around Khartoum, where the Graceful Prinia is ubiquitous. On this trip there seemed to be Tawny-flanked Prinias all over the place. I wonder where the cut off point is in their distribution, or whether there is a place where one species gradually gives way to the other.

Tawny-flanked Prinia, near Sennar March 2014

While using nets I do not carry my camera, so I was unable to take shots of a female Black-bellied Bustard that flew overhead at the ringing site. Fortunately, I had my binoculars and the evening before I had been brushing up on the identification of bustards, so I was able to tell what it was. This is my first sighting of a bustard in Sudan. I am very keen to see some of the others.

Grey-crowned Crane - a new species for South Sudan

I recently received information about this record of 4 Grey-crowned Cranes in Juba by Henrik Mikkelsen on 31st October 2013. He first heard the sound and then looked up to see 4 cranes flying overhead heading north. The colouring of the cheek in the photo below (mostly white with a red patch above) clearly shows that these were Grey-crowned Cranes. The Black-crowned Cranes that are known from South Sudan have mostly a red cheek with a paler patch above. To my knowledge, this is the first record for the country. Birds of South Sudan (1989) by Gerhard Nikolaus gives no records, but mentions that it "might occur as a visitor from Uganda along the southern border". Congratulations to Henrik on an excellent record, and thanks also for giving permission to publish his record and picture. He tells me he saw around 200 species during his 6 month stay in Juba. I would love to hear about his other records.

Grey-crowned Crane, Juba 31st October 2014 (Henrik Mikkelson)

Active nesting of Northern Masked Weavers at Bahri

On Friday I visited Bahri Sewage Pools again with Marwa. We visited the same area as last week, placing two nets close to where some weavers had built some nets. We had less success with the nets than last week and I only caught 7 new Northern Masked Weavers, many of which were showing some body moult with yellow feathers on the underparts, but none of which were in full breeding plumage. We also caught a couple of Village Weavers, a Reed Warbler and a heap of House Sparrows. Once again, we had about 50 Wattled Starlings flying around close to the nets, but again none went in. Unlike last week, I noticed that a number had the full wattles of birds in breeding plumage. After a while the wind picked up and we packed the nets up early.

We checked the main pools on the way out and were struck by the large numbers of weaver nests that had recently been constructed. One group of 16 nests was about 30 m out in the water in the branches of a flooded bush. There were then two other colonies close by that were built in patches of reeds beside the road, one with 29 nests and the other with 17. It was noticeable that the males around this area were in full breeding plumage. All nests were above water and the ones in reeds were between about 1 and 1.5 m above it. The ones further out in the bush were perhaps a little lower. Not all nests were complete and there was clearly still a lot of activity going on. Some males were already hanging below the nests and flapping their wings to attract females. I hope to get back soon to check on the nest contents.

Northern Masked Weaver nests in bush, Bahri Sewage Pools 7th March 2014

Northern Masked Weaver nests in reeds, Bahri Sewage Pools 7th March 2014

The most conspicuous birds, once again, were the large flocks of Ruff, with several thousand present but very difficult to actually count. Ducks were fewer in numbers, with mainly Gargany present and only a couple of Shovelers. There were still a couple of Eurasian Coots, several Western Marsh Harriers and we had a group of over 20 Senegal Thick-knees roosting under some bushes.

Ruff flocks, Bahri Sewage Pools 7th March 2014

Eurasian Coot, Bahri Sewage Pools 7th March 2014