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Turdoides jardineii
Red eyed bird about the size of a mockingbird,or just a bit bigger
Chobe park
This was taken a short ways from the Chobe river. I'm not sure what the rest of the group was looking at, but this guy's movement caught my eye and I snapped several shots: fortunately there was a really good one
I'd like to be able to consistently watch African birds! I did notice that the guides had many different common names for the same bird and when possible I caught a look at THEIR guide books. But no one else noticed this little guy and I was becoming something of a birder pariah so only pointed out the prettiest/most spectacular birds. I think they were watching the hippos when I took this
If it's an consolation, my sister has been watching African birds for about 40 years and has a large collection of books. When I visited her a few years ago I found both Common Names, and Scientific names at times, to be totally different in different books. I queried this and the answer was that the various African authorities from different countries frequently changed names for reasons known only to themselves. I purchased a relatively new pocket book while I was there - in the back it listed well over 100 Common Name changes which had taken place since the previous issue 2 years before! That book did not use Scientific names at all so I started posting without them. Before I could research all the names I got a couple of hundred suggestions, based on the Common names I had used. When I got around to verifying them the Clements online list I found numerous errors in the suggestions due to this inconsistency.
The latest Clements list can be found here: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementsche...
For consistency I would suggest that having found the correct scientific name for a particular species it may be best to use the Common Name quoted by Clements and add other/previously used Common Names in the Notes section. With that in mind we do however allow the Common Name to be in the language(s) in use in the country of the observation or in English. The scientific name is used for the positive ID.
The Arrow-marked Babbler (Turdoides jardineii) has white arrow-heads on the tips of its breast and surrounding feathers, as this appears to have, and a whitish vent, again as this appears to have.
The Hartlaub's Babbler (Turdoides hartlaubii) has white fringes to its breast and surrounding feathers which look like white U's and they have white rumps in addition to the whitish vent.
Karen, I can find no reference to a "Turtoides gymnogynus". My guess is that you may have meant Turdoides gymnogenys? This is a very different bird: white, with a rufous nape and brown back.
It could be either, but at least I have a place to start looking. I think arrow marked was in my guidebook. Have to look at it
Hi Karen! I am unsure of the exact species but both T. jardineii and T. hartlaubii are present in this part of Botswana
Spotted on Dec 30, 2013
Submitted on Jan 7, 2014
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