Cover image of Capped Wheatear by Sybrand Venter – Near Carnarvon, Northern Cape – BirdPix No. 219360

Identification

The Capped Wheatear is a strongly marked and attractive species.

The head and facial areas are boldly patterned. The white forehead, supercilium and throat are striking and contrast strongly with the black crown, face, sides of the neck and the broad black chest-band (diagnostic).

The upperparts are warm brown grading to a richer rufous brown on the rump. The underparts are white to cream with warm buffy flanks.

The sexes are alike.

The Capped Wheatear is easily recognisable in flight. The combination of rich rufous rump and the black and white tail is distinctive.

Juveniles are dull brown above with whitish-buff spotting. The underparts are off-white to buff with darker brown mottling on the breast.

Similar Species: Adults are unlikely to be mistaken for other species. Juveniles could be mistaken for those of various wheatears and chats but the diagnostic rump and tail pattern should help to alleviate confusion.

Status and Distribution

Overall the Capped Wheatear is a common species. They are resident in some areas and seasonal or erratically present in others. Their seasonal movements are not well understood but may be in response to food availability in arid areas.

It occurs widely in Southern and East Africa, its range only extending north of the equator in Kenya. In Southern Africa it has a wide but discontinuous distribution. The species is only absent from the eastern lowlands of KwaZulu-Natal, eSwatini (Swaziland), southern Mozambique, the Drakensberg Mountains, Lesotho and the former Transkei in the Eastern Cape. The highest reporting rates come from the Kalahari and the winter rainfall region of the Western Cape province. It is also present in good numbers throughout the Karoo.

It is likely in some areas that the Capped Wheatear has benefitted from bush clearance for agriculture. It is not considered threatened.

Habitat

The Capped Wheatear inhabits dry grassy plains with bare or overgrazed patches, short or recently burnt grass and semi-arid shrublands across the Karoo. They are often found around stock pens and fallow and recently harvested croplands. Capped Wheatears have a preference for flat terrain.

Its association with fynbos is largely secondary as a result of having adapted to tilled ground and wheat croplands.

Moves into arid habitats after rains but leaves again once dry conditions return.

Behaviour

The Capped Wheatear is a conspicuous species owing to its habit of perching boldly in the open on bushes, fence posts, rocks or termite mounds. Has a typically upright posture when perched or looking about in between foraging. Flies low between perches. Upon landing it has a habit of bobbing its head and tail up and down while bowing its body.

They are usually encountered singly or in pairs but may also be found in family groups towards the end of the breeding season.

Most foraging takes place on the ground after flying down from its perch. The Capped Wheatear prefers to search for prey on bare or recently burnt ground. Mostly consumes arthropods like insects, spiders, centipedes and millipedes. They are especially fond of ants and termites and are also known to feed on small fruits and seeds.

Capped Wheatears are monogamous and territorial. Pairs defend their territories against conspecifics as well as from other species such as the Karoo Chat (Emarginata schlegelii).

Breeding mostly takes place during Spring and early Summer, from September to December. Capped Wheatears are dependant on rodent burrows in which to nest. The nest is placed at the end of the burrow where it widens into a chamber. The nest is sometimes located as much as 2m underground but more usually at a depth of 50 to 100cm. Nest burrows are normally located on open ground. The nest is relatively large and cup-shaped. It is composed of grass, leaves and other fine plant material and lined with hair, feathers and other soft material.

Two to four eggs, or occasionally five are laid per clutch. The eggs are pale greenish-white or bluish-white and usually lack other markings. Further details regarding incubation and the nestling or fledgling periods are unrecorded.

Further Resources

Species text adapted from the first Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP1), 1997.

The use of photographs by Johan and Estelle van Rooyen, Lance Robinson, Les Underhill, Pamela Kleiman, Sybrand Venter and Zenobia van Dyk acknowledged.

Virtual Museum (BirdPix > Search VM > By Scientific or Common Name).

Paper in Biodiversity Observations on Capped Wheatears breeding in rodent burrows

Other common names: Hoëveldskaapwagter (Afrikaans); Inkotyeni, Isixaxabesha (Xhosa); Ntidi (Tswana); Traquet du Cap (French); Erdschmätzer (German); Aardtapuit (Dutch); Chasco-de-barrete (Portuguese)

List of bird species in this format is available here.

Recommended citation format: Tippett RM 2023. Capped Wheatear Oenanthe pileata. Biodiversity and Development Institute. Available online at http://thebdi.org/2023/07/17/capped-wheatear-oenanthe-pileata/

Bird identification, birding

Cover image of Crowned Lapwing by Pieter Cronje – Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve, Gauteng – BirdPix No. 89394

Identification

The Crowned Lapwing is a distinctively marked and conspicuous species. The black and white banded plumage on the head is diagnostic. The upperparts, neck and breast are plain sandy-brown. The belly, vent and undertail coverts are white, while the breast and belly are separated by a black band. The legs are bright pinkish red and the bill is red with a black tip.

In flight the primaries are black and contrast strongly with the white primary coverts and brown back.

The sexes are alike. Juveniles resemble the adults but have scalloped upperparts, buffy barring on the crown and yellowish, not red legs.

Status and Distribution

The Crowned Lapwing is considered a common to very common resident and local migrant.

The distribution stretches from Ethiopia and Somalia south through East Africa to southern Angola and South Africa. It is found throughout southern Africa, but is mostly absent from the arid south-west of Namibia, and is scarce in the western parts of the Northern Cape, Lesotho, the former Transkei (Eastern Cape) and parts of southern Mozambique.

The core of its range lies in Botswana, North West Province, Gauteng and Free State, as well as the agricultural lands of the Western Cape.

The Crowned Lapwing is not threatened and has expanded its range as a result of human activities such as bush-clearing, overgrazing and allowing fields to lie fallow.

Habitat

Crowned Lapwings inhabit dry, open grassland, sparse woodland and open areas in Karoo scrub, favouring sites with short grass. It has adapted well to man-modified habitats, including short pastures, open fields, airports, golf courses, sports fields and roadsides. It is frequently attracted to burnt grasslands and normally avoids areas of tall grass. The Crowned Lapwing is not generally associated with water, but occurs in dry salt-marsh vegetation and around pans and usually avoids mountainous areas.

Behaviour

The Crowned Lapwing is typically encountered in loose flocks of varying sizes but is found in pairs during the breeding season.

It is mostly a dry season visitor to regions of higher rainfall but it can remain year-round in dry years. It frequently undertakes local movements but neither the scale nor regularity of these movements is understood.

When feeling threatened, Crowned Lapwings will call whilst bobbing the body up and down. They stand in a hunched posture or sit on the ground when not foraging. Bathes by standing in water up to breast and using the wings to flap and splash water onto the body. Crowned Lapwings roost on the ground, usually in slightly elevated places.

Forages by standing or walking slowly, while scanning for potential prey and then dashing in to peck at it in typical plover fashion.

Foraging groups often move in a regularly spaced line. They feed primarily on harvester termites. Other prey taken includes ants, beetles and small numbers of grasshoppers, spiders and millipedes. Also consumes earthworms after heavy rain showers.

Frequently associates or forages with other Lapwing species, most notably the Black-winged Lapwing (Vanellus melanopterus). The two species show few aggressive interactions and sometimes defend feeding territories together. This association is mutualistic in that both species benefit from from the interaction. The larger and more aggressive Crowned Lapwing helps to defend the less aggressive Black-winged Lapwing. The Black-winged Lapwing is the more alert and vigilant of the two and this allows the Crowned Lapwing to spend more time feeding.

Crowned Lapwings become largely inactive when temperatures rise above 24°C or fall below 10°C.

They are monogamous and only rarely polygynous. Crowned Lapwings are territorial and solitary nesters, but often breed in small, loose aggregations. Breeding in groups provides an advantage against predators through group mobbing and safety in numbers. Males defend small territories which they acquire by calling continuously from an elevated position and also during circular display flights around 50 m above the territory.

The nest is a shallow scrape in the ground, lined with dried grass, roots, small stones and dried dung. Nests are often situated among large stones in order to disguise the shape of the incubating bird. The nest site is usually located within 10-20 m of shade, and is frequently reused in successive years.

Egg laying can occur at any time of the year with a peak from August to December, but is slightly earlier in the winter-rainfall regions of the Western Cape. The female lays 2 to 4 eggs per clutch. The eggs are yellowish-brown to olive-brown, boldly spotted with black and grey. The female usually lays a replacement clutch if the previous clutch fails and up to 6 clutches may be laid in a single season.

Incubation begins after the full clutch has been laid in cool conditions but starts after the first-laid egg during hot conditions. The incubation period lasts for around 30 days and the female is responsible for most of the incubation duties. Pairs will aggressively defend the nest site from threats including terrestrial and aerial predators as well as large herbivores that could trample the nest. Nest defence also includes false-brooding and other distraction displays to lure terrestrial predators away from the nest. The intensity of their nest defence grows as incubation progresses.

Eggs hatch within a 4 to 6 hour period. The female removes broken eggshells, carrying them 20-30 m from the nest before breaking them up and discarding them. Newly hatched young are precocial and covered in down. They are speckled buff and black above with a black stripe down the back. Hatchlings remain at the nest for around 4 hours until their down has dried, after which they will then join and follow the parents. Chicks self-feed from their first day, but the adults still direct them to food items. The parents will defend the chicks vigorously through distraction displays and aerial mobbing, often almost striking intruders with trailing legs or wings.

The fledging period lasts for about 30 days but some chicks remain with the parents for almost a year, leaving before the start of the next breeding season. Fledglings from the first brood sometimes help with nest defence during the second breeding attempt.

Further Resources

Species text from the first Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP1), 1997.

The use of photographs by Colin Summersgill, Gerald Wingate, Karis Daniel, Lia Steen, Neels Jackson, Phillip Nieuwoudt and Pieter Cronje is acknowledged.

Virtual Museum (BirdPix > Search VM > By Scientific or Common Name).

Other common names: Kroonkiewiet (Afrikaans); iHoye (Zulu); lgxiya (Xhosa); Nghelekele (Tswana); Diadeemkievit (Dutch); Vanneau couronné (French); Kronenkiebitz (German); Abibe-coroado (Portuguese)

A list of bird species in this format is available here.

Recommended citation format: Tippett RM 2023. Crowned Lapwing Vanellus coronatus. Biodiversity and Development Institute. Available online at http://thebdi.org/2023/07/07/crowned-lapwing-vanellus-coronatus/

Bird identification, birding

Cover image by Sybrand Venter – Carnarvon district, Northern Cape – BirdPix No. 233365

Identification

The Blacksmith Lapwing is a boldly marked and unmistakable species. The distinctive black, white and grey colouration combined with its loud and bold behaviour make it a conspicuous bird wherever it occurs.

The sexes are alike.

In flight the black flight feathers contrast strongly with the grey wing coverts.

Juveniles are duller and mottled brown and black above. They are also mottled blackish-brown and grey on parts where the adults are coloured in black.

Status and Distribution

The Blacksmith Lapwing has an African range, breeding from Kenya and Angola southwards. It occurs over most of Southern Africa. The distribution is fragmented in northeastern Zimbabwe, the Namib Desert and the Northern Cape Province.h are also conspicuous gaps in the distribution in Lesotho, the Transkei and the most arid parts of the Kalahari in Botswana.

The Blacksmith Lapwing is not threatened. The species underwent a dramatic population and range increase during the 1900s.

Habitat

The Blacksmith Lapwing is an inhabitant of marshes, moist, short grasslands and the shores of dams, pans, lakes, rivers and estuaries. It also inhabits areas of mown grass such as sports fields, golf courses and airports. It feeds on grasslands, both natural and irrigated. Due to its reliance on moist habitats it does not enter desert, forest or mountainous habitats, except where artificial wetlands or grasslands occur.

Behaviour

The Blacksmith Lapwing is usually encountered singly, in pairs or small groups. However, non-breeding birds may gather in daytime roosts of up to 500 in exposed and safe places such as sandspits or islands. They are alert and noisy, especially when breeding. Typically among the first species, alongside the Black-winged Stilt, to detect an intruder. Once a potential threat is spotted they begin bobbing and calling from ground, they will then fly aggressively over the intruder while calling loudly and persistently, until the threat has been seen off.

They are aggressive towards other birds particularly during the breeding season when they chase many other species such as Black-winged Stilts and other waders, gulls, herons, crows, starlings and raptors. Performs aggressive threat displays on the ground that are intended to intimidate and startle an enemy, for example, holding the spread wings forwards, to repel attacks from birds of prey.

The Blacksmith Lapwing has a broad diet that includes many small aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates like molluscs, crustaceans, worms and insects.

Searches for food by standing or walking slowly while scanning for potential prey before dashing in to peck at it. Most foraging takes place at or near the waters edge but occasionally wades into deeper water, picking prey from the water surface. Inspects dung for insect larvae, flicking over cowpats with its bill. Also forages among kelp debris washed up along the coast.

Blacksmith Lapwings are monogamous, but may be polygynous on rare occasions. The breeding pair are are strongly territorial and defend a nesting territory of at least 3.6ha from predators, intruders and rivals.

Nest sites are usually close to water or in seasonally flooded areas. The Nest is a shallow scrape on the ground that is usually lined with vegetation and then ringed with stones for disguise. In very wet sites, the nest is a more substantial mound of vegetation in order to raise the eggs off the damp ground. They do not re-use the same nest site. Breeding can take place year-round, but seasonal peaks vary from region to region.

Clutch size ranges from 1 to 4 eggs (usually 3 or 4). The eggs are dark yellow-red to brownish-yellow and boldly blotched and spotted in black and grey. Incubation commences once the full clutch has been laid. Both sexes share the incubation duties which can last up to 33 days.

Hatching is fairly synchronous and the newly hatched chicks are precocial, leaving the nest within hours of hatching. They are very attentive parents and both parents take turns guarding the chicks while the other is away foraging. Chicks initially remain near the nest but gradually begin to wander further afield as they grow. The parents remain vigilant throughout, and warn the chicks at the first hint of danger. Once the parents sound the alarm the chicks crouch and freeze until the threat has passed. The adults may also attempt to lead a predator away with distraction displays.

Fledglings remain with the adults during the incubation of a second brood, and are only driven away when that next brood hatches.

Further Resources

Species text from the first Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP1), 1997.

The use of photographs by Colin Summersgill, Gerald Gaigher, Itxaso Quintana, Johan and Estelle van Rooyen, Lappies Labuschagne, Pamela Kleiman and Sybrand Venter is acknowledged.

Virtual Museum (BirdPix > Search VM > By Scientific or Common Name).

Other common names: Bontkiewiet (Afrikaans); Ndudumela (Zulu); Comela-khwatsi (Tswana); Smidsplevier (Dutch); Vanneau armé (French); Waffenkiebitz, Schmiedekiebitz (German); Abibe-preto-e-branco (Portuguese)

A list of bird species in this format is available here.

Recommended citation format: Tippett RM 2023. Blacksmith Lapwing Vanellus armatus. Biodiversity and Development Institute. Available online at http://thebdi.org/2023/06/28/blacksmith-lapwing-vanellus-armatus/

Bird identification, birding

Cover image of Mountain Chat by Gerald Wingate – Britannica Bay, Western Cape.

Identification

The Mountain Chat or Mountain Wheatear is a handsome and conspicuous bird. They are polymorphic, meaning that the males are found in two differing colour forms. Males can be either grey or black, and with or without white shoulder patches and grey or white crowns. Black form males are slightly more common, accounting for some 54% of the population, while grey birds make up the remaining 46% of males.

Black morph: The overall colouration is jet black. The crown, forehead and nape can be white, black, dark ash-grey or pale grey. The upper tail coverts and rump are white and the tail is black with white outer feathers (diagnostic). The shoulder patch may be absent or strikingly white. The belly is most often black but can be white or mottled white and grey. The flight feathers are dark brownish-black. The bill, legs and feet are black and the eyes are dark brown.

Grey morph: The entire body and underwings are ash-grey. The upper tail coverts and rump are white and the tail is black with white outer tail feathers (diagnostic). The white shoulder patch is variable in size and in some males may be absent all together. The crown is normally ash-grey but can sometimes be white. Underparts are pale ash-grey and the belly too can occasionally be pure white. The under tail may be black, white or grey. The flight feathers are dark brownish-black. The bill, legs and feet are black and the eyes are dark brown.

Females and juveniles are more uniform in their appearance and are entirely sooty brownish-black but share the black and white rump and tail pattern of the males.

Similar species: Black males are most easily mistaken for Arnot’s Chat (Myrmecocichla arnoti) but that species has an all black rump and tail. Additionally, the ranges of the two species are not known to overlap and they both occupy very different habitats.

Confusion is perhaps most likely between female/juvenile Mountain Chats and the Ant-eating Chat (Myrmecocichla formicivora). Both species co-occur over a wide area, but they have different habitat preferences. The Ant-eating Chat is smaller and shorter-tailed with a dark rump and tail and conspicuous white panels in the wings.

The Karoo Chat (Emarginata schlegelii) may also be mistaken for the grey morph Mountain Chat but the Karoo Chat is smaller and has a grey not white rump.

Status and Distribution

The Mountain Chat is a common resident but may move locally in response to food availability in arid areas. It is near-endemic to Southern Africa and extends from south-western Angola along the western and central parts of Namibia into South Africa where it is widespread across the interior. The Mountain Chat is essentially absent from the Kalahari and the Lowveld, as well as the eastern and southern coastlines in South Africa.

Major historical changes in distribution are unlikely. Its preferred habitat remains relatively secure and the species is under no immediate threat.

In the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape, the Mountain Chat appears to have benefitted from acute overgrazing. This has led to the formation of deep and extensive erosion gullies providing suitable habitat for this species.

Habitat

The Mountain Chat inhabits rugged mountain slopes, rocky hills and outcrops, valley slopes, erosion gullies, quarries and also boulder-strewn flat terrain. Vegetation in its habitat ranges from arid Karoo scrub to grassland. The Mountain Chat generally avoids woodland. It will utilise human habitations such as houses and farmyards where these occur close to suitable natural habitat.

Behaviour

Mountain Chats are usually found singly, in pairs or small family groups. Flies low from perch to perch and moves restlessly over rocks with long hops. It usually perches conspicuously on boulders, rocks, termite mounds, trees, or buildings. The Mountain Chat becomes tame, yet remains wary in and around human settlements.

Forages on the ground and on rocks and captures prey by pecking items from the substrate or after a short dash. Also drops onto prey from a perch or hawks insects in flight, frequently returning to the same perch. The Mountain Chat eats mainly invertebrates such as spiders, solifuges, millipedes, centipedes, grasshoppers, termites, ants, flies, bugs, and beetles. They are also known to consume some small fruits and seeds.

Mountain Chats are monogamous birds that nest solitarily. They are also territorial and defend the nest area against conspecifics, other chats, Fiscal Flycatcher (Melaenornis silens), and the Southern Fiscal (Lanius collaris).

The nest is a neat, shallow cup lined with hair, wool or the plumes of fluffy seeds. The nest is built on a messy foundation of debris that can include twigs, grass, trapdoor spider nest entrances and other spider webs, assorted insect larval and pupal cases, bark, dried moss, bits of dung, snake skins and small stones etc. A nest site is selected under a hillside boulder, a cavity in a rock, wall or building, or almost any suitable space around farmyards or abandoned buildings. Nests are built entirely by the female. Successful nest sites are frequently used in successive years and breeding is opportunistic after rain in arid areas.

2-4 (usually 3) eggs are laid per clutch and all incubation is performed by the female only. The female will leave the nest at times to forage and the males presence near the nest increases as incubation progresses. He is most attentive just before hatching, when he becomes very protective, chasing conspecifics and any other black-and-white bird species.

Newly hatched young are fed a diet of insects and their larvae, by both parents. Mountain Chats often raise two or three broods per season, and some broods are parasitised by Diderick Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx caprius).

Further Resources

Species text adapted from the first Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP1), 1997.

The use of photographs by Itxaso Quintana, Johan and Estelle van Rooyen, Gerald Wingate, Pieter La Grange and Zenobia van Dyk is acknowledged.

Other common names: Mountain Wheatear (Alt. English); Bergwagter (Afrikaans); Khaloli (South Sotho); Traquet montagnard (French); Bergschmätzer (German); Bergtapuit (Dutch); Chasco-montês (Portuguese)

A list of bird species in this format is available here.

Recommended citation format: Tippett, R.M. 2023. Mountain Chat Oenanthe monticola. Biodiversity and Development Institute. Available online at https://thebdi.org/2023/06/22/mountain-chat-oenanthe-monticola/

Bird identification, birding

Cover image of Tractrac Chat by Gregg Darling – Spitzkoppe, Namibia – BirdPix No. 13744

Identification

The Tractrac Chat is a small, pale coloured species with an upright stance and longish legs. Appears long-billed and short-tailed in the field. The bill, legs and feet are black and the sexes are alike.

It is a somewhat variable species with five recognised races across its range. Birds from Namibia are very pale and can appear almost pure white, while birds from the south of its range in the Karoo are typically darker with browner, more buffy plumage.

The upperparts vary in colour from almost white (Namib) through pale grey-brown to sandy-brown (central Karoo). The ear coverts are slightly darker than the rest of the upperparts. The flight feathers in the folded wings have pale whitish to buff edges. Underparts are mostly whitish but may be grey-white with sandy-buff flanks in the central Karoo. By far the most important distinguishing feature is the colouration and patterning of the rump and tail. The Tractrac Chat has a white to off-white rump and tail base with a broad, black wedge-shaped marking on the lower tail. This is diagnostic and most easily observed in flight.

Juveniles resemble the adults but are spotted with buff above and have dusky mottling below.

In South Africa the Tractrac Chat is most easily mistaken for the Sickle-winged Chat (Emarginata sinuata). The two can bear a close resemblance, especially from distance. They are best told apart by the colouration of the rump and upper tail which are white or off-white in the Tractrac Chat and pale rufous in the Sickle-winged Chat. Both species show a black triangle or wedge-shaped marking on the lower tail.

The near-white Namibian birds are most likely to be confused with the Karoo Chat (Emarginata schlegelli) but that species has a longer tail and all-black central tail feathers (Note that Karoo Chats in Namibia are also markedly paler than their South African counterparts and have cream-white to buff rumps).

Status and Distribution

The Tractrac Chat is a common resident. It is, however, known to be locally nomadic due to unpredictable rainfall in the arid regions it inhabits.

It is near-endemic to Southern Africa, ranging from south-western Angola through western and southern Namibia to the central Karoo in South Africa where it is most widespread. The Tractrac Chat’s major population concentration is centred on Bushmanland in the Northern Cape province. There is a distinct, narrow extension of its range in the south-west that follows the arid corridor of the Tanqua Karoo.

The Tractrac Chat is not threatened, but influenced by land use as it is rare in heavily grazed Karoo shrublands.

Habitat

The Tractrac Chat inhabits arid areas with flat, open plains and sparse scrub, low bushes and plenty of bare ground. Favoured habitats include gravel plains, sandy flats, sparse stony grassland, dry dwarf shrublands and low dunes with scant vegetation. It is not generally found in broken terrain. It is often the most conspicuous bird species in such desolate habitats.

Normally avoids human habitation in South Africa but may associate with buildings in the true desert regions of Namibia.

Behaviour

The Tractrac Chat is usually encountered singly or in pairs, and rarely in family groups. Perches on top of low bushes, stones or fence posts. It is known to defend its foraging and nesting area against rivals and also from Karoo Chats. It may occasionally flick its wings and raise the tail, but less deliberately than the Sickle-winged or Familiar chat (Oenanthe familiaris). Hovers briefly before dropping down to perch or ground when alarmed, otherwise tame and inquisitive.

Forages mainly on the ground, including on gravel roads, where it scavenges road-killed insects. Feeds primarily on insects and other invertebrates such as flies, beetles, termites, ants, plant hoppers, spiders and snails.

The Tractrac Chat is a monogamous and solitary nester. The nest is a neat, deep cup lined with fluffy seeds, and set on a foundation of dry twigs. Nests are placed on the ground under a shrub or againtst a stone or rock. The nest is not reused, but several old nests may be clustered within in the vicinity. Egg laying dates vary according to rainfall but is mainly during September and October. 2-3 eggs are laid per clutch and incubation is discontinuous and performed by both sexes. The duration of the incubation period is unrecorded. The newly hatched young are rufous coloured, with long, dark grey down on dark feather tracts. The fledging period lasts around 18 days.

Further Resources

Species text adapted from the first Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP1), 1997.

The use of photographs by Gerald Wingate, Gregg Darling, Johan and Estelle van Rooyen and Sybrand Venter is acknowledged.

Virtual Museum (BirdPix > Search VM > By Scientific or Common Name).

Other common names: Woestynspekvreter (Afrikaans); Traquet tractrac (French); Namibschmätzer (German); Woestijn-spekvreter (Dutch); Chasco-pálido (Portuguese)

Recommended citation format: Tippett RM 2023. Tractrac Chat Emarginata tractrac. Biodiversity and Development Institute. Available online at http://thebdi.org/2023/06/12/tractrac-chat-emarginata-tractrac/

List of bird species in this format is available here.

Bird identification, birding