A short trip to Tankwa*

[Tina]

black-headed canary

[Tina]

I have not been able to id this one yet - any ideas?

[Tina]

lark-like bunting

[Toko]

I have not been able to id this one yet - any ideas?

Difficult angle

Karoo Prinia, does not look like a Lark

[Tina]

Do you have another pic of your mystery bird? Would be good to see the bill better.

Unfortunately this is the only picture I have. I was wondering about the bill as well.

I think it is neither a lark nor a karoo prinia (as it shows no supercilium).

I was thinking of a juvenile cape canary maybe?

[Tina]

Juv. Black-headed looks like this:

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/black-head ... o/juvenile

Cape Canary is not on the SANParks list and does not fit into the habitat, I think


Yellow juv. also similar

It is on my SANParks list

I had another look at my books and tried to google the bird. According to that the cape canary should be greenish yellow below.

Juvenile yellow canary was also my guess.

shouldn't the juvenile show the facial markings already?

I think the black-headed looks good but I posted a cropped picture on the bird id. Maybe Dewi can help.

[Dewi]

Tina, Toko & Mel,

My best guess at the moment is also Black-headed, but that's only based on the fact that the underparts show no greenish-yellow colouration whatsoever. There is a distinct lack of reference material on juvenile Canaries to check through, and I have no experience with them at all.

The Yellow Canaries in your pics are Yellow-fronted Canaries.

Looks like a great place to visit.

[Tina]

Tina, Toko & Mel,

My best guess at the moment is also Black-headed, but that's only based on the fact that the underparts show no greenish-yellow colouration whatsoever. There is a distinct lack of reference material on juvenile Canaries to check through, and I have no experience with them at all.

Thank you, Dewi

Looks like a great place to visit.

it is

[Toko]

The photos that come up on the www are quite different but the Black-headed has more distinct bold streaks and less grey wash, that's why I think it is the best guess

[Tina]

Thank you Mel, Toko and Dewi.

I guess we stick to black-headed canary then as long as no one else proves that we are wrong