Brubru - Nilaus afer
I heard a scurrilous rumour through Mrs C that someone has jokingly accused me of making this stuff up. Cutting and pasting shots from the web - perhaps I could even try and hoax a few bird names while I am at it. Gregarious Mountain Lark, Oscilating Blue Charmer, Pugnacious Fluffbird, Zinging Spirit Thrush. I'll try and slip one in and see if its spotted. But not today ! Really - its a real bird.
I was not confident of the identification of this bird but my first best guess was a Chin-spot Batis (Really !!! They are tie-dyed) and I was 80 % sure. I could not find another candidate in the field guide for East Africa. The white wing panel and overall combination of white, red, black and grey, size, range, bill were all right. The eye should be yellow though. Perhaps that was just not showing. I was kidding myself - a yellow eye will show - This shot was taken from about 150 m. I was sat feeling very smug in the porch of my tent and along this bird bimbled. A Chin-spot Batis but with the wrong colour eye. You have to be hard with yourself. This is serious stuff.
Then at the bottom of a plate of "Black Boubous" (Again really !!!) I found the Brubru. A small black and white bush-shrike that is common in the acacias of Africa. On the money - The supercilium the untidy panel in the wing - the more bricky red flank and the black eye. Hidden at the bottom of a page in a family of 1 tucked between Black Boubous and Pufbacks (of course - havent you heard of them either ??). Of course ! A Brubru - see them featured regulary on Discovery or Animal Planet. Had a whole hour long feature of them once !?!
This then was the view from my tent - a huge sky and yet another african bird mystery solved - another unbelievable name. I bought a wide angle just for this shot. The birds then came to me. Silly names and all.
Olakira Camp, Mara River, Serengeti, Tanzania
July 2012
Then at the bottom of a plate of "Black Boubous" (Again really !!!) I found the Brubru. A small black and white bush-shrike that is common in the acacias of Africa. On the money - The supercilium the untidy panel in the wing - the more bricky red flank and the black eye. Hidden at the bottom of a page in a family of 1 tucked between Black Boubous and Pufbacks (of course - havent you heard of them either ??). Of course ! A Brubru - see them featured regulary on Discovery or Animal Planet. Had a whole hour long feature of them once !?!
This then was the view from my tent - a huge sky and yet another african bird mystery solved - another unbelievable name. I bought a wide angle just for this shot. The birds then came to me. Silly names and all.
Olakira Camp, Mara River, Serengeti, Tanzania
July 2012
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