Archive for October, 2011
Cycling in the south of France – Part One
October 12th, 2011 | 
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Posted in On Friday, 9th September, 2011 I left England with my brother Ken and a friend, John, for a cycling trip in the south of France. Basing ourselves at the little village of Bagneres de Bigorre, in the Pyrenees quite close to the border with Spain, we spent a week cycling some of the mountain passes made famous by the Tour de France.
Part One of this trip report, which includes a short visit to Lourdes, can be found under the Cycling Tab above.
The Bird of the Week – Week 92 – Red-billed firefinch
Rather sadly, the beauty of the Red-billed firefinch, and particularly the beauty  of the males, has made it a very popular cage bird in large parts of the world. Sad, because I think that birds look so much more magnificent in the wild than they do in cages. In its role as a caged bird it is known by varuious other names, such as the African firefinch, the Senegal firefinch and the Ruddy.
The Red-billed firefinch is a very small bird, just about 10 cm in length, and the males and females differ in plumage colouration. The males are almost entirely scarlet, save for their wings, which are brown. They have pink bills and a yellow eye-ring. The females have brown upper parts and buff under parts, with a small red patch in front of each eye and, like the males, have pink bills.
Red-billed firefinches are gregarious and are often found in small groups, their range extending throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa. In the southern African region they are found in the wetter eastern half of the region, extending to the west only along the Cunene and Orange Rivers. Although not uncommon within this range, they are quite secretive and often difficult to spot.
They spend a lot of time on the ground, feeding mainly on seeds and grain, and also on insects. The song of this little firefinch is an attractive “chick-pee-pee-pee“.
The Red-billed firefinch is monogamous and their nest is a domed construction of fine grasses, lined with soft grass or feathers, and with a side entrance. It is usually situated quite low down in a bush or shrub. The female lays a clutch of between three and six white eggs that hatch after an incubation period of approximately 12 days. The nest may be parasitized by the Village indigobird (Vidua chalybeata).
The scientific binomial for the Red-billed firefinch is Lagonostica senegala; Lagonostica from the Greek for “spotted flanks”, and senegala from the Latin for “from Senegal”. This the name describes a bird from Senegal with spotted flanks. Accurate enough, although the ones that we have seen are very far from Senegal, and I wouldn’t have thought the spotted flanks were an outstanding feature.
Tags: Cycling the Coast-to-Coast
Bird of the Week – Week 91 – Hartlaub’s babbler
The Hartlaub’s babbler, previously, and quite appropriately, called the Southern white-rumped babbler, is noisy in the manner of the babbler family and is most often heard well before it is seen. Within the southern African region it is quite limited in its range, being found only in northern Namibia and Botswana, although it is fairly common within this restricted area. Their preferred habitat is woodland that is located close to rivers and streams.
Much the same size as other babblers within the region, with a length of approximately 26 cm, the Hartlaub’s babbler’s white rump and white belly are diagnostic. The sexes are alike in both size and plumage colouration, being brown overall with white-edged feathers that give them a scalloped appearance. The tail is darker brown; the eyes are red; the bill is black and the legs and feet are brown or brownish-grey.
Their preferred habitat is the thick vegetation along streams and rivers and within Namibia their range increases during the rainy season when the rivers in the north of the country flood and there is more wetland available. They are noisy birds, moving around in groups of up to 15 individuals and calling constantly “pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa“.
They forage out in the open or within thick vegetation, apparently feeding mainly on insects, although little is known about their diet.
The Hartlaub’s babbler is monogamous and builds a rather untidy cup-shaped nest in which the female lays a clutch of two to four greenish-blue eggs. The nests are known to be parasitized by the Levaillant’s cuckoo (Clamator levaillantii).
The scientific binomial for the Hartlaub’s babbler is Turdoides hartlaubii; Turdoides from the Latin for “like a thrush” and hartlaubii after the German ornithologist Karl Hartlaub. Thus the name describes Hartlaub’s thrush-like bird, which is not a bad description at all.
