The diminutive pipit..

Anybody who has ever picked up a camera in South Africa will agree that there are less frustrating species to photograph than the diminutive Short-tailed Pipit. Locating this male, through the lens, therefore, was extraordinarily fortunate. What happened next will remain indelibly looped in my avian-highlights package for as long as I care to run the reel.

Short-tailed Pipit

The breeding season is in the austral summer. During this period male birds give in to seasonal exuberance by performing bizarre aerial displays. In-flight entertainment, however, is a limited, nasally bzeep, less extravagant perhaps, but unique nevertheless. Back on earth the landed gentry prefer short, tussocky grassland & it's in this muck that their truly furtive nature is revealed.  

Territorial males, particularly in the pre-dawn, are generally suspicious of anything bzeep & it's not too difficult to provoke a charge with an accurate rendition of bzeep; even if the bzeep is closer to mean ground level than the more socially accepted 20 m higher up.

This individual hustled through its head-high maze in which I stood less than ankle-deep. If myopia is a consequence of blur or dust in an over-sized eye, then my eyes were only truly opened when he sought vantage from the top of my boot in which my left foot resided at the time. In truth words don't do justice to the oxygen-depleted hush / rush, mine not his. Remarkable!

Short-tailed Pipit, in the sub-region, are of the nominate subspecies. Two distinct colour forms have been mooted with the paler form considered the more common. In most instances the white throat contrasts sharply with the upper, heavily-streaked, breast, usually washed yellowish in fresh plumage. The belly, in the pale phase, is generally unmarked, washed white to pale buff. The belly and throat colour, in this phase, are similar. In the darker phase the belly is buffy-brown and the throat less distinct from the upper breast. It is interesting, therefore, to see that the throat on this pale-phase individual (male) does not contrast with the upper breast as might be expected and exhibits features more readily found in the rarer dark phase. 

A River on my stoep!

'There's a warbler in the net, Dad'..........

Pic 2

Pic 1

Innocuous words usually; not so this Monday - 5:30 am. What lay quiescent in that net was nothing short of a miracle. A unicorn in the hedge; an albatross in the pool; a dragon on the bed!!

Pic 3

Pic 4

Discovered in the net by Sean, my son & ringed later by Alisha & I, this River Warbler (Locustella fluviatilis) will stay with me forever. It's not a rarity in the truest sense (under-reported) but is so elusive it's almost ephemeral; a figment of the imagination even. To have one in hand, therefore, is nothing short of a miracle & easily a lifetime highlight.

Pic 5

In the latter half of 2014 we initiated a long-term / local (ie: in our garden) ringing / banding project to further our understanding of the migratory patterns of the local population of Karoo Thrush  (Turdus smithii). The ringing / banding of birds provides vital data which the authorities rely on to make effective conservation decisions and if done correctly has little, if any, impact on the handled bird.

Our indigenous garden covers an area of approximately 5000 sqm. in residential Sandton. Many will agree that indigenous gardens tend to attract more bird species (sp.) given that most birds forage in gardens for local edibles rather than expending the energy, as we might, on the flowery bouquet of exotic blossoms ... We're very lucky, therefore, to have access to a wider range of bird sp. than we might usually expect in a garden of this size and in this residential area, generally.

Pic 6

A very fine net, usually rigged at dawn or at sunset ie: at times least visible, is the usual equipment we'd use for a project like this. The nets are later taken down or furled (folded) during the day-light hours to prevent any unwanted captures / injuries etc. This method doesn't target or limit the catch to a specific species (eg: Karoo Thrush) but would, as expected, include any other bird sp. either resident or in transit at the time.

As it turned out it was bad luck, in this case, for the warbler & a buffet of giggles for us!

The vitals: -

Locustella fluviatilis
Ring number - AR29307 (2.3 mm ring)
Sex - Male [See Pic 1 (The female lacks a supercilium & is less streaked on the lower throat & breast)]
Mass - 16.5 grams [Ave: 16.8]
Wing length - 76 mm [Ave: 74.3]
Moult (pp. descendant) - partial contour / primaries & rectrices worn

General:

Pic 7

Upperparts are unstreaked dark olive-brown, tinged greenish (Pic 7). Primaries and secondaries are dark brown (Pic 7). Tertials and upperwing coverts are dark olive-brown (Pic 7). The undertail coverts are buffy brown and broadly tipped white (Pic 3 & 6 respectively). NO emargination on the primaries.

DIAGNOSTIC feature - The outer web of the outermost primary is pale to white! [See Pic 7 (indistinct) and Pic 4 respectively]

Chin, throat and upper breast yellowish buff, finely spotted becoming more broadly streaked on the upper breast (Pic 2).

Wing formula: (PP: ASCENDANT ie: numbered from outside to in rather than from inside to out as for moult)

P1 - minute [A steel rule? - SACRILEGIOUS]

No emargination.
P1 vestigial / minute
Wing-point 2nd (P2 = Longest)
2nd pointed, other P. rounded.
No notch on inner web.
P3 -2 mm
P4 -5 mm
P5 -7 mm
P6 -9 mm
P7 -11 mm
P10 -20 mm