African Bird Club

Endemic birds of Ethiopia
A recent paper in Alula by Hadoram Shirihai and Julian Francis presents the endemic birds of Ethiopia and illustrates a significant number of them in 24 excellent colour plates, including one of the few published photographs of Degodi Lark Mirafra degodiensis. Also illustrated are two other rare and localised larks - Gillett's Lark Mirafra gilletti and Sidamo Lark Heteromirafra sidamoensis - and notes are given on the identification of these species. Tips on when and where to go are also provided.
Source: Alula 5, pp 2-15

WEST AFRICA
Waders and waterfowl in Cameroon
The latest report from the Foundation Working Group International for Waterbird and Wetland Research (WIWO) has recently been published. Report 67, edited by Jeroen Wetten and Peter Spierenburg, discusses Waders and Waterfowl in the floodplains of the Logone, Cameroun, Janaury, 1993 and focuses particularly on studies of Ruff Philomachus pugnax and Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa. The report-which is essential reading for those interested in African wetland research-is obtainable from Stichting WIWO, Fetha 23, 3633 CT Vreeland, The Netherlands and costs Dfl20 if paying cash or by Eurocheque. An administration charge of Dfl15 should be added if paying directly into postal giro account 2666009 or ABN-AMRO bank account 570216613.
Source: Ekko Smith

New country records in West Africa
The most recent issue of Malimbus includes two major paper concerning the West African avifauna. In the first, Bob Dowsett and his co-workers provide details of 44 additions to the list of birds recorded in the Central African Republic, as well as deleting 54 species from those certainly recorded from the country. Currently, 698 species are known to have been reliably reported in the CAR. Elsewhere in the same issue, Paul Scholte and his co-authors, in presenting bird records from the Waza-Logone area of northern Cameroon, add 11 species to the avifauna of the country. Finally, a series of short notes document the occurrence of Xavier's Greenbul Phyllastrephus xavieri (in Cross River National Park on 13 December 1997) and Green-throated Sunbird Nectarinia rubescens (three records, the first at Buru, Taraba state on 4 July 1995) in Nigeria. The first record of Cream-coloured Courser Cursorius cursor in Ghana involved two birds near Prampram, c60 km from Accra, on 19 May 1996. Patrick Claffey, writing in the same issue of Malimbus, reports the first occurrences of Crowned Eagle Stephanoaetus coronatus (two immatures in the Ouémé Valley on 29 March 1997) and White-breasted Negro-Finch Nigrita fusconota (one in the Ouémé Supérieur on 7 May 1996) in Bénin, and documents a decline in the fortunes of Pin-tailed Whydah Vidua macroura in the same country.
Source: Malimbus 21, pp 1-50, 51-60

Congo Peacocks and Little Terns
What do these two species have in common? Very little, but for the fact that they are both featured in the most recent (Number 5, April 1999) newsletter of the Democratic Republic of Congo Birding Association (see Bull. ABC 5: 91). Marc Pierard reports the welcome news that Congo Peacock Afropavo congensis appears to be still abundant in parts of Lomako Forest, while Tommy Pedersen describes the first observations of Little Tern Sterna albifrons in the country, in October 1992 and April 1993. Birders interested in the West or Central African avifaunas should contact Tommy Pedersen, c/o Smedgata 33, N-0651 Oslo, Norway; e-mail: stingray@online.no for more details concerning the DRCBA.
Source: Afropavo 5

Gambia book wins award
Since its publication, A Field Guide to the Birds of The Gambia and Senegal by Clive Barlow, Tim Wacher and Tony Disley, has become an essential part of any birder's kit when visiting western Africa. Among bird books covering this region, it stands head-and-shoulders above any other field guide. It has also recently won the coveted Best Bird Book of the Year award (for 1998) from the magazine British Birds. These annual awards are closely fought contests and this is the first time a book entirely devoted to African birds has won.
Source: Brit. Birds 91, p 404

New data on the birds of the Cape Verdes
A recent paper in Alauda details a number of recent significant bird observations made in the archipelago, principally during July 1997. Special attention is made to records of shorebirds and two species of hirundines, while records of 15 other species are also presented, some of which have only been recorded on a few occasions previously in the Cape Verdes. In addition, another pertinent contribution on the islands' ornithology has also recently been published: Kees Hazevoet presents corrective and additional notes for 11 taxa based on a study of specimens collected on the islands and retained at the Centro de Zoologia in Lisbon. When preparing the BOU checklist, Hazevoet had been unable to examine this material and had been forced to rely on a secondary data source. Elsewhere, Norman Ratcliffe et al have re-examined the status of Raso Lark Alauda razae, concluding that it probably merits categorisation as critically endangered. The authors also present additional notes on the species' foraging behaviour.
Sources: Alauda 66, pp 307-311; Bull. Br. Ornithol. Cl. 25, pp 25-31; Bird Conserv. International 9, pp 43-46

New bird records from the Cape Verde Islands
In addition to the above publications, the third annual report on birds of the Cape Verde Islands includes details of seven additions to the list of birds recorded in the archipelago: Montagu's Harrier Circus pygargus (a female on 14 March 1997), Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria (an adult winter on 12 March 1997), Namaqua Dove Oena capensis (an adult male on 21 July 1995), Red-throated Pipit Anthus cervinus (three in February-March 1997), Savi's Warbler Locustella luscinioides (one on 23 September 1997), Western Bonelli's Warbler Phylloscopus bonelli (one on 20 September 1997) and Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis (one on 24 January 1997).
Source: Bull. Zool. Mus. Univ. Amsterdam 16, pp 65-71

Banc d'Arguin receives help
To allow sustainable management of fish stocks in the Parc National du Banc d'Arguin, Mauritania, the World Wide Fund for Nature has raised SF400,000 for park surveillance. Three new patrol boats will help curtail threats posed by pirate fishing boats. Surveys undertaken during 1990-1994 found a c50% decrease in wader numbers in the park, Africa's largest coastal national park and one of the world's most important wetlands. The decline has been attributed to a decline in fish stocks through overfishing.
Source: Oryx 33, p 11

Birds of Bois de Boulogne, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
A list of 111 bird species regularly occurring in the "Bois de Boulogne", at the edge of Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, during the rainy season of 1992, is presented in a recent paper in Alauda. Some 20 species that were recorded only once are not included. This small forest is relatively important because it comprises several habitats, such as relict forest patches, swamps and ponds, not found elsewhere in the area.
Source: Alauda 66, pp 324-328

Yellow-throated Petronia new to Chad
A pair of Yellow-throated Petronia Petronia superciliaris was discovered in a garden in N'Djamena, Chad, in February 1998. This constitutes a considerable range extension and the northernmost record of a species that ranges, principally through southern Africa, north to northern Congo-Brazzaville and south-east Gabon.
Source: Alauda 67, pp 72-73

NORTH AFRICA
Spanish Sparrows nesting in a well
During 1993 and 1996, a colony of c10 pairs of Spanish Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis was discovered nesting on ledges in a 10 m-deep concrete well on Fuerteventura, Canary Islands.
Source: Limicola 12, pp 313-316

Redstart wintering in north-eastern Morocco
Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus principally winters in sub-Saharan Africa and is thus normally only a passage migrant in North Africa. Some, however, were known to winter in Tunisia and Algeria. Recently, birds have also been found overwintering in Jbel Hamra forest, in north-east Morocco.
Source: Alauda 66, pp 315-316

Colonisation and geographical expansion of Eurasian Collared and Laughing Doves in Morocco
Data on the colonisation of Morocco by Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto and Laughing Dove S. senegalensis, which commenced 20 years ago, are presented in a recent paper in Alauda. Eurasian Collared Dove is now a common bird in the country, present in a wide coastal area from Tangier to Dakhla and in most large inland towns. The expansion of Laughing Dove has been much slower, sightings until late 1998 being scarce and localised, and breeding having only been proved in three areas. It will be interesting to note if Eurasian Collared Dove eventually meets its African sibling S. roseogrisea, whose range extends to northern Mauritania, only 360 km from the southernmost record of S. decaocto. And will the sub-Saharan nominate race of Laughing Dove meet its North African counterpart phoenicophila? The authors speculate that the nominate may, in fact, already have reached Morocco, as birds observed in Dakhla in 1995 and 1998 may have been of this race.
Source: Alauda 67, pp 23-36

Rats main cause of scarcity of Laurel Pigeon on Tenerife
Field studies on the effect of breeding success and nest predation on the population of the two endemic pigeons of the Canary Islands, Bolle's Pigeon Columba bollii and Laurel Pigeon C. junoniae indicate that the Black Rat Rattus rattus is the key factor causing the scarcity of the latter on Tenerife. Nest predation was the most important cause of nesting failure in both species, but mainly affected the ground-breeding Laurel Pigeon. Experiments with artificial nests demonstrated that predation was lower in trees than on the ground and that it increased when fruit availablity decreased. Counts of fruit indicated that availability progressively decreased from February-March to September-October. The different breeding biology of the two species thus probably determines their vulnerability to predation by rats, with Laurel Pigeon breeding on the ground, especially in April-August, being more vulnerable than Bolle's Pigeon, which breeds in trees mainly in February-June.
Source: Ibis 141, pp 52-59

Great Blue Heron on the Canary Islands
Tony Clarke has recently published a detailed description and several photographs of a controversial heron, present at Embalse de La Cruz Santa, Tenerife, during 5-17 December 1998, finally identified as the islands' first Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias. There are approximately 12 records from the Azores, so this transatlantic vagrant's appearance should not be regarded as unexpected.
Source: Birding World 12, pp 158-161

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