DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — When I was in Cameroon this summer, I encountered a small brown bird on the Ndop Plain in Northwest Province. Its song seemed the only distinctive thing about it, though at the time I noted two dark bars on its undertail and pink legs.

By reading descriptions of songs in Birds of Western Africa, I guessed that the bird might be a Whistling Cisticola, Cisticola lateralis.

Here’s a brief video clip, which includes three songs. Can anyone familiar with Western African birds offer an opinion? I apologize in advance for the shaky video….

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — Here’s a video clip I recorded on one of my last mornings in Cameroon. Of nearly 80 life birds I saw in Cameroon, this was one of my favorites: the African Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone viridis). The clip opens with the bird in mid-song. At the end, I added two slow-motion “instant replays” of his flight.

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — There are signs of new life everywhere. Fledgling bulbuls beg from the shrubbery, and a rusty African Paradise Flycatcher follows its mother around. The male flycatcher, spectacular in white and glossy blue-black, has all he can do to look after his ribbon-like tail streamers. Young sunbirds are beginning to show patches of color, and they are learning to sing. They are fiesty too, as if trying to establish themselves in the world.

Once, I saw a young African Pygmy Kingfisher, given away by its black, white-tipped bill. Mostly, I see the red-billed adults — kingfishers indeed, but no bigger than a warbler. From their perches in the trees, they bob with a rhythm that seems endemic to Africa. It lives in the bones of the people too, waiting to come out as soon as someone starts to sing.

But there are signs, too, that new life is not always allowed to flourish and thrive. I saw a Pied Crow kill an unidentified nestling last week, and it was with something akin to grief that I discovered the rape of the Blue-spotted Wood Dove’s nest yesterday. The young doves that I’d watched nestling into their mother’s breast are gone, taken, no doubt, by the Pied Crows.

Meanwhile, the Yellow-fronted Canaries sing from the treetops, as if attempting to drive away the early morning clouds. Grey-backed Camaropteras skulk low in the vegetation, looking after their fledglings. Life goes on.

Early this morning, on my usual pre-workday bird walk, I took a slightly different route. A small, streaky seedeater on the ground looked suspiciously like a female Pin-tailed Whydah, a species I’d been hoping to see for weeks. But there are many small brown birds in Africa, and I did not feel sure. But then — a distant silhouette through the branches. And then something black, white, fluttering, chasing the brown bird I was watching. A few more passes and there he was, settling down to feed on weed seeds just a few yards away.

A pied bird with black tail streamers at least half again the length of his finch-sized body. Orange-pink bill munching small seeds. Ah, there are indeed many things to love about Africa.

 

I managed to get a brief video clip of the whydah (Vidua macroura) when it flew up to a fence.

 

And here’s a brief video clip showing Bronze Mannikins (Lonchura cucullata). The light isn’t great but you can just make out the green iridescence on their shoulders and heads.

 

This is a portrait of a young Splendid Sunbird (Cinnyris coccinigastrus). The adult males really are splendid — jet black with blue, green, red, and purple iridescence. This youngster is well on his way, but he looks a little scruffy yet.

 

Speckled Mousebirds (Colius striatus) never cease to entertain me. In the second part of this clip, you can see a mousebird hanging vertically from a palm frond as it preens. This is a fairly common posture for the species. Sometimes, they will hang together in tightly packed little groups, as if they were leftover Christmas ornaments.

BAMENDA, CAMEROON — Today, sunbirds gleamed and mousebirds skulked. Light rain didn’t much hamper their activities, or mine as I watched the birds. I’ve found a few minutes to bird nearly every day, despite working long hours. Now that I’m back to an internet connection, I’ll try to relate some of the highlights. For now, here are some video clips of birds I saw in the yard today:

 

The African Blue-Flycatcher (Elminia longicauda) is a gorgeous bird of uncertain affinity. In this clip, you can hear a snatch of its song.

 

Common Bulbuls (Pycnonotus barbatus) are ubiquitous here. They aren’t very colorful, but they have a cheerful song that reminds me of the South Pacific’s Willie-wagtail. In this clip, you only get to hear a call note, though.

 

I really enjoy watching the Speckled Mousebirds (Colius striatus). They are oddly shaped birds: small heads, round bodies, and very long, stiff tails. They climb around in vegetation, often difficult to see. When they fly, they alternate stiff, rapid flaps with longer glides.

 

Red-cheeked Cordon-bleus (Uraeginthus bengalis) are estrildid finches. They are like little bits of sky that have fallen to the ground.

 

Black-crowned Waxbills (Estrilda nonnula) join cordon-bleus, mannikins, and munias in the family Estrildidae. In the video clip, listen carefully for this bird’s thin, high-pitched call.

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Africa, Africa, I am in Africa. I arrived just a day ago; things haven’t really begun sinking in. Today was awful for birding. I saw and heard so many things, but I couldn’t stop and look. Pied Crows, with their deep croaks and bold markings, are the only things I have identified with total certainty so far. I’m pretty sure that the little mannikins are Bronze Mannikins, and I think I may have discovered two or three species new to science. (Alternatively … well, you can probably figure out the alternative for yourself.)

I have very little context or framework for interpreting the birds I see here. Nearly 10 percent of the world’s birds have been recorded in Cameroon, and that much information is extremely difficult for the human brain to process all at once. I can only trust that the picture will become clearer day by day, as it did in North America, and as it did in the South Pacific.

Before we arrived, Fjord and I stopped off in Paris for two days. I was surprised by the paucity of information (at least, information in English) about birding in Paris, so I’d decided just to see what I could find on my own. We stayed in the heart of the city, a few blocks from the Seine, and I soon gathered that this is not ideal location for observing birds. I didn’t get to spend much time birding (after all, there’s so much else to see!), but in the end I found 12 life birds, most of them passerines related to familiar North American taxa. It was good to see birds I’d heard about for so long, like Common Blackbirds and Blue Tits. I had my first accentor (a Dunnock) and wagtail (a female Grey), and I saw pigeons at Notre Dame.

Downtown Paris is such a busy, crowded, noisy place that finding birds is very difficult. One of the better spots I found was the eastern side of Jardin du Luxembourg, where there is a small Statue of Liberty replica. There, the trees are tall and the undergrowth is allowed to flourish, and it is quieter. There are some nice trees adjacent to the Eiffel Tower, but I didn’t see much activity during the few minutes we were there. We didn’t have long in the Jardin des Tuilleries, but it looked like it might be decent. That is where I saw my life Dunnock. Walking along the Seine is not terribly productive, but it is definitely better than the city streets. We saw a few Eurasian Magpies, a Blue Tit, and the Grey Wagtail (a rather confusingly plumaged female) in this way. Water birds were quite scarce, consisting of a few Mallards and Herring Gulls with one young Common Black-headed Gull.

And here’s a video clip of a Wood Pigeon near Notre Dame: