Hi Colin,
It must be minima, maybe a shade paler than loringi from here, but
pretty much the same as Tsavo West loringi. Makes you wonder why your
bird is called a Red-faced Crombec doesn't it!? Whilst on Tsavo West,
when you have caught RFC at Ngulia are they all pallid like this. I
have only ever been there for one and it was thought Somali, but now I
understand the error of our ways! You cannot trust a record of Somali
from Tsavo West.
Thanks for following up on this,
Cheers for now
Brian


On 2/26/17, chwjackson <chwjackson@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Brian,
> Followed the crombec as was keen to see it well. Confirmed all uniform
> pinkish underparts and no supercilium. A pair of them foraging. Raf, a
> visiting birder with me, managed to get the attached photo of one of them.
> Yes... Red-faced surprised me. I guess it must be minima ? I've seen
> crombecs once before in Dakatcha a few years ago dime way north of Adu but
> not well enough to confirm which one. Nice to have a photo of these ones...
> Colin
>
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
> -------- Original message --------From: Raphaël Nussbaumer
> <rafnuss@gmail.com> Date: 2017/02/25  16:17  (GMT+03:00) To: Colin Jackson
> <colin.jackson@arocha.org> Subject: Re: [KENYABIRDSNET] Sabaki oxbow lakes
> Here is the (bad) shot of it.
>
> --Raphaël.
>
>
> On 25 February 2017 at 10:03, Brian Finch <birdfinch@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Colin,
>
> Congratulations for not seeing a House Crow! The oxbow sounds
>
> incredible and I hope you get time for many follow-up visits before it
>
> dries.
>
> Can you tell me anything about the Red-faced Crombecs you saw?
>
> Best for now
>
> Brian
>
>
>
> On 2/23/17, Colin Jackson colin.jackson@arocha.org [kenyabirdsnet]
>
> <kenyabirdsnet-noreply@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
>> A week ago we did a waterbird count at a new site for me - a large oxbox
>
>> lake north of the Sabaki and upstream that I'd seen often from the plane
>
>> when landing at Malindi. Amazingly, despite the drought it was pretty
>
>> full of water - where everywhere else is dry. One of the wazee we talked
>
>> to there said the water comes in when the Sabaki is in flood - though i
>
>> couldn't think that it had had very high water levels during the past
>
>> few months though perhaps it did in December?
>
>>
>
>> With the water there, it was very busy with water birds and given the
>
>> area we didn't manage to cover, I'd estimate a good 1,000 Reed
>
>> Cormorant, 300-400 Glossy Ibis and 100-150 herons of various sorts. Also
>
>> a flock of 11 Northern Pintail - my first for the coast in over 10 years
>
>> - and about 15 Pygmy Geese - again they've been hard to find in recent
>
>> years here.
>
>>
>
>> Of other particular interest were:
>
>>
>
>> Jameson's Firefinch - a pair in scrub along the road in the same atlas
>
>> square (pentad).
>
>> Upcher's Warbler - there were a surprising number of larger acacia trees
>
>> there which have not (yet) been removed for charcoal and one in
>
>> particular was quite busy with birds - the Upcher's as well as a pair of
>
>> Red-faced Crombec.
>
>> Little Rush Warbler - singing in the reeds, heard several times - the
>
>> lower and slower song of the more southern birds, not the one our
>
>> highland birds have.
>
>> Rufous Bush Chat / Scrub Robin - we had at least 12 of these in the one
>
>> pentad. This year they have been extremely numerous and obvious along
>
>> the north coast here.
>
>>
>
>> We had a tight window of time so were not able to spend as much time or
>
>> go as far as we'd have liked, but it was an awesome spot and worth
>
>> exploring further.
>
>>
>
>> Species list for the pentad hit 87 species with some surprising gaps
>
>> such as House Crow... yes, we spent some serious effort searching for
>
>> House Crows and didn't find them! Same for House Sparrow - searched the
>
>> small villages we drove though to no avail.
>
>>
>
>> Last bird of the pentad was a pair of Pangani Longclaws right by the
>
>> road taking shelter from the heat under a bush. Had a Golden Pipit in
>
>> the same pentad two weeks earlier when on the way through to Marafa but
>
>> he didn't show that morning.
>
>>
>
>> Colin
>
>>
>
>> --
>
>> -------------------------
>
>> Colin Jackson
>
>> A Rocha Kenya
>
>>
>
>> Cell:
>
>> +254 (0)722 842366
>
>>
>
>> www.arocha.org
>
>> www.assets-kenya.org
>
>> http:/kenyabirdmap.adu.org.za
>
>>
>
>>
>
>
>
>