A Guide To The Birds Of East Africa

Hey, somebody got an interesting photo of a woodpecker in Arkansas--no, seriously, they did. It's not an ivory-billed, but some kind of crazy hybrid. Northern flicker looks like one half of the bird...but the other half, who can say? Check out photos here (click on the thumbnails to see larger versions). I'm thinking flicker with a red-bellied, but I'm not married to that.

I forgot to mention that I read a delightful little book earlier this summer call A Guide to the Birds of East Africa. The book by Nicholas Drayson is about two older male birders in Africa having a birding competition. Whoever sees the most species in the span of a week wins the opportunity to ask a prominent local female field trip leader to a big dance coming up. Will the winner by the shy Mr. Malik who has been pining for Rose all these years but is not the best birder on the block? Or will the winner be that rogue Harry Kahn with fast car and hardcore birding buddies? It's a bit British in style, but still has enough of a sense of humor to throw in a fart joke. If you're looking for something light to read with a touch of African birds, this book is a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Funky Oriole

We saw a totally funky oriole today on the Glendalough field trip. There should only be Baltimore orioles here, but this one kind of looked like a hooded oriole (although not quite).

So, this bird is either a hybrid between the two, a second year male oriole who hasn't quite molted into his adult plumage, or sometimes female orioles attain male plumage as they grow older--is this just an old female?

Any thoughts.