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F I E L D
G U I D E
T O
SHOREBIRDS O F
S O U T H
A F R I C A
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F i e l d
g u i d e
t o
Shorebirds o f
S o u t h
A f r i c a
Roy Cowgill and Stephen Davis
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Published by Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd in 2013 10 Orange Street Sunnyside Auckland Park 2092 South Africa +2711 628 3200 www.jacana.co.za © Text: Roy Cowgill and Stephen Davis, 2013 © Photographs: credited on individual photos; cover photo: Roy Cowgill and Stephen Davis; 2013 All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4314-0647-0 Cover design by Maggie Davey and Shawn Paikin Set in ITC Usherwood 10.5/16pt Printed and bound by Creda Communications Job no. 001950 See a complete list of Jacana titles at www.jacana.co.za iv
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To our parents Fred & Cath Cowgill and Alan & Ena Davis
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© Roy Cowgill and Stephen Davis
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Species Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Family Scolopacidae (sandpipers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Family Charadriidae (plovers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Family Rostratulidae (Greater Painted-Snipe). . . . . . . . . . 140 Family Jacanidae (jacanas). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Family Burhinidae (thick-knees). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Family Haematopodidae (oystercatchers) . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Family Recurvirostridae (Black-winged Stilt and Pied Avocet). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Family Dromadidae (Crab-plover) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Shorebirds on the South African list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Biographies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
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To make the content more user-friendly, we extend our sincere thanks to the following birders who have kindly allowed us to use their photographs so willingly and without charge: • David Allan
• Ian Sinclair
• Paul Bartho
• Andreas Trepte
• Don Cowie
• John van Zyl
• Albert Froneman
• Percy Vorster
• JM Garg
• Bruce Ward-Smith
• Per Holmen
• Ingrid Weiersbye
• Chris McDonald
• Mike White
• Alistair McInnes To BirdLife South Africa, thanks for their endorsement of this book.
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especially birds. Together with Steve, they run bird courses and field trips for children and adults in KwaZulu-Natal. This province is blessed with some superb wetlands, harbouring myriad shorebirds, and it was here that Roy and Steve cut their teeth on shorebird identification. They spent many years preparing the foundation material for their shorebird courses, and it was no surprise when this ultimately resulted in a field guide – and reading it shows how well they have succeeded. The guide covers all aspects of shorebirds from their classification to identification problems, detailing structure and habitat requirements. This very practical field guide will be user friendly in the field, made possible by the helpful silhouette system. The highlight of the book, of course, is the fabulous images shown, gathered from many photographers over the past few years. Roy and Steve can be proud of this modestly priced volume, and I can’t wait to have it to hand! Ian Sinclair Renowned birder, tour guide and author March 2013
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F or e word
Š Roy Cowgill and Stephen Davis
Wood Sandpiper (page 78)
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© Roy Cowgill and Stephen Davis
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Introduction Photograph of a mixed flock of shorebirds, mostly Curlew Sandpipers and Red Knots
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I ntroduction
Charadriiformes and selectively include only the sandpipers, plovers, lapwings and snipes, being the groups that pose the major identification challenges, as well as other groups that may be found in wetlands (jacanas, thick-knees, oystercatchers, Greater Painted-Snipe and Crab-plover). Birds considered as ‘wading waterbirds’ in similar wetland habitats but which are in other orders, such as flamingos, herons and ibises, will not be included in this book. Within the seven families that we will consider, there are 67 species on the southern African list, but several of these are rare vagrants and are unlikely to be encountered. Thus, in this book we have confined ourselves to: • resident shorebirds; • migrant shorebirds that are present in South Africa in reasonable numbers every summer; and • rarer migrants that are regularly seen (these may only be mentioned with, and compared to, the more common species with which they may be confused, rather than having full descriptions and pictures).
What is our approach? This book provides a guideline to assist in the identification of bird groups and specific bird species. It leads the reader through the classification of shorebirds, followed by the beneficial use of the ‘8-point framework’. This framework should assist the birder in recognising two main groups of shorebirds, namely the sandpipers and plovers. Particular characteristics of these groups are provided to make field identification more successful 11
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and accurate. The reader will be guided into developing some essential skills necessary for more accurate identification. The other groups of shorebirds considered are more easily identified because of their distinctive features, such as plumage colouration, but the ‘8-point framework’ should still be used to ensure correct identification. A classification key shows where the shorebirds fit into the greater taxonomic scale of birds in general as an understanding of this will assist with differentiating between the plover group and the sandpiper group. In the procedure of identification, it is critical to first identify whether an unknown shorebird is a plover or a sandpiper, as the key features that must thereafter be noted for species identification differ between the two groups. Many shorebirds seen in South Africa are visiting Palaearctic migrants and arrive in their near winter plumage. In both sandpipers and plovers winter plumage is predominantly a grey colour above and whitish below. Furthermore, the majority of sandpipers occur in wetlands and their plumage is often cryptic and ‘dull’, lacking in distinct markings or colour. In addition, they are often far away on mud flats and it is not easy to distinguish fine details and colours. This makes observation and identification difficult. Therefore, an alternative means of identification has been introduced by checking the shape or silhouette of the bird and carefully observing the behaviour of the bird.
Crowned Lapwings (page 132)
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© Stephen Davis
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© Roy Cowgill
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Classification Photograph of Curlew Sandpipers and Common Ringed Plovers SHOREBIRDS layout CS6.indd 15
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C lassification
of the ranks, from phylum to species, is known as a taxon (pl: taxa). Therefore, the scientific term for the process of naming and grouping of organisms is known as taxonomy. Taxonomy is not a fixed science and may vary between individual zoologists or taxonomists. The naming of organisms is known as nomenclature. The Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778) developed a universal system of classification and nomenclature with precise descriptions of each species. In 1758 he established a binomial nomenclature by which each organism is designated or identified by a generic name (genus) and a specific name (species). The main purpose of classification is to show the relationships between individual species. Scientific names are mostly Latin, Greek or Latinised versions of some other name. These names are used internationally regardless of what language the speaker or publication uses. Scientific names are therefore a very convenient and practical label to use for naming individual organisms. A species is a group of individuals with many characteristics in common and differing from other groups in one or more ways. When two or more species have certain characteristics in common with each other, they form a genus. In turn, genera sharing common characteristics constitute a family. Families are combined into orders. This process continues up the line of categories to the kingdom Animalia. An example of this classification of a common avian passerine, the Pied Crow, can be seen in Table 1 on the following page.
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Table 1: Classification of the Pied Crow Kingdom
Animalia
All animals are grouped into this category
Phylum
Chordata
A notochord that gives rise to the vertebral column is present
Subphylum
Vertebrata
The vertebral column consists of individual vertebrae with a separate skull
Class
Aves
Organisms that bear feathers
Order
Passeriformes
Birds that have a structural ability to perch
Family
Corvidae
Crows
Genus
Corvus
Latin name for crows
Species
albus
A specific type of crow with some white (alba) plumage
These categories can also be subdivided into sub-groups such as subphylum or suborder. Within the class Aves, there are presently 25 avian orders worldwide, 21 southern African avian orders (ending in -iformes) and 93 southern African families (ending in -idae).
Shorebird classification Order Charadriiformes The terms waders and shorebirds can be used synonymously, but for convenience only the term shorebirds will be used in this text. All shorebirds belong to the order Charadriiformes, which is a large order that includes 300 species and three suborders, namely: • Charadrii – shorebirds; • Lari – gulls, skuas, terns and skimmers; and • Alcae – auks. 18
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C lassification
The suborder Charadrii has 12 families represented in southern Africa, of which seven families will be dealt with in this book. Of these families to be discussed, only two families present birders in the field with difficulties in establishing concise and accurate identification. These two families are the Scolopacidae (sandpipers) and the Charadriidae (plovers). This order of shorebirds varies from small to large birds and shows such a great diversity that it makes this order difficult to describe. Only the suborder Charadrii will be discussed in this book.
Suborder Charadrii (shorebirds) The 12 families within this suborder in southern Africa are listed in Table 2 on the following page. The families to be discussed in this text are highlighted in blue, while the families Chionidae (sheathbills), Glareolidae (coursers), Lari (gulls and terns) and Pteroclidae (sandgrouse) will not be discussed in this reference. Shorebirds vary in size from small to large. Their bills vary in shape, but this shape is often most distinctive and characteristic of the species. Their legs are more frequently long and the wings also long and pointed. Some species are gregarious during the non-breeding season, but otherwise solitary. Locally breeding species prepare nests that are often just scrapes in the ground or a very simple construction.
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Table 2: The families of the suborder Charadrii Suborder – Charadrii (12 families) Families
Family common names
No. of species in South Africa
Scolopacidae
Sandpipers, snipe and phalaropes
35
Charadriidae
Plovers and lapwings
18
Rostratulidae
Painted Snipe
1
Jacanidae
Jacanas
2
Burhinidae
Thick-knees
2
Haematopodidae
Oystercatchers
2
Recurvirostridae
Avocets and stilts
2
Dromadidae
Crab-plover (Monotypic family)
1
Chionidae
Sheathbills
1
Glareolidae
Coursers and pratincoles
8
Lari
Gulls, skuas, terns and skimmers
34
Pteroclidae
Sandgrouse
4
Spotted Thick-knees (page 148)
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