ML239997351

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

In May 2020, I was browsing the Illustrated Checklist of Birds of the World when I noticed the real "main difference" between Papyrus Canary and female/brittoni "African Citrils": the lack of prominent yellow edges to outer tail feathers, particularly toward the base of the tail . I remembered I had photographed, though rather poorly, the female/immature citrils “or possibly Papyrus Canaries" that I saw at the edge of a papyrus stand at Lake Bisina in 2017. When asked, local guide Ibrahim Ssenfuma had said they were “African Citrils” and that he knew of no record of Papyrus Canary from Lake Bisina. And I promptly forgot about them. But now I looked for the photos and found I had 4 (the camera was in a setting in which it would take 2 photos in quick succession every time I snapped a picture). I was surprised to see that two of the photos (almost identical) clearly show that pale edges to outer tail feathers were virtually lacking. Yikes! Even immature citrils should usually have more tail feather edging (e.g., see photos of Southern Citril fledgelings in https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/211693111#_ga=2.61812331.698806840.1590800851-101735651.1590259081 and https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/211693061#_ga=2.31862649.698806840.1590800851-101735651.1590259081and of African Citril fledgeling in https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/127454681#_ga=2.237879879.698806840.1590800851-101735651.1590259081 ; also, Chamberlain’s LBJ’s shows that immature Cape Canaries have the same extensive yellow as adults in the edges of the outer tail feathers, particularly at base). Next I saw in the detailed maps in the Birdlife Species factsheets that the only split from African Citril in this or any other part of Uganda is Western Citril, and quick research revealed that that species has two important features that set them apart from Papyrus Canary and from other African citrils: 1) females are said to be unstreaked on underparts though online photos show that they sometimes have few, fine and not too well-marked (“vestigial”) streaks (as do juveniles and immatures, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo_MtcQDzcc ) , and 2) the beaks are less thick and longer than in any canary or any other citril (I was aware that Papyrus Canary has an especially thick beak, but in the field they were too far to judge through 10x binoculars, which is why I snapped the photos in the first place). My poor photos show the non-vestigial streaks on sides of breast and flanks, and two of the photos, while the beak is hopelessly blurred and one must be wary of artefacts, seem to show the beak to be very thick and short. James Bradley pointed out to me that the photos further confirm that it is not a citril because they show canary-like stocky head and chest and shorter tail. That it is not any of the other canaries is indicated by the plain olive sides of face which contrast with the yellow throat and breast, and unlike many species, the upper tail coverts are the same color as the back. To complicate things slightly, see the African Citril photo https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/236827021#_ga=2.36242279.698806840.1590800851-101735651.1590259081 in which the perspective is similar to my back view photos and the head and chest resemble it in proportions (but the tail is very long); the tail has, like the bird in my photo, very narrow feather edging but the wings show a lot more and they are very yellow. This is an important point in favor of the id as Papyrus Canary. Immature Papyrus Canaries (but not citrils, see the photos referred to in the first paragraph and also https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/183585811#_ga=2.263135947.698806840.1590800851-101735651.1590259081) have pale "buff-white" wing feather edgings (Britton 1971. Auk 88: 911- 914). The first 5 photos below are cropped and in some cases brightened versions of the original 4 photos, which appear right after. The proximity of the papyrus is evident in the photos.

Technical information

Model

DSC-HX300

Lens

4.3-215mm f/2.8-6.3

ISO

160

Focal length

215 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/320 sec

Dimensions

1266 pixels x 798 pixels

Original file size

293.81 KB