Discoveries: First record of little Crake Porzana parva in The Gambia

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by  Andreas Ranner

Discoveries
First record of Little Crake Porzana parva
The Gambia
in
AndreasRunner, Graham TebbandMarkus Craig
Le 1 1 decembre 1998unefemelleouunoiseaudepremiereanneedelaMarouettepoussinPorzana
parra a etc observe dans un marais pics dc Sapu. Gambie. Ceci represente la premiere mention de
l’espece pourle pays, i ne description de l’oiseau est presentee. Cette observation cadre bien avec
l(>pini<>n rcccntcscl«>nlaquellela MarouettepoussinhivemedefacondisperseeenAfriquedel'Ouest,
etilestpossiblequ’onlarencontreplusregulierement enSenegambie.
D
uring 6 to 21 December 1998. a group from pattern oftheflanks and vent. Lores andear-coverts
BirdLifeAustria,ledbyCliveBarlow, undertook verypaleyellowishbrown;eyedarkandsupercilium
a birdwatchingtourofTheGambia. On the evening whitish. Crown finely streaked dark. Wings uniform
of 11 December 1998we visited a marshy area with brown (with no white markings or any other
extensive reedbeds near Sapu (Central River Divi- discernible pattern), scapularsandtertialsblackwith
sion). The central part ofthis marsh is composed of pale brown fringes and mantle blackish, streaked
a closed stand ofbulrush Typhasp. surrounded by pale brown and some white. No fine white
flooded areas, principally of sedge Carex sp. The vermiculations were seen, as in Baillon’s Crake
edgeofthe marsh is heavilygrazed by cattle. At the Porzanapusilla. Short green bill with a darkerbase
edge of the bulrush, small pools, partially covered and a barely discernible trace ofred. Legs greenish.
withvegetationsuchaswaterlilies,werescannedfor
the different rail species known to be present (eg Discussion
AfricanCrakeCrexegregia. BlackCrakeAmaurornis Little Crake breeds from western Europe (rare and
flarirustris, Common Moorhen Gallinulachloropus isolatedoccurrences)acrosstheWesternPalearcticto
,
Allen's Gailinule Porphyria allow and Purple west Xinjiang, north-west China. Due to its secretive
Swamphen Porphyrioporphyrio). Soon, we noticed behaviour, its wintering areas are poorly known. It
a small crake Porzanasp., on some floating leaves. winters south of the Mediterranean in northern,
Thebirdpresentedthreeseriesofextendedviews in western and eastern Africa (south to Kenya and
the open before disappearing inside the thick bul- lJganda,withone,singleobserver,recordinZambia2),
rush cover. Identification as a female or first-winter in parts ofArabia and in southern Asia from Iraq to
Little Crake P. parra was straightforward as all the Pakistan and north-west India5-7. However, definite
relevantfieldmarkshadbeenseenwellingoodlight. recordsfromthislargeareaarefew.InWestAfrica,the
Severalofthe 1-4observerspresenthadpreviousfield specieshasbeenrecordedonseveraloccasionsalong
experienceofthespeciesinAustriaand/orHungary. the Senegal riverinSeptember-January1 innorthern
,
Nigeria in December8 and southern Niger in
Description September, October and January. It has also been
The following identification criteria were noted. recorded as eithera vagrant oran uncommonvistor
Obviously smaller than Allen's Gailinule and to Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire. There are no previous
marginally smaller than Black Crake. Staicture and records from The Gambia1,3 This record represents
.
colorationwerethoseofatypicalsmallPorzanasp.in another piece in the jigsaw puzzle of the species’
female or first-winter plumage. Primaries noticeably winter range. It is probably not unlikely that Little
longerthanthetertialsandseveralprimarytipsvisible. Crakeisaregularwintervisitortoremainingsuitable
Primariesclearlyextendedbeyondthetail,whichwas habitat in Senegal andThe Gambia, underlining the
almost constantly held cocked. Breast and upper importance of the safeguarding of such sites in the
belly pale yellowish brown, and chin and throat region, 'f.<
whitish.Wingsheldlowered,therebyconcealingthe
Discoveries BullABC Vol7No 1-51
References (eds) Handbook ofthe Birds ofthe World. Vol 3-
1. Barlow, C., Wacher, T. and Disley, T. 1997.AField Barcelona: Lynx Edicions.
Guide to Birds of The Gambia and Senegal. 6. Taylor. B&van Perlo. B. 1998.Rails.AGuidetothe
Robertsbridge: Pica Press. Rails, Crakes, Gallinules and Coots ofthe World.
2. Dowsett. R.J., Aspinwall, D.R. and Leonard. P.M. Robertsbridge: Pica Press.
1999. Further additions to the avifauna ofZambia. 7. Urban. E.K., Fry, C.H. and Keith. S. 1986. TheBirds
Bull. Br. Ornithol. Cl. 119: 94-103- ofAfrica. Vol 2. London, UK: AcademicPress.
3. Gore,M.E.J.1990.BirdsofTheGambia:anannotated 8. Wilkinson. R., Beecroft. R. and Aidley, D.J. 1982.
check-list. BOU Check-list No. 3 Tring: British Nigeria, a new wintering area for the Little Crake
Ornithologists Union. Porzanapana. Bull. Br. Ornithol. Cl. 102: 139-
4. Morel, G.J. and Morel, M.-Y. 1990. Les Oiseauxde 140.
Senegambie. Paris: ORSTOM. BirdLifeAustria.Museumsplatz1 10R.A-1070Vienna.
5. Taylor, P.B. 1996. FamilyRallidae(Rails,Gallinules Austria.
andCoots).IndelHoyo,J.,Elliott.A.andSargatal,J.
A possible new taxon of rock thrush Monticola sp. from the
limestone karst region of western Madagascar
CarlG.JonesandKirstyJ. Swinnerton
L'observation, enjuin 1995, d'unmonticoieinconnuetdesonniddanslareservenaturelleduTsingy
de Bemaraha, ouestde Madagascar, est decrite. Leplumagedu maleest intermediateentreceuxdu
M
Monticoie de foretMonticolas. shaipeiet du Monticoie de la montagned'Ambre s erythronotus
,
taxonsrecemmenttraitescommeespecesdistinctesparplusieursauteurs.La p<>pulationdeBemaraha
aetedecouverteen1994;desobservationssupplementairesontetefaitesen 1998.Lesdiff£rencesa\e<
sharpeiet erythronotussont decrites dans une note supplementaire.
D
uringJune 1995, asmembersofamalacological Wewereabletocompare the birdswith illustrations
expedition to the Tsingy de Bemaraha Nature and descriptions ofrock thrushes in Langrand2. The
Reserve, anareaoflimestonekarst inwestern Mada- male did not match any of the taxa described,
gascar,weestablishedabaseatthesouthedgeofthe although thefemalewas not, from ourobservations,
reserve by the Manombolo River and close to separable from those of the Forest Rock Thrush
Bekopaka village. From here we made sorties into MonticolashaipeisharpeiandMt.AmberRockThrush
the surrounding areas to look for snails but also M. s. eiythronotus.
taking the opportunityto look forbirds and explore ThebirdswereontheedgeoftheTsingyreserve
caves3 nexttothelargelimestonewallthat,atthispoint,was
Lat.eintheafternoonof18June2kmnorthofthe c40mhighandwerefrequentinganareaofscruband
village of Kinajao, 11 km north-east of Bekopaka disruptedcanopyforestgrowingoutofasteepboulder
(19°24'S 44°48'E) we located a male rock thrush field atthe baseofthecliff.
Monticolasp.perchedonaboulderneartheentrance Wekeptoneorbothofthebirdsinviewformost
ofacave. Thelightwaspoorandwewereunableto ofthetwo-hourobservationperiod.Theykeptoutof
get good views. Since we were aware that no rock direct sunlight and spent much ofthe time actively
thrushes hadbeenrecorded fromthe reserve1 andit foraging. The male caught a pale green caterpillar,
was outside the known range for all the Malagasy c2.5 cm long, that it beat against a branch before
Mbeotntteircvoileawtsaxoaf2t5,hweebirred.tuWrneedrenleoxctamtoedrnaipnagirtooofbrtoacikn cunosnuscucmesisnfgullity. aAttahckaewdk-bmyotthhe,macl5ecamndlboontgh,biwradss
thrushesneartotheareaoftheoriginalsighting. The were seen to descend to the ground to take small
female was furtive and skulking, being difficult to unidentifiedfooditems. Bothweresilentexceptfora
keepinviewformorethanbriefperiods.Themale,by briefquietwarble givenbythe male.
contrast, was relatively confiding and perched Two old nests in rocky recesses that we found
prominentlyonbushesandrocksthat,tojudgebythe werebelievedtobelongtothispair.Bothwerealoose
accumulationofdroppings,wereregularlyused.Both weaveofrootsandstems linedwithleaves. Thefirst
birdswereseenatdistancesdownto2mingoodlight. nestwasc25cmindiameterand12.5cmdeepandthe
52-BullABC Vol7No 1 Discoveries