Disturbance of plain martin Riparia paludicola nests by grey-headed sparrow Passer griseus swainsonii

2 Pages·1998·1.1 MB·English

by  A J Pierce

Shortcommunications 51
party there in January 1996. Clearly the species does breed at this altitude and in
rough, cultivatedland.
Apparently unrecorded nest sitesfor Black-winged LovebirdAgapornis
tarantaand Hemprich's Hornbill Tockus hemprichii
On 17 September 1993 John Atkins and I stopped at the bridge over a small stream
about 3 km southeast of Mojo, northwest of Nazareth on the main Addis Ababa-
Awash-Assabroad.
ApairofBlack-wingedLovebirdsAgapornistarantawasfoundobviouslyfeeding
m
younginaholeintheverticalearthcliff30 downstreamofthebirdge.Theholewas
m
about 3 abovethe ground andthe samedistance below thetop ofthe smallcliff. It
was almost round and isolated. Both birds were noisily agitated when we first ap-
proachedbutafterafew minutes settleddownandvisitedthehole, apparentlytofeed
younginside.
Fry etal. (1988) only mention tree cavities as known nesting sites so this adapta-
tion,intheincreasinglytree-improverishedlandscapeofEthiopia,mayhelptoensure
thesurvivalofadelightfulendemic, which, incidentally, is still systematicallycaught
forcaging in spite oflocal lawsprotecting it.
Later, apairofHemprich's Hombills Tockushemprichiiwas watchedprospecting
anarrowcreviceinthebrokenmasonryoftheoldbridge.Thefemalewasenteringthe
creviceandcallingtothemalefrominside.Fryetal. (1988)recorded"naturalholesin
rock faces" as the most usual nest site but do not mention man-made structures. Al-
though not evidence of breeding, our observation suggests that holes in man-made
structurescanbe utilized.
References
AshJ. S. (1978). The undescribedfemaleofHarwood's FrancolinFrancolinusharwoodiand
otherobservationsonthespecies.BulletinoftheBritish Ornithologists' Club98: 50-55.
FryC. H., Keith S. & Urban, E. K. (eds) 1988. The birdsofAfrica vol 3. London: Academic
Press.
W. G.Harvey,PoundFarm,Blackham, TunbridgeWells,KentTN39TY, UK
Scopus20:48-51,May 1998 Received 14May 1996
Disturbance ofPlain MartinRipariapaludicola nests by
Grey-headed SparrowPassergriseus swainsonii
On 5 December 1995, while watching a small colony of Plain Martins Riparia
paludicola at about 20m distance in the opposite sandy bank ofa small fast-flowing
river near Lake Abiata, Ethiopia, the unusual behaviour ofsome Grey-headed Spar-
rowsPassergriseusswainsoniiwasnoticed.Oneofthesesparrowsenteredoneofthe
nest-holesandshortlyafterflewoutanddroppedanestlingmartin.AsAJPwasexam-
iningthis, only afew metres fromthe nest-hole, anothernestling, probably from this
52 Shortcommunications
same nest, was dropped nearby by the same or another sparrow. Shortly afterwards
two Grey-headed Sparrows were seen at the entrance ofthe martin's nest-hole. One
enteredthe tunnel whilethe othersat ontheedge andan apparently distressedmartin
flew about nearby. The sparrows stayed at the nest for several minutes before flying
offatwhich point we also left.
As the sparrows were not taking the nestlings forfood it would appear likely that
they were intendingtotakethenest-hole overforthemselves.
Grey-headedSparrownestsitesincludeholesinbuildings,andtheyhavealsobeen
knowntotakeoverdisusednests ofother species (Summers-Smith 1988, Clementet
ai 1993). However,wehavefoundnoreferencetothem,ortoGrey-headedSparrows
in other parts of Africa, nesting in sandbanks or taking over nests that are already
occupied(Keithetal. 1992,Turner&Rose 1989).
WeareverygratefultoDrJohnAshforcommentingonthisnote.
References
Clement,P.,Harris,A. &Davis,J. 1993.Finchesandsparrows:Anidentificationguide.Lon-
don: ChristopherHelm.
Keith,S.,Urban,E.K.&Fry,C.H. 1992.ThebirdsofAfrica,vol4.London:AcademicPress.
Summers-Smith,J. D. 1988. Thesparrows. Calton: Poyser.
Turner, A. K. & Rose, C. 1989. Swallows andmartins ofthe world. An identification guide.
London: ChristopherHelm.
A.J.Pierce,5StNicholasDrive,Cheltenham,GlosGL504RY, UKandM.D.Rayment,39
LoringRoad,Sharnbrook,BedsMK44UK, UK
Scopus20: 51-52,May 1998 Received22October 1996
A new location for the Usambara Eagle OwlBubo vosseleri
Stuart & Jensen (1981) documented range extensions and other notable records of
forest birds in Tanzania. Since then the University ofCopenhagen has been carrying
out biodiversity studies ofthe Udzungwa and Uluguru forest systems. These studies
have already produced two new species and further range extensions for the
Udzungwas (Dinesenetal. 1993, Jensen & Br0gger-Jensen 1992, Jensen 1983).
InNovember 1995, wevisitedtheUlugurumontaneforestanddiscoveredanother
notable range extension. Having perused the draft Uluguru biodiversity report
(Svendsen & Hansen 1995), we decided to camp at the junction ofthe Kihilili and
m
Nyachiro paths at an altitude of 1550 in the centre of the North Uluguru Forest
Reserve. OurmainpurposewastolocatetheUluguruBushShrikeMalaconotusalius
butthedraftreport also indicatedpossible sightings ofalarge owl in that area.
On22November, ataround 17:45,EMindicatedthathehadheardanowlreminis-
centofthecallthathehadheardpreviouslyintheUsambaraForest,whenaccompany-
ingDavidMoyer.Nofurthercallswerenotedthatnight.Duringthefollowingnightat
03:30,allthreeofusclearlyheardthecallofBubovosseleri(formerlytheNdukEagle
OwlBubopoensis), perhapsbestdescribed as adrawn out, quavering, haunting two-