Senegal Coucal

On July 27, 2018 I did a post on Burchell's coucal based on some birds we saw while staying at The Hide in Hwange NP in Zimbabwe. I posted a photo on iNaturalist and identified it as a Burchell's coucal and had two other people agree with that identification. Then there was a taxon change with a notation of "Inactive Taxon" and without giving it a close look, I thought they were referencing the change in name from "Burchell's" to "Senegal," a change in the name of the species. In actuality, the taxon had changed from "Centropus supercillosus ssp. burchellii" to "Centropus burchellii ssp. burchellii," the species name for Burchell's had not changed at all. But something else was also going on, four people disagreed with the fact that it was a Burchell's coucal and identified it as a Senegal coucal, a different taxon and also a different species, and one of the people who had originally agreed with the i.d. as a Burchell's changed his mind to a Senegal, to make it five people who agreed that it was a Senegal and iNaturalist changed the identification to a Senegal coucal. 

Here are my photos.

Senegal coucal illustration from Birds of the World. 

Burchell's coucal illustration from Birds of the World.

Senegal coucal range from Birds of the World.

Burchell's coucal range from Birds of the World. 

Based on the range maps, it looks like the Senegal coucal is well-within the range of the Hide in Hwange NP in northwestern Zimbabwe and the Burchell's coucal is slightly outside the range of the Hide in Hwange NP. Birds of the World notes that the Senegal and Burchell's coucals ranges don't overlap much, but where they do, including in northwestern Zimbabwe, the difference is the all black rump for the Senegal and the finely barred rump of the Burchell's. The Biodiversity Development Institute website for the Burchell's also notes that the Senegal does not have the fine barring at the base of the tail, on the upper tail coverts and the rump.  The second photo above is the best view of the upper tail and it lacks the fine barring, so based on the photo and on the range maps, it does look like I saw the Senegal coucal.