Lewis's Woodpecker

My woodpecker loving son, Sam, directed me to the Mt. Wilson Observatory in the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles to find my first Lewis's woodpecker. He said I would find several of them in and around a large dead tree. It is not a year-round resident of Southern California, but in the winter this woodpecker gets as far south as Southern California and the U.S. border with Mexico. It does bore into trees for insects, but also catches insects in the air during flight, which is what I saw them doing. They will also eat berries and nuts and store nuts in cracks and holes in wood to store for winter. 

It is beautiful, with a reddish breast, a pinkish belly, a red face, a black rump, a gray collar and upper breast and elsewhere is a blackish green.

Note how the gray-white chest blends into the bark of this tree. 

 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

It gets its name from Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He saw one on Judy 20, 1805. He wrote, "I saw a black woodpecker (or crow) today...it is a distinct species of woodpecker; it has a long tail and flys a good deal like the jay bird". Andrew Wilson, working with skins that Lewis and Clark's expedition provided, described the species and and named it Lewis's woodpecker to honor the explorer. 

Range from Birds of the World.

It likes open forests, including higher-elevation burns, and requires snags for nesting. It has a sporadic distribution and is relatively uncommon as it has declined markedly since the 1960s. Reasons for the decline probably include loss of habitat, habitat degradation and the presence of pesticides. I'd never heard of this woodpecker until this year when Sam brought it to my attention. Still, Birds of the World notes 116,116 observations and 41,169 photos. 

Reed Cormorant

The Reed cormorant, also known as the long-tailed cormorant, is found in sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of five small cormorants. It is: mainly black, glossed green, in the breeding season; the wing coverts are pale silvery-gray; it has a longish tail; a yellow bill; a red or yellow face patch; a red iris; and a short erectile shaggy crest on the forecrown in the breeding season. Non-breeding adults and juveniles are browner with a white belly.  

In the Okavanga Delta of Botswana in June 2018. 

Range from Birds of the World.

Purple Heron

I have a previous post on the purple heron (April 3, 2019), ssp. manilensis, which I saw in Sri Lanka. 

Illustration of ssp manilensis flying (and standing below) from Birds of the World.

Subsequently, I have seen a different subspecies, purpurea, the nominate subspecies, in both Portugal, in the Tagus Estuary area, in June of 2022, and in the Mabamba Swamp in Uganda, west of Entebbe on Lake Victoria, in July of 2025. 

This purple heron is one of several we saw in the Tagus Estuary. 

This is the purple heron we saw in the Mabamba Swamp.

Illustration of purpurea from Birds of the world, flying (and standing below), from Birds of the World.

The subspecies are differentiated by the extent of black streaking on the neck. Manilensis is paler and grayer above and darker below, and the black spots on the throat are more broken or even missing, and it has whiter chest plumes. 

Fork-Tailed Drongo

The fork-tailed drongo is also known as the African drongo or common drongo. It is found only in Africa, from the Sahel (below the Sahara) to South Africa. I saw several of them in Kidepo Valley NP in northern Uganda. 

Note the outer veins of the primaries (wings) are brown, reddish-brown eyes and deeply forked tail. 

It has a narrow fork-shaped tail, red-brownish eyes, and black plumage. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Its diet is mostly butterflies, termites and grasshoppers. There are four subspecies. I saw ssp. fugax which is smaller than the nominate, the outer vanes of the primaries are brown, the inner vanes of the primaries are dark and it has a deeply forked tail. It is found in Uganda, Kenya (including Zanzibar), Tanzania, southeastern Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, eastern Eswatini and northeastern South Africa.  

Range from Birds of the World. 

Croaking Cisticola

I photographed two croaking cisticolas in Uganda. Neither has been substantiated by a reviewer on iNaturalist, but I believe our guide William identified them as such. The first was in Murchison Falls NP.

The next one was in Kidepo Valley NP.

It is the largest cisticola. It is gray-brown above, heavily streaked with black. The underparts are whitish, the tail is broad and pale-tipped. It has a heavy bill and a chestnut wing-panel. It is best distinguished from other cisticolas by its size and froglike croaking breep-breep. There are seven subspecies and I saw ssp strangei which is found from Senegal east to most of South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, south-central Kenya and northern Tanzania, south to Congo and Cabinda. Because of their small size and the fact that they rarely emerge from the grasses, except in breeding season, the song is the easiest way to identify them.

Illustration of ssp natalensis from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World.

Winding Cisticola

My previous post on the zitting cisticola had a little bit on cisticolas in general and how difficult they are to identify, particularly in Africa. The only other cisticola that I've had confirmation on from another identifier on iNaturalist is the winding cisticola which I saw on the hill between Nkima Forest Lodge and the Mabamba Swamp near Entebbe, Uganda. I saw another in the same area that my guide identified as a winding cisticola (he identified both), but it has not had a confirmation on iNaturalist. 

This one had an identifier on iNaturalist. Juveniles are similar to non-breeding adults, but has a crown streaked dark brown and a face and underparts washed lemon-yellow, which this has. 

This one did not have an identifier on iNaturalist. The options given on iNaturalist were first, winding; second, croaking; third, zitting; and fourth, rattling; all cisticolas. 

There are five subspecies and I saw ssp nyansae which is found in central and eastern DRC, Uganda and Kenya. The descriptions are so detailed and the differences so subtle that it is hard to get motivated to go into the description. The nominate subspecies has, among other things, ear-coverts washed gray-brown; a rufous-brown to rufous crown; upperparts are dark gray-brown, broadly streaked blackish on the mantle and back; flight feathers and upper wing coverts are dark brown with rufous margins, forming a reddish wing panel; remaining wing coverts are broadly margined gray-brown. The crown of ssp nyansae is more rufous-brown and less gray. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

I looked to see if I could find out how the name "winding" came about. A blog called "Laura Erickson's For The Birds", did a post on December 15, 2016 titled Sounding out Names. She noted that when she was in Uganda she "saw a bunch of drab songbirds called cisticolas. Many of the species in this group are named specifically for the sounds thy make: there is a Singing, Chattering, Whistling, Trilling, Bubbling, Rattling, Tinkling, Wailing, Churring, Chirping, Croaking, Piping, Zitting, and Wing-snapping Cisticola. I'm not sure how the Winding Cisticola got its name, because it doesn't sound like someone is winding a clock..." 

Range from Birds of the World.

Zitting Cisticola

Cisticolas are a genus of very small insectivorous birds that used to be classified in the Old World warbler family Sylviidae, but are now in a separate family Cisticolidae along with some other southern warblers. There are about 50 species and only two are not found in Africa. They are sometimes called fantail-warblers because they have a habit of flicking their tails, and tailer-birds because of their nests. 

In our recent trip to Uganda, in July 2025, our guides called out various cisticolas. My photos were generally horrible because they are very small and the identification through iNaturalist was difficult and indecisive. I just recently read "Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World" by Noah Strycker. Noah set the record for most birds seen in a year in 2015. On page 180, he made an observation about cisticolas that I really relate to: "One family of drab skulkers, called cisticolas, was especially confusing: each species looked similarly brown, so they had all been named for their sounds. In Ghana I recorded Whistling, Winding, Zitting, Singing, Siffling, and Croaking, and that was just the beginning; I'd soon add the Trilling, Wailing, Piping, Chattering, Rattling, Wing-snapping, and Rock-loving Cisticolas, among a dozen other species. If Snow White's seven dwarves were born identical twins, they'd still be a cinch to keep straight by comparison." Well, I feel a little better. 

I pick the zitting cisticola for this post because I've posted two photos on iNaturalist and each photo has one confirming identification. But more important, I was with a knowledgeable bird guide for each one and the guide identified it at the time. 

On July 3, 2022 we were with Bernardo Barreto of Birds & Nature Tours in Portugal and were around the Sado Estuary south of Lisbon. He identified this bird. 

On December 18, 2024 we were with our guide, Bablu Hussain, in the Central Range of Kaziranga NP in Assam, India. Bablu worked for the wonderful Diphlu Lodge and was our guide for a number of days. Bablu identified this bird in my photo, which is horribly blurry, as a zitting cisticola.  

Illustration of the nominate ssp. juncidis from Birds of the World.

The descriptions in Birds of the World are very detailed and hopeless for me to decipher, particularly with poor photos. I count 20 subspecies of zitting cisticola on Birds of the World. The subspecies in the Iberian Peninsula, which includes Portugal, part of the "Western Cisticolas", is ssp. cisticola. An illustration is not given for that subspecies. It is noted that ssp. cisticola is duller brown than the nominate. The ssp. for Kaziranga in northeastern India appears to possibly be cursitans, although that subspecies is identified as being in south to southeastern India (I don't see a subspecies listed that is in northeastern India). An illustration is not given. Cursitans is brighter and warmer buff than the nominate, with buffy tail mirrors. Wikipedia notes, about cisticolas in general, that "[b]ecause of their small size...and brown plumage, they are more easily heard than seen. The similar plumage of many species can make them hard to identify, particularly in winter when they seldom emerge from their grasses. Many African Species, in particular, are difficult to distinguish other than by their calls. Thirteen species are named for their calls, from 'singing' and 'chirping' to 'bubbling' and 'siffling'." 

Range of the zitting cisticola from Birds of the World.