Into the unknown
A suite of significant Western Palearctic records were documented by an Algerian birding expedition in the southern extremity of the Western Palearctic in late December and early January.
AT the southern extremity of the Western Palearctic, Tamanrasset Province, Algeria, remains largely underexplored, yet contains healthy populations of two species unknown elsewhere in the region – Redbilled Firefinch and African Silverbill – making it a ‘mustvisit’ for any budding ‘West Pal’ listers.
In late December, a group of amateur and professional Algerian researchers organised a birding expedition to the Tamanrasset and In Guezzam Provinces, yielding more
goodies from this underwatched region.
On Christmas Day, Algeria’s first White-throated Bee-eater proved a sterling find in the village of Amsel. Breeding in semi-desert habitats along the southern edge of the Sahara, the species winters further south in equatorial rainforests between southern Senegal and Uganda. This is just the fourth record for the region, after birds in Western Sahara (2013 and 2017) and Israel (2019).
Most exciting was the discovery of no fewer than 14 Village Indigobirds, including at least two breeding-plumaged males, within the city of Tamanrasset on New Year’s Eve. A resident of most of Sub-Saharan Africa, it is widely distributed, but, as the name implies, is most readily seen near villages. The taxon is a nest parasite of Red-billed Firefinch, a widespread introduced species in southern Algeria.
This is the first record for both Algeria and the Western Palearctic, although the origins of this small population remain unclear – the host firefinches originally derive from cagebirds, for example, and it is possible that the indigobirds do likewise. However, with similar ecological requirements to the widespread firefinches, Village Indigobird seems likely to thrive throughout the range of its congener across the southern portion of the country.
Meanwhile, Tamanrasset’s fledgling White-rumped Seedeater population – discovered by the same birders on another expedition a year earlier – was again recorded breeding in the city, although these too are thought to probably originate from escaped cagebirds.
A Cut-throat Finch – yet another Algerian first – was recorded with a flock of African Silverbills and Sudan Golden Sparrows at In Guezzam on 28 December. A border village located 400 km south of Tamanrasset, it lies outside of the Western Palearctic boundary. However, during the expedition Sudan Golden Sparrow was noted at a number of sites, including a large flock discovered approximately 50 km north of Tamanrasset – safely within the region.
Evidently, the area appears to be a hotbed for vagrancy of Afrotropical species within the Western Palearctic. In recent years alone, this has included several records of Black
Scrub Robin and Blue-naped Mousebird, while two Jacobin Cuckoos photographed at Tamanrasset in October 2019 represented the second record for the Western Palearctic.
According to one of the researchers, times of drought are most advantageous for looking for vagrants, as birds are concentrated around water sources. Next year, the team hopes to visit Bordj Badji Mokhtar Province, on the edge of Adrar des Ifoghas massif along the border with Mali. ■