Gil,
I've read Chris Dahlberg's answer, and it was mostly correct, of course;
Bur here is some elaboration.
Black Kite/Yellow-billed Kite
Yellow-billed Kite is, indeed, a subspecies of the Black Kite, Milvus
migrans parasitus, though the African birds (= Yellow-billed Kite) are now
often considered a separate species, Milvus aegyptius, which would make
southern African birds Milvus aegyptius parasitus. In fact, with the recent
splitting, three species of the Black Kite complex would now occur in
southern Africa, and all of them only during the southern summer: Black
Kite, Milvus migrans (a non-breeding visitor from the western Palaearctic),
Black-eared Kite, Milvus lineatus (a non-breeding visitor from the eastern
Palaearctic, but very uncommon), and the Yellow-billed Kite, Milvus
aegyptius (a breeding visitor, which spends the southern winter in the
African tropics).
Forest/Steppe/Common Buzzard
The Forest Buzzard (Buteo oreophilus) [oreophilus is now generally agreed
upon to have precedence over tachardus], which is also called the Mountain
Buzzard, is now mostly considered a separate species, though it was, in the
past, often considered conspecific with the Common Buzzard, Buteo
buteo.Thus, it is the Forest Buzzard that is the southern African
representative of the Common Buzzard.
The Steppe Buzzard (Buteo buteo vulpinus) is a northern migrant, which
breeds in central Asia and winters in Africa, incl. most of southern
Africa.
Mossie/Cape Sparrow
Here, the picture is somewhat confusing. The Mossie is Passer melanurus,
but was formerly also called the Cape Sparrow. Passer diffusus was formerly
considered a subspecies of Passer griseus, the Grey-headed Sparrow, but is
now considered a separate species, and has thus received the vernacular
name Cape Sparrow. I agree there's not much logic in this.
I hope I have been of some help, and wish you all a happy new year and much
good birding
Paul Van Gasse
Kruibeke, Belgium
----------
> I have just returned from a family holiday in Southern Africa (mostly
South
> Africa) where I saw just over 300 species of birds. It was good birding
> (and animalling) and I found the South Africans to be very friendly and
> helpful people.
>
> I used Sinclair's "Birds of Southern Africa", First (?) Edition, 1993,
> which was the only guide in Andrew Isles' bookshop at the time. I
resisted
> the temptation to buy the Newman's Green Edition while in SA in order to
> save weight. I am now trying to enter my sightings into BirdBase for
> Windows data base and am having the usual troubles since Sinclair uses
> Sibley and Ahlquist/Monroe (1990) while BirdBase uses Clements'
> classification. I would much appreciate some help on the following
> problems from either our South African members or others with SA
knowledge.
>
> Black Kite/Yellow-billed Kite: HANZAB Volume 2 suggests to me that the
> Yellow-billed Kite is M. migrans parasitus, a subspecies of the Black
Kite.
> Is this the case?
>
> Forest/Steppe/Common Buzzard: Sinclair has a Forest Buzzard, Buteo
> tachardus, and a Steppe Buzzard, B. buteo which must be the local
> subspecies of the Common Buzzard. Is the Forest Buzzard a full species?
>
> Mossie/Cape Sparrow: BirdBase calls Passer melanurus the Mossie and P.
> diffusus the Cape Sparrow. Sinclair has P. melanurus as the Cape Sparrow
> and no P. diffusus. What is the correct common name?
>
> Regards,
>
> Gil Langfield
> Melbourne, Australia
>
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