First record of River Warbler Locustella fluviatilis and additional records for Plain Nightjar Caprimulgus inornatus and Lesser Masked Weaver Ploceus intermedius in Djibouti
Author
Dove, Carla J.
Author
Saucier, Jacob
Author
Whatton, James F.
Author
Schmidt, Brian
Author
Roble, Houssein R.
text
Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club
2017
2017-03-13
137
1
67
70
http://www.bioone.org/doi/10.25226/bboc.v137i1.2017.a3
journal article
10.25226/bboc.v137i1.2017.a3
2513-9894
11558489
PLAIN
NIGHTJAR
Caprimulgus inornatus
Currently
listed as vagrant with just two observations from
Djibouti
(
Redman
et al
.
2011
)
but we recorded the species as fairly common in 2014.
It
is considered a fairly common resident in north-west
Somalia
, with one record much further east (
Ash
&
Miskell
1998) and is a rather uncommon breeding resident in parts of
Ethiopia
(
Ash
&
Atkins
2009).
We
observed this species sporadically on the coastal side of
Camp Lemonnier
on several different occasions, and once during a visit to
Decan Wildlife Refuge. The
species was common in the
Ambouli River
drainage and at
Chabelley
, an old
French
airfield
c
.
24 km
south-east of
Camp Lemonnier
(
Arta Region
). A specimen (USNM 647811) was collected from a group of
Plain Nightjars
that were crowding around a spotlight at night, on
7 May 2014
,
near
Chabelley
(
11
o
31’10”N
,
43
o
10’00”E
;
85 m
elevation). The specimen was prepared as a study skin with a partial skeleton saved. Body mass was
52.9 g
with light fat and no moult. The skull was completely pneumatized, no bursa was present and the testes measured 9 ×
8 mm
(left) and 10 ×
8 mm
(right). Stomach contents comprised large insects including five grasshoppers (Orthoptera) and a wasp (Hymenoptera). Another sighting of the species, on
2 October 2015
, from Camp Lemonnier is available on eBird (
P. Kaestner
;
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S25404346). We did not observe the species during the 2016 survey. The specimen record and our observations indicate that the species may be more seasonally common than thought
, with more detailed observations being warranted to further document the status of
Plain Nightjar in Djibouti
.