Sentinel Rock Thrush on Table Mountain
Brian and Janet Ellis were recently (24 February 2010) in Cape Town on a Birding Africa day trip when they mentioned to Otto Schmidt (their guide) that they had seen an interesting looking Rock-thrush at the Upper Cable Station on Table Mountain. Brian, a keen photographer, sent the photos below to Otto who forwarded them on to Ass. Prof. Peter Ryan for comment. Peter’s comments were:
Definitely a Sentinel – presumably a juv male moulting into adult plumage, although the old plumage looks rather odd
Sentinel Rock-thrush is a relatively scarce bird on the Cape Peninsula and I don’t know of any other records from this area of the mountain.
Has anyone else recently recorded Sentinel Rock-thrush on Table Mountain or the Cape Peninsula?
Thanks Brian and Otto.
David Winter
A note from Patrick Cardwell via Cape Bird Net:
Hi All
Came across not one but a pair today on the sand stone ridge lines to the right of the main arterial approximately 1 km beyond the Olifantsbosch turn off in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.
This observation as a follow on to David Winter’s posting of the 20/04/10 relating to Brian & Janet Ellis’s earlier observation on Table Mountain.
My previous posting some time back related to a sighting on the exposed shoreline of one of the Red Hill reservoirs above Simon’s Town.
Patrick Cardwell
http://www.avianleisure.com
From CapeBirdNet:
Hi all
Had a pair of Sentinel Rock-Thrush this morning on the Crassula path in Silvermine. They had a juvenile, from the looks of it fairly recently fledged, in tow – begging persistently. No photos unfortunately.
A rough guess of where it was produced these coordinates:
-34.11019673826188
18.435938358306885
From what I can tell this is a pretty uncommon bird on the Peninsula. I’ve certainly never seen one here. Are there any other records of these birds breeding on the peninsula? David Winter’s site, getbirding, has a photo from April 2010 of an odd-looking (presumably) juvenile bird, which would have suggested that they’re breeding here.
Cheers
Seth Musker
hi there, saw what i’m pretty sure is a sentinal rock-thrush on table mountain in mid november 2011. being visitors to africa may have got it wrong & would like to know for sure – especially if it is unusual to see one here. have a (very bad but maybe good enough to ID) photo, happy to send, if this is of interest just let me know at: . thanks very much ~ariane