Better Late Than Never

First record of Madagascar Pratincole in South Africa

- Faansie Peacock

In what may well be some bizarre birding record, the Covid-19 lockdown period proved to be a most productive season for discovering rarities, despite no birders being able to leave their homes. The ample free time allowed people to dig out their old notes and photographs and reinvestigate those nagging unanswered identification questions. One such lingering enigma found its way into my inbox. After a few days of playing detective, a strange story emerged concerning one of the most exciting post hoc records in our birding history.

First, the timeline. Our story starts 15 years ago, according to the relevant camera metadata. On 13 February 2005 Peter Stacey photographed a pratincole at the Wavecrest Hotel and Spa between Kei Mouth and Mazeppa Bay in the Eastern Cape. The bird was resting on rocks along the southern bank of the Ngqusi River mouth. The sighting leftPeter puzzled, but the case went cold.

Amazingly, on a return visit, Peter again found a pratincole – ostensibly his pratincole – at the same spot. In birder slang, ‘nailed to the perch’. He managed to take a series of photographs, dated 15 January 2007. The initial consensus was that the bird was a Collared Pratincole Glareola pratincola or perhaps a vagrant Rock Pratincole G. nuchalis, but something did not sit right. The mystery deepened.

Fast forward 13 years to my jaw dropping comically upon opening Peter’s email. Now, let’s review the evidence…