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Damara Rockrunner

I’d seen a Rockrunner before somewhere in Namibia, in the distance or in a blur – or both. I guess it might have been at Daan Viljoen Nature Reserve outside of Windhoek back in the 80s.

But since I was traversing the huge and beautiful country of Namibia again, I hoped to get better acquainted with what I still prefer to call the Damara Rockrunner (some brightspark deleted the first part of its name from the accepted lists a few years ago; no doubt thinking that just ‘rockrunner’ was descriptive enough).

At any rate, this interesting little bird is said to be a member of the warbler family (the newly created Macrosphenidae, to be precise) but I have my doubts. Exploring the foothills of Namibia’s Waterberg Plateau, I came across several of them in the thickets of Combretum, Croton and Commiphora trees. Pairs were calling stridently from bush tops and from boulders decorated with vivid lichens in shades of orange, yellow, lilac and grey. The Rockrunners lived up to their name, bounding about on sandstone slabs as they challenged unseen rivals with their liquid song. In behaviour and voice, they reminded more of robin-chats than any kind of warbler.

For all intents and purposes, the Rockrunner (Achaetops pycnopygius) is endemic to Namibia, although like several other species that occupy the hilly escarpment country east of the Namib Desert, it also occurs in the very southern part of Angola (into which this unique biome extends).

Waterberg Plateau National Park, Namibia, July 2014

** Damara refers to the inhabitants of that part of Namibia known as Damaraland

One Response

  1. Hi Duncan,

    This little bird has certainly become a favorite of mine. I see them regularly at Avis Dam these day and another great spot is the Erongo Mountains.

    Great watercolour sketches as always!

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