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Mystery bird: Yellow-throated longclaw, Macronyx croceus

Thanks to the wonders of convergent evolution, this African mystery bird is almost identical to its New World ecological equivalents (includes video)

Yellow-throated longclaw, Macronyx croceus (protonym, Alauda crocea), Vieillot, 1816, photographed at Serengeti National Park, Tanzania (Africa).

Image: Dan Logen, 18 February 2011 (with permission) [velociraptorize].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens with 1.4 extender, f5.6, 1/500, ISO 640

Here's the original image I shared as the mystery bird two days ago:

Question: This Tanzanian mystery bird will be quite challenging for you to identify, unless you are clairvoyant. However, it is possible to identify this bird's genus and to narrow that group down to several candidate species. That said, there is an interesting feature that birds in this genus share with an unrelated group of birds -- can you tell me what that is? Can you identify this bird's taxonomic family? And yes, are there any clairvoyants out there who can identify this bird's species? If so, how did you make this ID?

Response: These are the feet of an adult yellow-throated longclaw, Macronyx croceus. I've not figured out any way to identify the specific species based on looking at this bird's feet, beyond narrowing the species down based upon range and habitat clues in the image, so it there's something you see that makes the specific ID possible, please do share.

The eight longclaws are common insect-eating ground-nesting birds of dry African savannas as well as subtropical or tropical grasslands that are seasonally wet or flooded. Thanks to the wonders of convergent evolution, the longclaws are surprisingly similar in colour, pattern, and habits to the meadowlarks in the family, Icteridae, which live in New World prairies and grasslands. It is thought that the long hind claw helps longclaws walk on grasses, although I personally remain unconvinced because the meadowlarks lack it, and I've not found anything in the literature to support such a notion.

The longclaws are placed into the taxonomic family, Motacillidae. The motacillids take a wide range of invertebrate prey, including insects, spiders, worms, and small aquatic molluscs and arthropods, depending upon local availability. Longclaw are not very social; you'll either discover the bird alone or in the company of one companion (unless they're tending chicks).

Apparently, this longclaw species prefers grasslands with greater rainfall and is absent from arid and semi-arid regions of Africa. The yellow-throated longclaw is very similar to the pangani longclaw, Macronyx aurantiigula, but they can be distinguished by the extent of the yellow colouring. In the yellow-throated, this extends right along the underside to the under tail-coverts, whereas the pangani longclaw has a pale undertail coverts and a noticeably orange throat.

Here's a video of a yellow-throated longclaw. It really gives you an idea of how similar these birds are to the meadowlarks of the Americas (and how similar their habitat is, too! Video uploaded 12 July 2011):

Visit nachiii7's YouTube channel [video link].




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