African Dare Devil - Sooty Chat

Masai Mara National Reserve

Little Birds need to make little movements of their little bodies and that makes them fast by our standards. Sure, they’re not getting their stuff done close to the speed of light to reach the noticeable time dilation that Einstein spoke of, but reality itself must be different when you’re living and viewing the world at a faster frame rate than most of your neighbours. Oh yeah, these little guys process data faster as well in case you didn’t know but they have to do that to accommodate their faster lifestyles which most definitely leads to a different reality than ours. This aspect about small birds just blows my mind every time I think about it. It’s amazing how change in the size of a beast can lead to such a huge change in speed, perception, life and reality and I guess that’s the only reality that these guys must be familiar with just as we are with ours.

Flycatchers are usually the fastest small to mid-sized birds found in most habitats except at higher altitudes where other smaller and faster species are found as well. The members of this Old World Family are experts at catching prey that also live in a faster reality. These birds use the “sallying” technique to catch their prey in flight as I wrote about first in “Catching The Flying Catch,” which was about Bee Eaters and then in “Life In The Fast Lane”, which was about Indian Paradise Flycatchers. I’ve run into quite a few of the members of this family in most of the different kinds of habitats that I’ve visited while not on the look out for any one of them specifically. I’ve met Siberian Stone Chats and White Rumped Shamas in Assam. The Andaman Islands introduced me to Amur Stone Chats and Andaman Shamas. I’ve also seen Indian Paradise Flycatchers in reserve forests all around Northern, Central and Southern India. The migrant female Red Breasted Flycatcher whom I caught in Maharashtra last year gave me the best sighting of the year as far as images are concerned along with the Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher who also gave me pretty awesome poses from the same location. Members of this family are present all around the world and in most habitats and one usually kinda knows what to expect from related species but as I was saying in my previous post here, exceptions in one way or another is the norm really with so much diversity around and the most striking exception to the general behaviour of Flycatchers that I’ve seen this far has been shown by the Sooty Chat who I ran into a few years ago in Masai Mara cause this species just does not behave like it’s living a fast life at all unless its hunting. These guys are just so Hakuna Matata about life in general that you could easily forget that they’re a part of the Flycatcher family and I honestly suspect that the Mara as a location contributes to that as does the inherent nature of this species. These guys, along with the unusually bold, urban dwelling Himalayan Ruby Throat whom I men in Bhimtal definately stand out in this regard as far as I'm concerned but both for different reasons and in different ways cause that Ruby Throat, was most definately an oddity as I did see other Ruby Throats on the same trip who behaved quite differently and the one I posted about here was aggressive on seeing us and not chilled out like the Sooty Chats.

Flycatchers are usually easiest to photograph before they see you. You’re lucky if they’re distracted by prey, a bath or anything else concerning their day to day that does not include you cause most of these guys will bolt like lightning once they take notice and once they’re wary, you loose all your chances of catching details on them that only proximity could have provided you with. Catching them in flight is usually out of the question with the speeds at which they operate and your guy might just return after the initial flight to perch further away from you if you caught him in the middle of business unless he just elects to choose someplace further or with more clutter for security instead. The Sooty Chat though, will just stare back at you or will elect to ignore you totally like most of the mammalian residents of those grasslands and as if your size is of no concern to him at all. The species is noted to be bolder than most of the species of birds their size and given that these birds are not migratory at all, these birds spend their whole lives in the reserve where they watch safari vehicles ply up and down their neighbourhoods every day. It just could be that the ones inside the Mara are more sensitised to safari vehicles but then, I’ve met African Paradise Flycatchers who were larger than these guys inside Masai Mara as well and those birds were nowhere near as bold as the Sooty Chats. The other Chats that I’ve met haven’t shown this behaviour, but those guys are migratory and I’m personally of the opinion that this species just has a bolder outlook in general. It could be that they’re just confident that they can run circles around us when they want to and are also sure that they won’t face intrusions by safari vehicles in general. Whatever the reason, it surely does make photographing them a lot easier for sure as you can see here in Pics : 1 – 3 where my guy is happily posing while showing off what makes him a proud member of the Flycatcher family. Animals in Masai Mara do not hurry off when safari vehicles approach like many do in the wildlife reserves in India. There’s this laid-back feel about the place unless Lions are nearby and those guys are usually chilling sprawled out in the shade during the daytime as well mostly. Hakuna Matata under the daytime sun man. That’s just how the place rolls cause the Savannah provides easy visibility during the day in comparison to the cluttered Indian Jungles which keep animals alert and always on the lookout for danger. The difference in habitat effects predation patterns and we all know that it’s those patterns that determine behaviour in those habitats. It could just be that these guys have just decided to completely ignore the watchers in the safari vehicles just like the larger birds and mammals of that habitat cause being bolder, they can also afford that and that’s just the way of the brave Sooty Chat.

These resident birds prefer open grasslands, savannahs and agricultural pastures stretching from Senegal going East to Kenya and south to Angola and Zambia. There are seven African Chat species in their genus which falls under the huge Flycatcher family of birds. Most of these species are black and bear very close resemblance to each other. As is the case with the small Himalayan birds, there’s very limited information out about all these seven species. The larger beasts have obviously captured the imaginations and fancy of most of us and that perhaps isn’t always a bad thing for these 15 cm or so long birds with relatively short tails for most chats.

Sooty Chats are primarily after insects and one of the prime locations in the Mara to score their prey is around the numerous termite mounds that exist in that landscape. It’s not unusual to find these little birds hopping along the ground as they seek out what they’re after. They also use the ‘perch and drop’ method where they use low perches like termite mounds, stones and bushes to scan for prey and then drop down to seize their prize making them easier to spot from our perspective because there’s really be no way of catching these little birds if they were always in the tall grass in that expansive landscape. In fact, these birds are well known to prefer short grass and move into recently burnt grasslands because the clearance provides them with easier visibility of their prey.

These birds are usually seen alone or in pair bonds with the females flaunting brown shades while the males are black like in the images here. They maintain strict breeding territories with low population densities. Known for mimicking their neighbours in their songs, they are elaborate songbirds who partner for well beyond one breeding cycle unlike many others who sing. Being sedentary, these guys establish pair bonds where both genders take part in territory defence and feeding their young. Mating for these birds is connected to the rainy season when insect populations increase in their habitat and unlike most birds, these guys construct neat, grass lined, cups hidden inside tunnels or cavities in the ground. They either excavate a tunnel up to one meter long into a sandbank themselves or use existing holes in termite mounds, road cuttings or dens made by other animals like porcupines. After mating, the female lays between 2 to 5 eggs. Both the parents then take on the responsibilities of feeding their young for the two weeks or so that the chicks stay in the nest with the parents.

I had no clue that these guys were a part of the Flycatcher family when I met them to be honest. In fact, I did not know much at all about birds, their families and ways back then at all. It was that trip that introduced me to the Sooty Chat and other birds of that landscape and sparked my interest. At the time, the Sooty Chat was most definitely the smallest bird that I’d seen and this brave species stood out for that quality even then. It stands out even more for the same reason now that I’ve encountered other members from its family. There are very few trees in their habitat and these guys have had to condition themselves to hang around the clearance that the roadside provides for access to their prey. They’re faster than most in that habitat and they know this and that landscape is generally laid back in the daytime for all concerned. Safari vehicles inside the expansive Masai Mara landscape do not crowd together like in the little tourism zones in Indian reserves because there are only that many people staying inside on any given time. These birds are OK with that like most others and all of that has contributed to these guys being as they are. All said and done, I’m very thankful for having met these brave little dudes who to me will always be the African Dare Devils who made me curious about birds in general. Just look at my guy in Pic : 6. What a brave little dude !

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