44. Grey-backed Camaroptera The camaropteras and wren-warblers are described as a “taxonomically confusing group” that are “variously lumped and split” across the continent. ‘Lumping’ and ‘splitting’: it sounds bloody and cruel, but it’s not that bad. It’s about classification. Classifying birds mainly in terms of their appearances and behaviours is in many cases quite adequate: but the lines can become quite fuzzy and lead to many apparently anomalous cases. Scarlet-tufted Sunbirds and Green-headed Sunbirds are both clearly sunbirds in appearance, and scarlet tufts are distinguished easily enough from green heads. Until, that is, you come across a green-headed sunbird with scarlet tufts. Some taxonomists rejoice in discovering minute differences that allow them to have discovered a new species: they’re the ‘splitters’. Others prefer to keep the number of species as low as possible: they’re the ‘lumpers’. On Camaropteras, my book is a splitter, distinguishing two ‘races’: the Grey-backed and the Green-backed Camaroptera. Both are grey with green wings, it’s the backs that differ. But there wasn’t much problem identifying this bird: the Grey-backed are mostly in the west and central of East Africa, Green-backs in the coastal south east. And the Grey-backed does have a grey back. Birds of AFRICAMA House 92 Birds of AFRICAMA House 93