A range extension for Shelley's Sparrow Passer shelleyi in south-west Kenya, with comments on local sympatry with Kenya Rufous Sparrow P. rufocinctus

Abstract

Aside from mainly anecdotal sight reports, Shelley's Sparrow Passer shelleyi has been unrecorded in Kenya for 100 years since a specimen collected in 1917. Here we describe a newly discovered population south of the equator and report brief field observations of its occurrence alongside Kenya Rufous Sparrow Passer rufocinctus, with which it was formerly treated as conspecific. This is the first known location where the two species occur sympatrically, potentially enabling future behavioural and ecological studies between these closely related taxa.