A week in the Chimanimanis

I recently spent a night in the Chimanimani area, after which I wrote that I would love to spend more time there. Well, less than a week later I was back in the area! I arrived on the 13th and left on the 20th of April. For the first half of the week I was busy being the official photographer for an Outward Bound instructor selection course. During this time I did not get much birding done as the schedule was pretty tight.
I did, however, stay a couple of days extra at Outward Bound so that I could spend a bit of time looking for birds.

Miombo Rock-thrush female

In the 'gardens' around the houses and dorms there were a fair few birds, many of which were fairly accustomed to people. Miombo Rock-thrush was the main performer here, with a family of three seen regularly and providing me with great photo opportunities. Familiar Chat were also quite easy to find in the gardens. Plenty of waxbills, mannikins and whydahs were around, but no Green Twinspot this time. A flowering bottle-brush tree attracted many sunbirds; Miombo Double-collared, Variable, Collared, Amethyst and even Western Violet-backed Sunbirds made an appearance. A Red-faced Crombec spent a short time in one of the trees in the garden - a bird I had never seen before. A Blue-spotted Wood-dove was sitting on the lawn one afternoon!
The day before I left I noticed a small nest on a branch hanging over the roof of my car. It was low enough that I could stand on the roof of the car and see inside (just!). It turned out to have small chicks inside; Yellow-fronted Canaries.

Yellow-fronted Canary chick in nest

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Birding in the Miombo woodlands was, for a change, a real joy. The hilly terrain meant that I could be at the same level as part of the canopy, instead of being dwarfed by the trees as far the eye could see, as is usual in Harare woodlands. This meant nice backgrounds for photographs! The birds were quite exciting too; Red-faced Crombec, Southern Hyliota, White-breasted Cuckooshrike and Miombo and Cinnamon-breasted Tits were seen most days, plus Striped Pipit and Green-backed Honeybird were seen twice each.

The Miombo woodlands - mostly Mountain Acacia and Muzhanje trees

Red-faced Crombec

Green-backed Honeybird

Cinnamon-breasted Tit

Striped Pipit

The other main habitat was riverine woodland and thicket. Quite a few small rivers flow past the area, and there are nice patches where thicket meets Miombo woodland, creating an interesting mixture of birds.

Dark-backed Weaver, Cape Batis, White-tailed Crested-flycatcher, Olive Sunbird, Stripe-cheeked and Yellow-streaked Greenbuls, White-eared Barbet, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, African Firefinch, Livingstone's Turaco, Scaly-throated Honeyguide, Tambourine Dove and Square-tailed Drongo were some of the more exciting birds of these riverine habitats. Near Tessa's Pool I photographed a Mountain Wagtail on the boulders by the river's edge. In one thicket I saw three species of Apalis; Bar-throated, Yellow-breasted and Chirinda Apalises.

Chirinda Apalis, endemic to the eastern highlands of Zim and adjacent Mozambique.

Mountain Wagtail

White-eared Barbet

As far as other wildlife was concerned there was not much about. Other than Baboons, the only mammals I saw were a pair of Klipspringer and a Mutable Sun Squirrel.

One exciting find was a lizard which I believe to be a Chimanimani Flat Lizard, confined to (you guessed it!) the Chimanimani area.

Chimanimani Flat Lizard - I think!

Other than that, the scenery was gorgeous, and I have added a couple of photos to prove it.

A Short Trip to the Eastern Highlands

I spent two days in the Eastern Highlands recently (not nearly long enough!) - April 9th in the Chimanimani Mountains and the 10th in Juliasdale. Chimanimani village is about 145km drive south and then east from Mutare. Juliasdale is 80km or so north of Mutare (near Nyanga). In Juliasdale I stayed at Inn on Rupurara, which has superb rooms and lodges.
The purpose of my visit to the Chimanimanis was to watch the last day of the Iron Will challenge, but I managed to get some birdwatching done in between climbing mountains and spectating. The area is on the edge of Chimanimani National Park, and is home to some gorgeous miombo woodland and riverine forest. I saw Yellow-streaked Greenbul, African Dusky Flycatcher, Dark-backed Weaver, Cinnamon-breated Tit and a few other species in the miombo woodlands. The scenery in the Chimanimanis is most spectacular.

The view of the mountains on the dirt road to camp

Dark-backed (Forest) Weaver

Waterfall at Tessa's Pool

Back at the Outward Bound camp I saw many birds including Miombo Rock-thrush, Familiar Chat, Ashy Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Waxbill and, best of all, a male Green Twinspot!
This is definitely somewhere to spend more time birding in future.

Ashy Flycatcher

Best bird of the trip - a male Green Twinspot

I got up at 6am at Inn on Rupurara to look for birds in the garden before breakfast. The sun took a long time to reach me, as the Inn is hidden from the morning sun by a hill. African Dusky and Ashy Flycatchers were around, plus Yellow-bellied Waxbill, Chinspot Batis and nesting Whyte's Barbet on the edge of the miombo woodland. Bar-throated Apalises were all over the place. Later on I saw a pair of Cape Batis - what lovely birds.

Male Cape Batis

Female Cape Batis

Later, dad and I went for a drive in the game park. We stopped and walked into the valley of a tributary of the Inyangombe River, where I saw a Boulder Chat and a Greater Honeyguide. Dark clouds and rumbles of thunder had us scrambling up the steep valley as quickly as possible, which was quite hard work!

Greater Honeyguide

The hill after which the Inn is named - Rupurara

I left for Harare before lunch and all too soon that was the end of the trip... Two days isn't long enough to visit either of these places, never mind both of them!

Haka Park 7 April 2012

We went to Haka with the intention to find 100 bird species in a morning. At 1pm we gave up at 93 species!
Although we didn't reach our goal, a few of the birds were particularly exciting.
Broad-tailed Warblers were still around, and a Red-backed Shrike was seen. The first week of April is usually the best time of year to see Red-backed Shrikes in Harare, as they are passing through on their way north.
Southern Hyliota, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, Stierling's Wren-warbler and Green-backed Honeybird were the best birds in the miombo woodlands. Near the quarry, a Square-tailed Nightjar was unusual but didn't allow pictures to be taken. A Fiery-necked Nightjar, on the other hand, perched in a tree allowing for lovely pictures!

White-breasted Cuckooshrike female.

Fiery-necked Nightjar.

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting.

The day's best bird was a young Whiskered Tern fishing on the edge of the dam. As far as I know this bird hasn't been seen before in Haka Park (at least in recent times).

Whiskered Tern - separated from White-winged Tern by grey (not white) rump.

Mukuvisi Ringing, 31 March 2012

The weather was not looking promising for ringing, with patches of drizzle on the drive to Mukuvisi. Luckily, the rain didn't turn up that morning, and the overcast conditions kept it from getting too hot.
The weavers were not breeding at their usual spot, so we didn't catch any of those to boost our numbers. The first unusual catch arrived in the form of an Orange-breasted Bush-shrike.
The next two great birds arrived together - in fact one chased the other into a net, then followed it and got caught as well! The birds were honeyguides; an immature Greater and an adult Lesser Honeyguide.

Greater (left) and Lesser (right) Honeyguides in the hand.

Upon closer inspection, I found that the Greater Honeyguide's primary molt was particularly strange. Instead of molting from the innermost primary, as is the norm, this bird had started molting from the middle. One feather was already newly grown, and the next feather in line was in the process of being replaced. Apparently there are a fair few birds that do this at a young age, but molt normally as an adult.
The tail feathers were similar; the innermost feather was old, the next was being replaced, and the four outer ones were also old.

Greater Honeyguide's primary molt. The 5th primary from the middle is distinctly new (darker and less worn out). The 6th is growing still, leaving a gap. The other primaries are all old.

Ringing and Birding at Haka Park, March 2012

We recently gained permission to ring at Haka Park, which is an excellent birding spot very near Harare.
After meeting at the gate very early in the morning, we drove into the park to a spot on the edge of the Miombo woodlands, where we would set up the nets. A few of the more energetic people went into the vlei in an attempt to catch a Broad-tailed Warbler.
Miombo woodland birding, and especially ringing, is difficult due to the low density of bird life. The birds mostly move around in mixed species feeding parties, which are your only real chance of catching a considerable number of birds. They are also often high in the trees - too high for the nets to reach them. It is therefore a bit of a hit-and-miss affair, ringing in the woodlands. Black Cuckooshrike were near the nets but did not get caught. Two Yellow-fronted Canaries, among other things, were the best catch from the woodlands.
Meanwhile, the vlei nets were catching a few birds, but not very many. Things were going slowly, but eventually the main target was caught; a Broad-tailed Warbler!

Broad-tailed Warbler

Male Yellow Bishop

On the 29th of March I did a morning of birding in Haka. I tried to get photos of the Broad-tailed Warbler, but failed on that. Whilst walking through grass taller than me I flushed a male flufftail! It was too quick to photograph, but was most likely a Red-chested Flufftail.

I found an Orange-breasted Waxbill nest with two eggs nearby, then moved to the woodland in the hope of photographing some Miombo birds. Interestingly, I saw one of the Yellow-fronted Canaries ringed a week ago, near where it was caught. I managed to find two bird parties, both of which had beautiful Southern Hyliota in the foliage above my head! Spotted Creeper, Stierling's Wren-warbler, African Golden Oriole and White-crested Helmet-shrike were some of the highlights of the woodland birds, but the prize for the day's best bird went to a lovely Woodland Kingfisher! This bird must have been passing through on its northward migration.

Southern Hyliota

Woodland Kingfisher

Ringing at Afdis, 18 Mar 2012

The settling ponds at Afdis, whilst not being the most fragrant ringing location, are one of the best spots for catching waders around Harare. On January 28 this year we caught 15 Three-banded Plovers - six were ringed on the day and nine were recaptures from previous ringing trips at Afdis. Five of these recaptures were originally ringed in January 2011.

Today we only caught one Three-banded Plover, despite there being at least 10 present. Instead we caught a Blacksmith Lapwing, six Wood Sandpipers and recaptured a Common Sandpiper (ringed Jan 2012).
One other ringed Blacksmith Lapwing was in the area, but we did not manage to recapture it to get the ring number.

Wood Sandpiper

The Wood Sandpipers were particularly interesting. Five out of the six captured showed a strange primary molt, where the 6-7 inner primaries were old, contrasting with the newer 3-4 outer primaries.

We did some reading later and learned that many Wood Sandpipers start molting before southward migration, then suspend their molt during the trip and complete it when they arrive in the tropics. This is likely the explanation for our birds, as they were adults. The only other scenario for old-new contrasting primaries applies to first-year birds.

Wood Sandpiper interesting primary molt

We also caught a good selection of warblers (Little Rush-, Lesser Swamp-, African Reed-, Great Reed- and Sedge Warblers), plus a bunch of weavers and bishops.