Ringing near Wild Geese Lodge

The area we ringed in is not strictly part of the Wild Geese Lodge Game Park, so we didn't access the ringing spot through there. With our hands full of poles, nets and other ringing equipment, we left the car on the side of the road and walked about 500m (it seemed much further in the dark!) to a grassy area scattered with acacia trees. We set up nets along a couple of the paths, by which time the sun had decided to make an appearance. 

Shortly afterwards, we saw a raptor flying around, shrieking as it did so. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a Bat Hawk! It showed very well and then landed in a stand of eucalyptus trees, where I later photographed it.

Bat Hawk flying around.

...And in a tree later in the day.

Ringing was not particularly successful, although some nice birds were caught such as Rattling and Red-faced Cisticolas and White-browed Scrub-robins.

Rattling Cisticola

All the action, however, was happening about 20 meters off the ground; Some sort of creeper (I don't know the name) that grows high up in other trees was flowering, and dozens of sunbirds were feasting upon the nectar. Western Violet-backed Sunbird was there, as well as Miombo Double-collared, Variable, White-bellied, Scarlet-chested, Amethyst and a probable Purple-banded Sunbird. Other birds were feeding here too - Weavers, White-eyes, Barbets and Bulbuls just to name a few. I heard a Burnt-necked Eremomela in the acacia trees. I personally saw or heard 55 species that morning, which is not bad for a morning concentrated on ringing.

Nyanga Ringing June 2012

Maybe winter is not the best time of year to visit one of Zim's coldest places... There were not all that many birds around!

We (the usual group of four ringers, plus a couple of others) stayed in a lovely cottage just around the corner from Troutbeck Hotel in Nyanga. We arrived on Saturday afternoon (16th June) and had nets up for half a day on both Saturday and Monday, plus the whole of Sunday. On the property was a fair bit of forest and two rivers which flowed into a small dam at the bottom of the garden.

The view from the cottage

We left up the poles during the nights, only packing up the nets, in order to hasten the setting up of nets the next morning. Well, I am certainly glad I took gloves with me, as early in the morning the lawn, trees and poles were covered in a thin layer of ice! Perhaps that was why there were so few birds around - they were all frozen...

We did, however, catch some lovely birds. A Mountain Wagtail was caught, and a different one was seen with a ring (Julia had ringed some birds at this spot earlier in the year).  A Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler was also caught, as well as two stunning White-starred Robins. Olive Sunbird, Cape Robin-chat and Cape Batis were among the other species caught.

The White-starred Robins were particularly interesting because according to Irwin's Birds of Zimbabwe these birds vacate the highlands during winter and move to lower elevations - perhaps to escape the cold. Why are these two still in Nyanga in the middle of winter? There must be more still in the area; if not for having caught them we wouldn't have even known they were around.

African Olive-pigeons and White-necked Ravens flew past every day, plus an African Goshawk on one morning. Quite a few eastern highlands 'specials' were seen in the garden including Cape Canary, Stripe-cheeked Greenbul, a few groups of Roberts' Warbler, White-tailed Crested Flycatcher and Livingstone's Turaco. A pair of African Black Duck, which live on a dam further downstream, flew past often.

Male Olive Sunbird. Note the bright yellow pectoral tufts, which the females don't have.

Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler. The smallest bird caught on the trip at 8.5 grams!

Definitely the prettiest bird caught; White-starred Robin

During the moments when we were waiting for an unsuspecting bird to get itself caught, I decided to do something useful; I went looking for other creatures to photograph. I found a few Swynnerton's Reed Frogs, a few lizards and a couple of dead shrews, which may have been victims of the cold conditions.

These lizards were all over the rockery in front of the cottage. Not yet sure what species they are.

A beautiful adult Swynnerton's Reed Frog.

Another frog, which I suspect is the same species as above, but a juvenile, explaining the lack of stripes.

A short walk from the cottage was a waterfall, upon which I decided to practice some long exposure photography. Stupidly, I forgot to take my tripod with, but I managed to make a plan. I sacrificed my gloves to use as a beanbag, of sorts, for the camera! With a shutter speed of 10 seconds, here is the result...

Ewanrigg and Mukuvisi 2 + 3 June 2012

Ringing at Ewanrigg Botanical Gardens was very slow on Saturday, with few birds caught. Some of the birds caught were unusual, almost making up for the lack of numbers...
Grey-backed Camaroptera was the first bird caught. Later a Southern Black Flycatcher was trapped, with a few birds in between. Feeling quite frustrated we eventually went to pack up the last of the nets, and in them we found the day's best birds! A Green Wood-hoopoe and a Brown-crowned Tchagra.
We only had one net up in the aloes (which were mostly finished flowering), so not many sunbirds were caught.

Southern Black Flycatcher

Brown-crowned Tchagra

One of the sunbirds on dry aloe flower - which species??

White-bellied Sunbird male.

Immature male Scarlet-chested Sunbird.

The monthly walk at Mukuvisi was quite windy and cold - I spent almost as much time looking for patches of sunlight as I spent looking for birds.

White-breasted Cuckooshrike, Southern Hyliota, Groundscraper Thrush, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, White-crested Helmet-shrike and Miombo Blue-eared Starling were seen, but no Spotted Creeper.

The best sightings were in fact both reptiles. A big Nile Monitor was sunning itself on the path in one spot, and at the picnic site a Schlegel's Blind Snake slithered past whilst we were doing the bird list! It was quite fast and was going through the leaf-litter, so the photo is unfortunately not great.

Schlegel's Blind Snake. This was a first for me.