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.
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| Southern Black Flycatcher |
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| Brown-crowned Tchagra |
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| One of the sunbirds on dry aloe flower - which species?? |
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| White-bellied Sunbird male. |
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| 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.
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| Schlegel's Blind Snake. This was a first for me. |
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