Seldomseen

I went with the ringing group to the Bvumba mountains for a weekend, where we stayed at a well known birding destination called Seldomseen. It was hot when we arrived on Friday the 28th of September, and Saturday was also uncomfortably warm.

Montane evergreen forest grows in patches on the Bvumba Mountains (and many other places in Zimbabwe's eastern districts) and Seldomseen is inside one of these forests. Most birds that we saw and captured are not found in Harare. Some are not found in the forests of South Africa, but do occur on mountains north of Zim. Examples are Stripe-cheeked Greenbul, White-tailed Crested Flycatcher and Swynnerton's Robin.
A couple are only found in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe and adjacent Mozambique; Roberts' Warbler and Chirinda Apalis.

Ground-level in the montane evergreen forest around Seldomseen Lodges.

We went at the beginning of the breeding season. Some birds were seen nest building, whilst many birds that were caught had a brood patch (which shows that the bird is sitting on eggs/chicks).

The nest of a White-tailed Crested Flycatcher

Peter told me that this Eastern Saw-wing nest has been used for over 20 years!

The ringing was very successful. On Friday we arrived in the afternoon, then put up nets for a few hours. In these few hours we netted 32 birds, 17 of which were Olive Sunbirds. Other species caught were Stripe-cheeked Greenbul, Orange Ground-thrush, Olive Thrush and White-starred Robin.

Olive Sunbird

White-starred Robin - these birds were difficult to photograph due to the low light conditions.

White-starred Robin in the hand - a gorgeous bird.

On Saturday we had the nets up most of the day and caught about 40 birds - Olive Sunbirds were the main catch once again, with Stripe-cheeked and Yellow-streaked Greenbul, Olive Thrush, Orange Ground-thrush, White-starred Robin, Swynnerton's Robin, Cape Robin-chat, White-tailed Crested Flycatcher, Roberts' Warbler, Yellow-throated Woodland-warbler, Tambourine Dove and a few others. On at least four occasions there was a Lemon Dove in the net, and every time it would escape before we could get near!

Tambourine Doves. Female (left) and male (right).

Swynnerton's Robin!

Barratt's Warbler.

Sunday morning came and we were greeted by the traditional Bvumba mist. We waited until it warmed up a bit before putting three nets up in the protea plantation, with the hope of catching sunbirds. I don't know the exact numbers, but we caught about 15 sunbirds there. Malachite Sunbird was the main catch (and the most spectacular!), with a few Olive, Variable and Collared Sunbirds. We also caught one Gurney's Sugarbird in the proteas.
That afternoon was a bit more relaxed, with only three nets up, and not many birds. In spring traps we caught a White-starred Robin and an African Dusky Flycatcher, which brought our total to 98 birds ringed!

The mist is quite eerie in the Bvumba, where it can reduce visibility to 30 meters, or less!

Malachite Sunbird male.

Mist net in the protea plantation.

Gurney's Sugarbird.

Collared Sunbird, male.

We caught about 15 birds that were already ringed. Many were our own rings used in 2010 and 2011, and some were ringed recently by someone else. One Orange Ground Thrush with the ring BD68998 was originally ringed in December 2003, almost 9 years ago! This particular bird was also recaptured by us in 2010.

Orange Ground-thrush.

Monday morning was misty once again, but it slowly got thicker and colder - eventually it was drizzling very lightly, so we weren't able to catch any birds.

The birdwatching was excellent over the weekend. We saw (or heard) about 50 species including the previously mentioned birds, plus birds such as Augur Buzzard, Livingstone's Turaco, African Emerald Cuckoo, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, White-eared Barbet, Square-tailed Drongo, Chirinda Apalis, Wailing Cisticola, Olive Bush-shrike, Dark-backed Weaver, African Firefinch, Yellow-bellied Waxbill and Cape Canary.

The protea plantation was an excellent place to watch sunbirds, especially when the sun was out.
Female Collared Sunbird.

Gurney's Sugarbird.

Malachite Sunbird, male.

My first Silvery-cheeked Hornbill!

African Dusky Flycatcher.

The Bvumba is a wonderful place for lovers of all kinds of nature - not just birds.
During our stay, I went searching for frogs, reptiles and mammals, with some success:

Perhaps the best find was this miniscule Marshall's Dwarf Chameleon. They can grow much bigger than that, so this was probably a youngster.

Mutable Sun Squirrel.

Shovel-footed Squeaker (I think).

I even found an exciting butterfly; the Emperor Swallowtail.

On the way back we stopped at a bridge near Headlands. This area is the only known breeding site of South African Cliff Swallow in Zimbabwe. The beginning of October is a bit early to visit, nevertheless we saw 4 Cliff Swallows, which didn't stick around, and one nest under the bridge.

South African Cliff Swallow nest, being lined with feathers.