Big Birding Day 2012

On the 24th and 25th of November was the annual Big Birding Day - which is a challenge to see how many different bird species you can find in 24 or 36 hours.

I took part in the 24 hour count, with three other birders. We visited eight different sites during the 24 hours, on top of all the driving!

Obviously, we saw too many birds to list them all, so I will go through the highlights:

Darwendale Dam: We started at 9 am on Saturday at Darwendale Dam. There was not much shoreline or weed, so there were not as many waterbirds as we had hoped. Goliath Heron, Glossy Ibis, Fulvous Duck, Cape Teal, Grey-headed Gull, Red-breasted and Greater Striped Swallows and Brown-throated Martin were among the birds seen. We didn't spend too long at this spot.

There was a single Cape Teal present.

Glossy Ibis.

Next up was Chivero National Park. We spent quite some time there, as we had a large area to cover. We got White-backed Vulture, African Cuckoo-hawk, Water Thick-knee, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Broad-billed Roller, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, Stierling's Wren-warbler, White-crested Helmet-shrike, Lesser Masked-weaver, Red-headed Weaver and many more...

Broad-billed Roller.

Female Lesser Masked-weaver. Notice the greyish legs and pale eye.

Grey-headed Kingfisher - a new one for me.

Crowborough Sewage Works was the next stop on the list. This place has some usually has lots unusual birds around, and this time was no different. Many Abdim's Storks were on the fields, whilst hundreds of Barn Swallows whizzed around, and a few Magpie Shrikes and Amur Falcons were nearby. Kittlitz's Plover, Capped Wheatear, Rosy-throated Longclaw and Yellow Wagtail were also on the fields, whilst Wood Sandpiper and Little Stint were at the ponds along with Black-winged Stilt, Pied Avocet and a few other waterbirds.

Reed Cormorant, Blacksmith Lapwing and Pied Avocet.

Yellow Wagtail.

Yellow Wagtail.

Back in Harare by 3 pm, we visited the Harare Botanical Gardens. Klaas's Cuckoo, Black Cuckooshrike, Red-backed Shrike, Grey-headed Bush-shrike and Green-winged Pytilia were all good.

Red-backed Shrike.

After that we made a quick stop at Haka Park. Black-chested Snake-eagle, African Wattled Lapwing, Woodland Kingfisher, African Hoopoe, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, Miombo Tit, Broad-tailed Warbler, Yellow-throated Longclaw.

This Broad-tailed Warbler came into the open just long enough for me to take photographs.

Red-collared Widowbird moulting into breeding plumage.

Woodland Kingfisher - beautiful!

To finish off the day we stopped at Greengrove Dam. We saw Black-crowned Night-heron, Amur Falcon, Three-banded Plover, Marsh Owl, Common Swift, Whyte's Barbet and Orange-breasted Waxbill, to name a few.

The next morning came all too soon, and we were at Mukuvisi Woodlands before the sun came up, waiting for the dawn chorus. We managed to find a bunch of birds here, including African Black Duck (on the river, and later being chased by a Black Sparrowhawk!), Wahlberg's Eagle, Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Eastern Saw-wing, Miombo Tit, Spotted Creeper, Southern Hyliota, Grey-backed Camaroptera and Miombo Blue-eared Starling. We even saw a Bush-pig in running through the woodlands.

Whyte's Barbet.

The last spot we visited in the 24 hours was Ewanrigg Botanical Gardens. Regular ringing here came in handy, as we knew exactly where to find some birds, such as Brown-crowned Tchagra and Long-billed Crombec. We also saw White Stork, Wahlberg's Eagle, Emerald-spotted Wood-dove, Lilac-breasted Roller, Rufous-naped Lark, Grey Penduline-tit, Ashy Flycatcher, Red-backed Shrike, various Sunbirds and Weavers, Red-throated Twinspot and Red-backed and Magpie Mannikins. At this point, we hadn't seen a single Firefinch, but luckily we managed to pick up Red-billed and Jameson's at Ewanrigg.

A White Stork circled over our heads at Ewanrigg.

Big Birding Day is hard work, and rather tiring, but at the end of it all we had managed to see some exciting birds.