Mana Pools

I recently spent a fantastic week camping in Mana Pools National Park with a great bunch of people. In Mana Pools you are allowed to walk around freely, despite the presence of big game including Lion, Elephant and Buffalo! Obviously, one has to be very careful whilst doing so.

Walking near Vundu Point.

We camped at a campsite called New Ndungu 1, which is about 15km upriver from the main campsite, Nyamepi. The vegetation around the Nyamepi area is predominantly large trees spaced widely apart, with very little ground cover - it was mostly dust! The Apple-ring Acacia was fruiting, in this area, dropping seed pods which are loved by the animals. It was also very dry, with not much water in the pools, meaning most of the game was near the river. These conditions meant that the best game viewing was between Nyamepi and Mucheni Camps.

Our camp was somewhat different. The riverside vegetation was riverine thicket, and away from the river it was mainly Mopane woodland. Despite all the Mopane, I didn't see a single Arnot's Chat. There was not a lot of game in our area, probably because there were no pans, and few Apple-ring Acacias. We did have Hyaena and Elephant walk through our campsite.

The view from camp was lovely, overlooking a sandy island in the river, and the mountains over the river in Zambia.

Looking towards Zambia

The sandy island, looking downriver from our camp.

I watched the sun rise most mornings at around 6:20am, and at the same time there were often Waterbuck feeding on an island, making the sun rises that little bit more awesome.

The river in front of our campsite was quite shallow; generally about knee-deep, but getting very shallow near the island. Many birds were feeding in these shallow waters, including Common Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt, Yellow-billed and Saddle-billed Storks, Little and Great Egrets, and Egyptian Goose. Pied and Giant Kingfishers were also fishing here regularly.

Great Egret

Saddle-billed Stork

Giant Kingfisher

I saw Grey-headed Gull and White-winged Terns flying past, and my friends saw African Skimmer whilst canoeing. One morning, a flock of 20 Bohm's Spinetail flew over.
On the sandy island were White-crowned Lapwing, Kittlitz's and White-fronted Plovers, and various other waders including three Curlew Sandpipers.

White-fronted Plover

In the riverine thicket and the woodlands around camp I saw Yellow-bellied Greenbul, Terrestrial Brownbul, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Trumpeter, Red-billed, African Grey, Crowned and Southern Ground-hornbills, White-fronted and Southern Carmine Bee-eaters, Meyer's Parrot, Lilian's Lovebird, African Scops-owl (heard), various doves, Three-banded Courser, Ashy Flycatcher, Meves's Starling (the most abundant bird on the trip), Collared Sunbird, Green-winged Pytilia, among many others.

Southern Ground-hornbill

Yellow-bellied Greenbul

 The raptors were excellent in Mana Pools, with 17 species seen by me during the week. Around camp I saw African Cuckoo-hawk, African Fish-eagle, Little Sparrowhawk, Wahlberg's Eagle and African Hawk-eagle.

I saw over 140 bird species on the trip, and the above were all seen near the New Ndungu camps.
Elsewhere, game viewing was much more productive.
We saw 17 species of mammal including the big stuff like Elephant, Hippo, Buffalo, Lion, Eland, Kudu, Waterbuck, Nyala and a few more. Small mammals included Bush Squirrel, Vervet Monkey and a stunning Slender Mongoose. Impala were the most numerous animal in the park, followed closely by Baboon.

This young baboon certainly knows how to ride in style.

Vervet Monkey eating a green Apple-ring Acacia seed pod.

Lioness and cub.

Impala

Elephant came into the campsite at Mucheni, looking for seed pods.

Waterbuck

Buffalo, with Red-billed Oxpeckers.

Female Nyala and two young.

Slender Mongoose. I have never seen one this colour - it was quite lovely!
Sadly, it was obscured by bits of grass...

On the very last day, on our way out of the park in fact, we were lucky enough to spot a pack of 10 Wild Dogs on the road lying on the road.

Birds elsewhere in the park were also fantastic. The list included Greater Honeyguide, the five previously mentioned Hornbills, Lilac-breasted and Racket-tailed Rollers, Southern Carmine Bee-eater, Meyer's Parrot, Lilian's Lovebird (my main target, and I saw a lot!), Namaqua Dove, waders, Goliath and Rufous-bellied Herons, African Spoonbill, Hadeda Ibis, Saddle-billed Stork, Retz's and White-crested Helmet-shrikes, Red-billed Oxpecker, Eastern Nicator, Long-billed Crombec, Southern Grey-headed Sparrow (everywhere), Meves's Starling, White-browed Sparrow-weaver and Cut-throat Finch.

Lilian's Lovebird!

Southern Red-billed Hornbill

Red-billed Oxpecker on the back of a Buffalo

Meves's Starling

White-crested Helmet-shrike

The waders were scattered sparsely throughout on the edges of pans and the river. One part of Long Pool (pictured) was particularly good for waders, and there I saw Ruff, Common Greenshank, Wood, Common and Marsh Sandpipers, Little Stint, Three-banded and Kittlitz's Plovers and Black-winged Stilt, plus other waterbirds like Storks and Spoonbills.

The wader spot, Long Pool.

Saddle-billed Stork

Yellow-billed Stork, among other species, at a different pan.

Raptors? Yellow-billed Kite, Hooded, White-backed and White-headed Vultures, Bateleur, African Harrier-hawk, Martial Eagle, Ayres's Hawk-eagle and more.

Yellow-billed Kite

I will leave you with a photo of our last sunset over the Zambezi River...

Highlights of the Past Week

Male sunbirds are some of the most colourful birds that you might find in Harare. If you spend time watching them, you will notice a dazzling array of iridescent colours, especially when the sunlight catches them at just the right angle. Probably the most common sunbird in Harare gardens - the Variable Sunbird - has colours ranging from green through blue to purple, which contrast strongly with it's bright yellow belly.

Male Variable Sunbird

If you're lucky enough to see a male sunbird displaying, you might also notice it's pectoral tufts, or epaulettes,  which it raises as part of the performance.

A male Variable Sunbird with raised epaulettes, just after displaying to a female.
This individual was ringed in September 2011.

Along with the sunbirds, I have been busy photographing birds around Borrowdale Brooke recently:

Male Cut-throat Finch.

Common Moorhens fighting. I have seen this behaviour often, but never caught it on camera before.

African Stonechat female.

The weavers are getting into the breeding season already. Village Weavers have already started in the Brooke, and this Southern Masked-weaver is now busy building.

One more exciting thing from Borrowdale Brooke this week - in fact it even found its way into my house! It was some sort of insectivorous bat, currently unidentified, and quite a large one too.

We went ringing at Greystone Park on the 4th of August, in an attempt to catch some of the breeding Village Weavers. We caught some, along with birds like White-browed Robin-chat, Red-faced Cisticola and Bar-throated Apalis.

One of the Red-faced Cisticolas we caught was a re-trap, originally ringed as an adult in September 2010 - almost two years ago.

Another Red-faced Cisticola (we caught 5 that morning) had an interesting tail moult...

All 6 feathers on the right side (starting at the plain brown one in the middle) are old and not currently in moult.
The outer 3 on the left are the same, but the inner three are all in active moult.
This is interesting because usually tail feathers are moulted symmetrically - for example the two inner (plain) feathers would moult at the same time, followed by the next ones going outwards until the outermost two moult together.

Bar-throated Apalis

There seems to be a number of African Spoonbills floating around at the moment. I saw one in Borrowdale Brooke on the 5th of August, one at Greengrove Dam on the same day and one at Greystone Park on the 4th.

Other good sightings at Greengrove include the usual Hottentot Teal, African Purple Swamphen, African Rail (heard), Three-banded Plover, plus a Lilac-breasted Roller and two Red-winged Starlings flying over. However, no Ibis, Egrets or Cormorants came to roost on the island.

The very best sighting out of all of these trips was also at Greengrove Dam, and wasn't even a bird. As the light was fading, and we were standing there quietly shivering, suddenly a couple of African Clawless Otters appeared in the water! We had about 5 minutes of fantastic otter-watching before they disappeared, then reappeared, now in a group of three. Soon they vanished into the reeds, and although the light was not great I managed some alright photographs.

Hippo Pools

I recently spent a weekend at Hippo Pools camp in Umfurudzi Safari Area with the ringing group. This is a beautiful camp set among the thick riverine forest which runs along the Mazowe River. We went on Saturday the 21st of July and returned on Monday.

Riverine thicket in the bed of a dried-up tributary.

Looking upstream at the Mazowe River. Hippo Pools is on the right.

We didn't do much ringing - too busy looking at all the lovely birds that were around! We did manage catch some birds; Terrestrial Brownbuls, a Red-throated Twinspot and a Black-throated Wattle-eye, among others. One Black-throated Wattle-eye with a ring was photographed afterwards. The ring number was not visible, but the bird had an obvious tick behind its right eye, making it different to the individual we had just ringed! It was probably the bird we ringed in the same spot a year ago.

The scenery from camp is quite lovely, as it overlooks the river in which you can watch Hippos during the day. Most of the game in Umfurudzi has been poached over the years, but recently some animals have been re-introduced. We managed to see Vervet Monkey, Baboon, Hippo, Kudu, Eland, Impala, Klipspringer and Zebra along the road or near the camp. We were also lucky enough to visit the camp manager's chalet, where he feeds Brown Greater Galago (Bushbaby) and Rusty Spotted Genet at night!

Hippopotamus

Vervet Monkey

Brown Greater Galago

Rusty-spotted Genet

The six of us managed to see just under 90 species during the weekend. The birds were, as per usual for this area, brilliant. At night African Wood-owls were calling in the camp, plus I heard one Barn Owl. On Sunday and Monday morning a Verreaux's Eagle-owl was seen by other groups, but by the time we got there it had flown off (we were busy ringing!). I looked hard for the Pel's Fishing Owl, but didn't see or hear it, unfortunately...

In the riverine around camp was where the best birding took place. Birds seen here, along with the river and nearby drier woodlands include: Green-backed Heron, Black Stork, African Goshawk, Three-banded Plover, Water Thick-knee, African Green-pigeon, Klaas's Cuckoo, one Narina Trogon, Giant, Pied, Brown-hooded and Striped Kingfishers, Common Scimitarbill, Greater and Lesser Honeyguides, Eastern Saw-wing, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, Grey Penduline-tit, Yellow-bellied Greenbul, Bearded Scrub-robin, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Ashy Flycatcher, Black-throated Wattle-eye, Livingstone's Flycatcher, African Paradise-flycatcher, Grey-headed Bush-shrike, White-crested Helmet-shrike (usually seen alongside Red-headed Weavers), Collared Sunbird, Red-throated Twinspot and Red-backed Mannikin.

Female Narina Trogon - tricky bird to photograph due to the usually poor light  conditions of its habitat.

Above and below - Livingstone's Flycatcher. A busy bird that just won't keep still!

A couple of interesting things - an unusual record of African Paradise-flycatcher in winter... Only one was seen, an adult male. Perhaps some birds overwinter here? It is a fair bit lower altitude-wise than Harare.

Also, the Eastern Saw-wings. There were at least ten, maybe more, flying around camp. In the time of SABAP1 (1987-1991), this bird was not recorded in the quarter degree square (QDS) in which the camp is located. 20 years is a long time - perhaps we are seeing another range expansion?

A map showing which QDS's the Eastern Saw-wing was recorded in for SABAP1 (red squares),
along with the location of Hippo Pools.

Birds seen on the road between the park gate and Hippo Pools (dry miombo/mopane woodlands) include: Black Stork (at Amm Mine, near the gate. Probably the same pair as the ones seen at Hippo Pools), Bateleur, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Lanner Falcon (nesting at Amm Mine), Red-eyed and Cape Turtle-doves, Racket-tailed Roller (gorgeous!), African Grey and Red-billed Hornbills, Familiar Chat, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Retz's and White-crested Helmet-shrikes, Yellow-throated Petronia and Cinnamon-breasted Bunting.

Black Storks at Amm Mine

My best picture from the trip - Racket-tailed Roller.