Birding and Bird Ringing in Zimbabwe: Ewanrigg Botanical Gardens

I have been on two trips to Ewanrigg Bot. Gardens recently; one was a ringing trip and the other was spent photographing sunbirds.

The ringing trip was on the 4th of July. We caught some great birds like Whyte's Barbet, Brown-hooded Kingfisher and male Variable and Miombo Double-collared Sunbirds. My second visit was on 12 July.

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

On both trips there were quite a lot of flowering aloes, but they were the smaller, yellowish flowers. The birds seem to prefer the red flowers, which had already finished flowering, but there were still a fair few sunbirds around. Scarlet-chested, Amethyst, Miombo Double-collared, Variable and White-bellied Sunbirds were all feeding on the aloes at some point. Grey-backed Camaroptera, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Tropical Boubou, White-browed Robin-chat and Dark-capped Bulbul were in this rocky area with the aloe plants. Dozens of Bronze Mannikins and Blue Waxbills, plus a few Red-backed Mannikins, were drinking at a dripping tap nearby.
The Kenya Coffee Tree was flowering, and feeding on these flowers were the five previously mentioned sunbirds, plus Western Violet-backed and Copper Sunbirds, adding up to seven species! Black-headed Oriole, Dark-capped Bulbul and Village Weaver were also feeding on the flowers. Interestingly, all of the Village Weavers were in full or near full breeding plumage, which seems a bit early, as winter is not even over yet.

Male Village Weaver

Female Miombo Double-collared Sunbird

Male Scarlet-chested Sunbird

Elsewhere, the gardens were full of activity. Some of the highlights were: Emerald-spotted Wood Dove, Ashy Flycatcher, Black Stork (flew over on 12th), African Goshawk, African Harrier-hawk (4th), African Grey Hornbill, Whyte's Barbet, Lesser Honeyguide, Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Brown-crowned Tchagra and Grey-headed Bush-shrike (12th).