The Bats of Kasanka: Part Four - The Birds

Part One - Kariba

Part Two - Forest Inn

Part Three - Kasanka, the Mammals

I saw 122 bird species during the three days in Kasanka. The dambos were dry at that time of year, so I unfortunately missed a lot of wet grassland specials. I also had a tough time birding the Miombo Woodlands, where I only found one mixed feeding party over the three days.

Other than that, birding was a joy in the park, with exciting stuff flitting about everywhere.

Map of the park. Most of the green area is Miombo woodland, with browner dambos cutting through. Near Fibwe Hide there is a large stand of Mushitu and a swamp, and Riparian forest fringes some sections of river. Wasa Lodge overlooks a lake.

Miombo Woodlands:

Non Southern Africa 'specials' are in bold.

Difficult birding with birds mostly seen individually, but I did eventually get lucky and find a mixed feeding party - Steppe Buzzard, Schalow's Turaco, Pennant-winged Nightjar, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Woodland Kingfisher, Racket-tailed Roller, Cardinal Woodpecker, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, African Golden Oriole, Rufous-bellied Tit, Spotted Creeper, Miombo Scrub-robin, Green-capped Eremomela, Black-necked Eremomela, Red-capped Crombec, Stierling's Wren-warbler, Yellow-bellied Hyliota, Chinspot Batis, Miombo Blue-eared Starling and Black-eared Seedeater were the highlights in the Miombo.

Female Arnot's Chat

Great Arnot's Chat and Racket-tailed Roller habitat

Sunrise through the Miombo on our last morning in the park

Helmeted Guineafowl - with a yellow 'helmet'! Different to those further south

Red-capped Crombec

Steppe Buzzard

Yellow-bellied Hyliota

Dry dambos & reedbeds:

During the wet season the dambos have the potential to be much more exciting.

African Marsh-harrier, Red-necked Spurfowl, White-browed Coucal, Coppery-tailed Coucal, Speckled Mousebird, Malachite Kingfisher, Böhm's Bee-eater, White-fronted Bee-eater, African Stonechat, Moustached Grass Warbler, Broad-tailed Warbler, Chirping Cisticola, Croaking Cisticola, Golden Weaver, Yellow-mantled Widowbird and Red-backed Mannikin were some of the birds seen in these habitats.

Böhm's Bee-eater pair, near Pontoon Camp

Böhm's Bee-eater

Chirping Cisticola

Thick grass near BBC Platform. I saw Coppery-tailed Coucal, Moustached Grass Warbler and Broad-tailed Warbler here

Moustached Grass Warbler

Red-necked Spurfowl

Open water:

Wasa Lake held a few waterbirds that I didn't see elsewhere, but most of the species on this part of the list come from the small pan in front of Pontoon Camp.

The list includes: African Darter, Hamerkop, Hadeda Ibis, Yellow-billed Stork, White-faced Duck, Spur-winged Goose, African Fish-eagle, African Jacana, Blacksmith Lapwing, Wood Sandpiper, Pied Kingfisher and Cape Wagtail.

African Fish-eagle

Pied Kingfisher

Riparian & Mushitu Forest:

The most exciting birds were in these habitats, and a great deal of them were found in and around Pontoon Camp. African Green-pigeon, Schalow's Turaco, African Emerald Cuckoo, Black Cuckoo, Red-chested Cuckoo, African Wood-owl, Pel's Fishing-owl (heard only, unfortunately), Narina Trogon, Böhm's Bee-eater, Crowned Hornbill, Trumpeter Hornbill, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Black-backed Barbet, Lesser Honeyguide, Olive Woodpecker, Green-backed Woodpecker, African Broadbill, Square-tailed Drongo, Purple-throated Cuckooshrike, Hartlaub's Babbler, Little Greenbul, White-browed Robin-chat, Yellow-breasted Apalis, African Paradise-flycatcher, Black-throated Wattle-eye, Olive Sunbird, Collared Sunbird, Purple-banded Sunbird, Spectacled Weaver, Dark-backed Weaver, Red-throated Twinspot and Brown Firefinch were the best finds.

African Broadbill

Black-backed Barbet. A candidate for best bird of the trip

Black-throated Wattle-eye male bringing food to the nest

...And here he is feeding chicks

Brown Firefinch

Dark-backed Weaver carrying nesting materials

Pontoon Camp, Broadbill habitat

Green-backed Woodpecker

Little Greenbul

Narina Trogon male

Purple-banded Sunbird male

Schalow's Turaco

Spectacled Weaver

Square-tailed Drongo nesting in Pontoon Camp, with chicks

Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird

Purple-throated Cuckooshrike female

Raptors were plentiful, and mostly not restricted by habitat.

The 13 species included Black-shouldered Kite, Yellow-billed Kite, White-headed Vulture, Bateleur, African Marsh-harrier, Ovambo Sparrowhawk, Wahlberg's Eagle and the best, African Hobby - a rare bird in Southern Africa.

Yellow-billed Kite

Whilst waiting one evening at Fibwe Hide for the bats to emerge, I was treated to a spectacular Barn Swallow sighting. A small flock flew in, flying around over the swamp. The flock grew larger and larger, reaching about 3,000 Barn Swallows before they flew out of sight. Amazing!

It may not look like much, but there are nearly 3,000 Barn Swallows in this picture!

I like to include other interesting critters that I find, but in Kasanka I was so busy birding I didn't have time for much else. I did disturb a bright green snake in Pontoon Camp, probably a Green Snake sp. (Philothamnus sp.).
I saw African Striped Skink (Trachylepis striata) at Wasa Lodge and found a few small Guttural Toads (Amietophrynus gutturalis) in camp.

African Striped Skink

Guttural Toad

Sadly, we had to leave this fantastic place, and we made our way to Lusaka early on the 23rd of October, 2013. The 520km drive took roughly six hours.

To be continued... Mana Pools next!

Part five - Mana Pools

The Bats of Kasanka: Part Three - The Mammals

Part One - Kariba
Part Two - Forest Inn


Day three (Sunday 20 Oct) dawned and after a few hours birding the Miombo Woodland around Forest Inn, we set off to drive the remaining 240km to our destination; Kasanka National Park, where we stayed for three nights.

Forest Inn to Kasanka National Park. At one point during the drive, we were just 1km from the border of the DRC.

Our travels inside Kasanka. Wasa Lodge is the main accommodation in the park, as well as the reception for camping.
Pontoon used to be an actual pontoon across the river, but now there's a bridge.
Fibwe Hide is the famous tree-top platform for viewing the bats in the evening.

Kasanka National Park is dominated by pristine Miombo Woodland, with patches of Mushitu evergreen forest (this is where the bats roost). Many dambos (vleis) follow the rivers through the park, although these were mostly dried up in October when we visited. A few lakes and swamps are present.

At this point, the days were stinking hot, up to 39 degrees. This, plus the ever present swarms of biting flies, meant the windows stayed closed and the air conditioner on!

We camped at Pontoon campsite, on the edge of the Kasanka river in riparian forest - a beautiful spot.

I got a fairly impressive mammal list in the park - 12 species - despite it not being well known for its game. Bold species aren't found in Southern Africa.
Brown Greater Galago, Yellow Baboon (ssp. kindae), Straw-coloured Fruit Bat, Gambian Sun Squirrel, African Savannah Hare, an unidentified Genet sp, Side-striped Jackal, Hippopotamus, Common Warthog, Common Duiker, Puku, Bushbuck and Sitatunga.

Dambos, lakes and rivers: Puku were the most numerous mammal in the park, most of them in the open grassy areas of dambos and lake edges.
Warthog, Yellow Baboon, Side-striped Jackal and African Savannah Hare were in the same habitat, the latter two only seen at night.
One Common Duiker was seen on the edge of a dambo.
Hippopotamus were in Wasa Lake (visible from Wasa Lodge).

Wasa Lake

Typical dambo, dry during October.

Common Duiker

Puku female

Puku male

Miombo Woodlands: The woodlands were not very productive from a mammal watching point of view. Puku and Yellow Baboon made up most of the sightings. Lichtenstein's Hartebeest occur but we never saw any. The Genet, which remains unidentified, was seen in the woodlands at night.

One of Zambia's largest trees, near Bufumu Forest

Tall Miombo Woodland. Most of the park was similar to this.

Yellow Baboon

Riparian and Mushitu forest: The riparian forest around Pontoon campsite was rather good; Bushbuck, Brown Greater Galago and Gambian Sun Squirrel were seen here.
The Straw-coloured Fruit Bats roost in the large Mushitu swamp forest in the centre of the park.

A view of Pontoon camp (under the trees) from the dambo

Bushbuck male on the edge of the dambo

Our campsite

Looking over the large Mushitu forest, including the bat roost

Swamp: The large swamp which is overlooked by Fibwe Hide is famous for excellent viewing of Sitatunga. These animals were also present in the tall reeds near Pontoon camp.

Fibwe Hide, a tree-top platform overlooking a large swamp

Sunset over the swamp, from Fibwe

Male Sitatunga in the swamp, viewed (long-distance) from Fibwe

Sitatunga in the tall reeds near Pontoon camp

I also set up my motion sensor trail camera near the campsite during the nights, with good results.

Sitatunga

Hippopotamus

Hippopotamus. Getting closer!

Female Puku

Young Puku

We arrived in Kasanka during the last 10 days of October, which is also just about when the bats start arriving from all over Africa.
I would have waited until later in the year, say mid-November, if I didn't have to be on a plane back to Perth on the 10th.
As a result of our slightly early arrival in Kasanka, bat numbers were nowhere near their peak. However, there were still a lot of bats!
Counting bats leaving the roost in the video footage I gathered, I estimate there were 80,000 Straw-coloured Fruit Bats present whilst we were there. That is an amazing number of Africa's largest bat species, but the mind simply boggles when you realise that this number, eighty thousand, is a mere one percent of their number at peak season!
Eight million bats must be an incredible sight to behold.

Fibwe Hide is the best known spot for viewing the bats, and this is where we went for the first evening. You can't see the bats leaving the roost from the platform - you see them flying along the swamp towards the feeding grounds.
It was a slow trickle at first, and I was a bit disappointed that there seemed to be few bats. The bats soon started drifting past in huge numbers though.

The tree which holds Fibwe Hide, and the ladder going to the platform

First Straw-coloured Fruit Bat!

...And then more came.

I have embedded a few videos in this blog post, as photographs just don't do the bats justice.



On Monday (21 Oct) we searched for a good bat watching site during the day. We came across the BBC Platform, which was apparently used by BBC for David Attenborough's documentaries.
It is also, apparently, somewhere that you're not allowed to visit unless you pay for the 'bat experience' tour. In our defense, there was no wooden gate across the road, as there had been in other places, and no sign to indicate this was a restricted platform! The rangers reckon an Elephant messed with the gate during the night (there were indeed Elephant droppings close by).
Anyway, this platform gave excellent views of the bat roost during the day, and I'm sure it would have been amazing to be there at dusk when they left the roost. We chose a nearby spot on the ground to watch them at dusk.

The core of the bat roost, leaves missing from the trees as a result of many years of too many bats!

They hang off the trees like huge bunches of fruit

Another stunning sunset, this time from the dambo near BBC platform

There was another, rather low, platform near the BBC platform, but it was pretty useless. Maybe when the bats are in full force, the roost overflows into this bit of forest...

These two videos are of the bats leaving the roost site. These are what I used to get an estimate of numbers. It was strange to see such large numbers of animals, yet they gave out hardly a sound.





On the final evening we watched the sunset from Fibwe Hide, then watched from the swamp below Fibwe as the bats flew over us in their hundreds and thousands.

What an incredible experience it was to see the bats of Kasanka. I look forward to one day seeing them when all eight million are there!

Next post; the birds of Kasanka...
Part four - Kasanka, the Birds
Part five - Mana Pools