SANParks.org Forums

Yip Frank said he had not heard them for ages 2 trips ago when we went but on our previous trip he said that he heard them about 2 weeks prior to our visit. Pafuri used to be an excellent spot for Narina but now you just dont see them. Or hear them. Maybe because of the floods in 2000?

For the benefit of the people not having access to the stiffnecks threat I repeat my trip report here with some very nice rare bird sightings...

We spent this past week in Central Mozambique. Our main target and mission was to find and photograph the Angola Pitta. On our way up to the Zambezi-valley we managed to do some birding in between and had the privilege to photograph some very special birds. I am sharing just a few of the specials with you to keep the report short. Please note, I kept the photo files very small so the downloading can be as quick as possible.

On the first morning we birded the marshy grasslands around Rio Savane just North of Beira where we saw Locust Finch, Lesser Jacana, Great Snipe and Black-rumped Buttonquail. Unfortunately the area was still a bit dry.

Mangrove Kingfisher is very abundant in the Mangroves along the coast and funny enough we had them up north in the forest as well.

We spent the rest of the day driving to Gorongoza Reserve where we found mixed Broadleaved woodland with Broadbilled Roller, Speckled-throated and Green-backed Woodpeckers, Arnot’s chat and along the taller grassy thickets the Redwinged Warblers.

Red-winged Warbler


Spending the night at Chitengo Camp we found the resident Vanga Flycatcher pair and Collared Palmthrush.



The second morning we took the EN6 North to Caia. The rest of the week we stayed at Mpingwe Camp just south of Caia. The forest to the Northeast is very much the same as we found at Chinizua forest a few years back with regulars like the East Coast Akalat and White-breasted Alethe.



The African Broadbill seems to be more obliging than we’ve found in South Africa and Narina Trogans were everywhere.




In the more open areas between the forest patches we had Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrike and the Emerald Cuckoo in the open to photograph!



Another species that share the same type of forest habitat as the Pitta is Livingstone's flycatcher.


I also managed brief glimses of Barred Longtailed Cuckoo, Green Malkoa and Silvery Cheeked Hornbill, unfortunately were to slow to photograph.

We found the Pitta on our first morning in the forest and managed to see and photographed the very familiar display, showing off that magnificent red belly and vent!


Lucky for Niall he followed us to the spot and his whole group managed to see the display on their last day in the forest! Pleasure Niall!
Thank you Charl Weitz, for the directions and coordinates, wish you were there!

Overall we had a very successful trip with 6 new lifers to add and many new bird pics!

Cheers
Lizet

WOW WOW WOW Lizet!!!! Your TR and photo's are flippen amazing!!! Wish I was there. Even the Pitta showing off!
Now to get SO into birding...

Lizet , unreal, your photos are superb! And as for that Narina Trogon !!!

On bird I am DYING to see in the wild is an African Shoebill.

I had a sasol birdguide(mini edition) growing up and it was listed under South African birds...yet i do not find it in my Struik guide. Has anyone seen one on SA turf?

Any photos???

Thanks

(awesome pics Lizette!!!)

Hi ginibean,

Oh.... yes!! Not on SA turf, though.
Have a look here.

Wow, amazing sightings and photos, Lizet ….your mission on your next trip should be a trek up Mount Gorongosa to go and find the Green-headed Oriole

Thank you guys it was a great trip!

Jumbo, that Oriole will take a lot of scaffolding! How many will it take to carry it for us? Any takers?

ginibean,
As far as I know they took the Shoebill off the SA list. There was a record from the Okavango long ago but I think the big guns decided it must have been wrong? Sorry not sure.

@ Niall....you have made my day....that Shoebill is magnificent!!!! The barbet is quite a stunner too! Lovely pics

I'll go hunting that oriole!

LOL

is there a thread for rare sightings, location wise?

I have just had a double-rare sighting (for me anyway) - a redchested cuckoo (juvenile) being fed by a cape robin (all on my garden wall)!

Hi everyone, I just got back from a week long trip to the eastern highlands and had a few very good ticks amongst other expected but still exciting birds.
First up was a Thrush Nightingale that I found calling from a thicket along the Bubi river about 1km upstream from Lion and Elephant Motel, the bird was seen after much staring into the gloom but as is the case with these birds, they often stay more or less in the same patch for the time that they are in SA. I also saw 3 different Thick-billed Cuckoos here busy displaying and calling, seems to be a good spot for an easy tick. At vumba we had many expected sighting such as Swynnerton's Robin, Red-faced Crimsonwing, Black-fronted Bush Shrike and several other interesting birds but the next true rarity came from Vimba Forest at the Haroni-Rusitu area, the road is a shocker but after finding a Lesser Cuckoo it was all worth it, other good birds included Lesser Seedcracker, Black-winged Bishop, tons of Blue-spotted Doves, a pair of very obliging African Broadbills, Black-headed Apalis, Tiny Greenbul and Short-winged Cisticola. After Vumba we moved up to Mutarazi Falls National Park at the southern end of Nyanga and Stayed at Far and Wide's Mutarazi cottages whcih turned out to be excellent for birding. Two very special birds were seen in this area, the first was a calling Male Eurasian Blackcap right at the cottages as we were starting our morning walk through the escarpment forest, and the second was an Eleonora's Falcon seen flying low over a grassy area from the Pungwe falls before heading down to the heavily wooded Pungwe valley. Far and Wide's cottages turned out to be fantastic for birding and Blue Swallow were common in grassland 2km's down the road. The trails around the cottages also produced what seemed like millions of Robert's Warblers and Barrat's Warblers, in the forest we found Black-fronted Bush-shrike, several White-starred Robins, White-tailed Crested-flycatcher and Red-faced Crimsonwing. The only other fairly rare bird was a Honey Buzzard at Mutare hights near the top of the christmas pass, the bird was seen several times during the course of 2 hours as it was circilling and calling constantly, a honey buzzard was also seen half-way up the pass 3 days earlier and is quite possibly the same individual.

All in all a great trip and I can urge anyone to go to zim, still an awesome birding destination and since the switch to the US dollar, everything seems to have settled well.

Kind regards and happy birding,
John Davies.

Johann and I found a juv. female European Marsh harrier at Kgomo-kgomo yesterday afternoon. You can see more views here

Wow, that's cool!