We birded the road towards Mkomazi NP before breakfast, once again popping the roof open and using the vehicle to view from resulting in a fantastic selection of species. In fact we recorded 62 species in a very pleasant two and a half hours as we worked a track through brush country and small settlements. I can’t believe how many new trip species we had, but it was an impressive 25! Undoubtedly the best one was an immature Golden Pipit found by David and which lingered around our vehicle for ages.
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| Golden Pipit |
Aidan was pleased to nail his lifer Red-fronted Prinia and again, this showed superbly well.
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| Red-fronted Prinia |
The same spot also had White-browed Bush-Chat, Black-faced Waxbill, Black-bellied Sunbird, Variable Sunbird, Eastern Violet-backed Sunbird, and a pair of Red-faced Crombecs that all appeared in a flurry of activity around an acacia tree that also held both cordon-bleu’s, Brubru, Slate-coloured Boubou, Spotted Palm-Thrush, Green-winged Pytilia, Red-billed Firefinches and a pair of Red-billed Oxpeckers.
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| Eastern Black-headed Batis |
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| Green-winged Pytilia |
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| Spotted Palm-Thrush |
A close White-bellied Go-Away-Bird looked superb in the early morning sunshine, Peter found a White-browed Coucal, several Von der Decken’s Hornbills were around, and both Red-fronted Tinkerbird and Spot-flanked Barbet lingered long enough to give us every opportunity for great photos.
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| This was the slightly more distant White-bellied Go-Away-Bird that caused some confusion |
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| Spot-flanked Barbet |
A couple of Eastern Black-headed Batis were also new, as were Tiny and Rattling Cisticolas, Amethyst Sunbird, and a few Red-billed Buffalo-Weavers. We then drove along the NP entry road and had a little walk, adding a flock of White-crested Helmet-Shrikes, Abyssinian Scimitarbill, Lesser Striped Swallow, Northern Red-billed Hornbill, Von der Decker's Hornbill and Hildebrandt’s Starling to our growing list.
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| White-crested Helmetshrike |
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| Von der Decken's Hornbill |
We were back at th lodge for breakfast by 9am and added Verreaux’s Eagle, African Silverbill and Bronze Mannikinto the list before setting out on the 4+ hours drive to the West Usambara Mountains. We made one biding stop along the way, to look for Taveta Golden Weaver. Fortunately, we found a couple in a flock of Village Weavers feeding on some spilt grain beside a river.
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| Spot the Taveta Golden Weaver.... |
In fact, the flock we going back and forth from there to a huge baobab tree that was fruiting. It was a feeding frenzy with Village and Taveta Golden Weaver mixing with Spectacled and a Golden-backed Weaver, joining groups of white-eyes, bulbuls and a Black-backed Puffback.
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| Black-backed Puffback |
We also saw Grey-headed and Pied Kingfishers, many White-necked Ravens, a stunning male Black-bellied Sunbird, Sombre Greenbul, and a superb pair of Brown-breasted Barbets. Leaving here we saw our only Long-crested Eagle to-date beside the highway.
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| Not exactly what we were expecting to stay a couple of nights in..... |
We reached Lesotho and started the climb up to our excellent lodge in the West Usambara Mountains situated at 1620m. A group of Black-and-white Mannikins were feeding in a tall tree beside the car park as we arrived, and they were of the red-backed variety. Lunch was ready and waiting for us, as by now it was 2pm and I have to say it was a very, very good meal. We left at 3.30pm and drove half an hour to the Old Sawmill Track where we parked up and walked along the dirt road. The first of several Eastern Mountain Greenbuls seen this afternoon got the ball rolling. Then a whole bunch of species came in to Abdul’s iPhone, mainly Usambara Double-collared Sunbirds, but with a bit of patience we nailed Red-faced Crimsonwing, Moustached Tinkerbird and a typically skulking Bar-throated Apalis.
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| Moustached Tinkerbird |
Just around the corner we had a brief African Tailorbird (Red-capped Forest Warbler) and a Fulleborn’s Boubou crossed the road. A Cinnamon-bracken Warbler eventually showed very well right in front of us, A Hartlaub’s Turaco was scoped, and in a large tree we saw several Eastern Mountain & Shelley’s Greenbuls, an African Dusky Flycatcher, whilst Jeff and I had an African Hill Babbler. We also scoped the undescribed race of Fork-tailed Drongo, that may well be split as Usambara Drongo in the future…? After a few false starts we scoped some perched Waller’s Starlings in a dead tree, and followed this a little later with a perched Sharpe’s Starling in the scope. Some Black Saw-wings then appeared before Abdul spotted some Yellow-bellied Waxbills, and a Streaky Seedeater was the last bird of the day.
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