ZOOTHERA BIRDING BLOG: Another Day in Arusha NP

Sunday, 31 December 2017

Another Day in Arusha NP

We had another full day in Arusha National Park and after seriously heavy overnight rain we woke to more mist and rain, which continued through to late morning again. Lovely! But it didn’t stop us seeing a good selection of birds during this time with one of the best birds of the day being our first bird of the day – Broad-tailed Warbler. Moving into the park we took a different route to yesterday and picked up Yellow Bishop, Golden-winged Sunbird, Red-collared Widowbird, Black-backed Puffback, and eventually we nailed Hartlaub’s Turaco, with several good views.

African Crowned Eagle

An African Crowned Eagle was perched over the road, and other notable sightings included Klaas’s Cuckoo, Olive Sunbird, several African Dusky Flycatchers, Stripe-cheeked Greenbul, Black-headed Apalis, African Black-headed Oriole and Red-faced Cisticola. At a marsh we saw several Taveta Golden Weavers, 2 Hippos, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, African Fish-Eagle, and a Northern Grosbeak-Weaver.

A distant Taveta Golden Weaver

A family of African Elephants crossed the track in front of us as we returned to the crossroads, having seen a rather confiding Ruppell’s Robin-Chat singing beside our vehicles.

With the weather improving we could head higher up to the crater, and a good decision this turned out to be as a superb Black-fronted Bush-Shrike and a flock of Tanzanian Broad-ringed White-eyes (split form Montane White-eye) appeared. At a large fruiting tree a flock of endemic Kenrick’s Starlings were feeding and as we drove ever higher a perched Long-crested Eagle was spotted, and we had more views of Silvery-cheeked Hornbill as well.

Red-backed Mannikin

Then we took our picnic lunch at an overlook with superb views across the crater with Red-backed Mannikin, Red-headed Weaver, Taveta Golden Weaver and Golden-tailed Woodpecker performing close by.