Tanzania Day 12 - KILOMBERO FLOODPLAIN

After breakfast we headed to the Kilombero floodplain, which was about an hour and a half from Hondo Hondo. We were stopped at the police checkpoint on the approach to the area and scanning from the vehicle gave us a pair of Rufous-bellied Herons, Coppery-tailed Coucal, Long-tailed & Great Cormorants, some flyby White-crowned Lapwings, Wattled Lapwing, White-faced Whistling-Duck, and more importantly, our first views of White-tailed Cisticola that popped up right beside us. 

White-tailed Cisticola

A short drive down to the river then followed and here we had amazingly close views of the rather plain-mantled Kilombero Cisticola and another streaky-backed White-tailed Cisticola. Both species were originally discovered in the 1960’s but not formally described until 2021. There were quite a few largish weavers around in non-breeding plumage that were the other key target species here – Kilombero Weaver. 

Kilombero Cisticola

Kilombero Weaver

Further exploration of the area gave us Malagasy Pond-Heron, several Squacco Herons, Blacksmith Lapwing, Pink-backed and Great White Pelicans, Malachite & Pied kingfishers. There were quite a few flocks of small passerines out in the fields and reed beds, so we spent quite a while searching for Zanzibar Red Bishop, but only found non-breeding bishops that might have been this species, along with Fan-tailed Widowbirds, Red-billed Firefinches, Crimson-rumped Waxbills, and a few more delightful Orange-breasted (Zebra) Waxbills. 

Orange-breasted (Zebra) Waxbill

By 10:30am the heat and humidity started to kick in so we drove back to Hondo Hondo and had some downtime before lunch. At 3pm we drove along some rutted farm tracks to a woodland that was devoid of any bird activity, and any hope of finding Kretschmer’s Longbill faded fast. We’d missed this species at Amani in the East Usambaras but Abdul had this back-up site of what is potentially a future split as it has distinctive red eyes, calls a little differently and inhabits slightly different habitat. But none of that matters when you haven’t seen the bird! Another short, bumpy drive took us to another woodland, where at the edge of a sugarcane plantation our only Arrow-marked Babbler of the trip was found. 

Arrow-marked Babbler

There was also a flock of Eastern Golden Weavers feeding here and further scrutiny revealed a cracking adult Lesser Seedcracker and a stunning Red-throated (Peter’s) Twinspot. With the sun fading fast our time seemed just about over to find the longbill, but lady luck was on our side and amazingly Abdul’s persistence paid off and we secured several views of it skulking in the vine tangles. Result! We also added African Fish-Eagle to our list and saw a few more African Openbills feeding in the fields.