North-West Zambia
22 November to 7 December 1997
Information on birding
CONTENTS
Birding at Chimfunchi
Birding at Hillwood
Other information gathered
There were two areas I birded here. The first was on the road to the sanctuary, approx 2 kilometres after the left turn towards the reserve (200 metres after a farm entrance with a yellow sign on the left. This was (to me) remarkable for Miombo, since there was constant activity throughout the whole day - with no clear bird-parties. Interesting species seen (based on a very lazy technique of sitting on a chair reading a book - and looking up whenever I didn't recognize a particular sound) included: Bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus), Lesser Spotted Eagle (Aquila pomarina), Schalow's Turaco (Tauraco schalowi), Broad-billed Roller (Eurystomus glaucurus), Pale-billed Hornbill (Tockus pallidirostris), Miombo Pied Barbet (Tricholaema frontata), Slender-billed Honeyguide (Prodotiscus zambesiae), Mosque Swallow (Hirundo senegalensis), Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis), White-breasted Cuckoo-Shrike (Coracina pectoralis), Miombo Bearded Scrub-Robin (Cercotrichas barbata), Arnot's Chat (Myrmecocichla arnotti), Miombo Rock Thrush (Monticola angolensis), African Thrush (Turdus pelios), Tabora Cisticola (Cisticola angusticauda), Trilling Cisticola (Cisticola woosnami), Black-collared Eremomela (Eremomela atricollis), Red-capped Crombec (Sylvietta ruficapilla), Böhm's Flycatcher (Muscicapa boehmi), Miombo Grey Tit (Parus griseiventris), Rufous-bellied Tit (Parus rufiventris), Spotted Creeper (Salpornis spilonota), Chestnut-mantled Sparrow-Weaver (Plocepasser rufoscapulatus), Black-eared Seedeater (Serinus mennelli), Stripe-breasted Seedeater (Serinus reichardi) and Cabanis's Bunting (Emberiza cabanisi).
Another worthwhile stop is about half way along the road to the camp site, where it crosses a small concrete bridge. At this point is a small mushitu area, where I found Moustached Warbler (Melocichla mentalis) in the adjoining grassland, and Bocage's Akalat (Sheppardia bocagei) in the interior of the mushitu. On the edge of the extensive puddles in the road further along was a Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus).
The second area was in the new Chimp reserve. Although the miombo looks excellent, I was a little unlucky in that during the whole day I only came across one bird party, and saw virtually nothing for the remainder of the day.
There was also another mushitu patch, but this yielded very little. New birds seen in this area included Purple-throated Cuckoo-Shrike (Campephaga quiscalina), Yellow-bellied Hyliota (Hyliota flavigaster) and Orange-breasted Bush-Shrike (Malaconotus sulfureopectus). How easy it will be to walk around this area once the fence is complete and the chimps have been released, I am not sure.
At the camp site itself, there were the normal waterbirds, as well as Openbill (Anastomus lamelligerus), White-headed Vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis), Long-crested Eagle (Lophaetus occipitalis) and Brown Firefinch (Lagonosticta nitidula).
With all that, I still missed a few specials of the local Miombo, including Souza's Shrike (Lanius souzae) (be careful since there are some shy Red-backed Shrikes (Lanius collurio) there), Sharp-tailed Starling (Lamprotornis acuticaudus) (not be confused with the Lesser Blue-ears (Lamprotornis chloropterus)), White-tailed Blue Flycatcher (Elminia albicauda) and Anchieta's Barbet (Stactolaema anchietae).
BIRDING AT HILLWOOD
The Hillwood reserve covers approx 5000 hectares, and is about to be expanded. The reserve has a small river running along one edge, and four mushitu lines following small streams up slope from the river. Between the mushitu is open grassland, some short where burnt, and in other areas much longer. There is also a small dam.
The short grass was in places flooded, and under 10 - 20 centimetres of water, while further up-slope it dried out considerably. Birds found here included a single Blue Quail (Coturnix adansonii), many Black-rumped Buttonquail (Turnix hottentotta), a single Great Snipe (Gallinago media), Fülleborn's Longclaw (Macronyx fuelleborni), Angola Lark (Mirafra angolensis), Black-tailed Cisticola (Cisticola dambo) and Locust Finch (Ortygospiza locustella). Species that could also be expected included Pink-throated Longclaw (Macronyx ameliae) and Black-chinned Quailfinch (Ortygospiza gabonensis).
In the longer grass, some areas of which were dry and others flooded, were found Corncrake (Crex crex), Natal Nightjar (Caprimulgus natalensis), Sooty Chat (Myrmecocichla nigra), White-chinned Prinia (Prinia leucopogon) and Marsh Widowbird (Euplectes hartlaubi). Over-flying the grass were Dickinson's Kestrel (Falco dickinsoni) and African Marsh Harrier (Circus ranivorus).
The mushitu produced a wide variety of birds including Afep Pigeon (Columba unicincta) flying overhead, Meyer's Parrot (Poicephalus meyeri), Ross's Turaco (Musophaga rossae), Olive-long-tailed Cuckoo (Cercococcyx olivinus) heard every afternoon from the camp, Emerald Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx cupreus), Crowned Hornbill (Tockus alboterminatus), African Broadbill (Smithornis capensis) calling just behind the camp, Cabanis's Greenbul (Phyllastrephus cabanisi) and a whole lot more I wasn't 100% certain of - I was just too lazy to confirm them sufficiently to submit atlas records. They were likely to have included Grey-winged Robin-Chat (Cossypha polioptera), Red-capped Crombec (Sylvietta ruficapilla), Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone rufiventer), Margaret' Batis (Batis margaritae) as well as the very similar Chinspot Batis (Batis molitor), Bates's Sunbird (Nectarinia batesi) as well as the similarly coloured but much larger Olive Sunbird (Cyanomitra obscura), and Bannerman's Sunbird (Nectarinia bannermani). There were many other species to be seen, but things were very quiet due to the heavy rains. If lucky, White-spotted Flufftail (Sarothrura pulchra), Rufous Ant-Thrush (Neocossyphus fraseri), Laura's Warbler (Phylloscopus laurae), Bamboo Warbler (Bradypterus alfredi) and Whistling Cisticola (Cisticola lateralis) in the nearby long grass - amongst others - can also be found.
The dam produced Black Duck (Anas sparsa) and Palm-nut Vulture (Gypohierax angolensis), but I missed the Black-bellied Seedcracker (Pirenestes ostrinus).
Leaving the reserve and walking around the farm itself, other species were found, including Grey Waxbill (Estrilda perreini) and Fawn-breasted Waxbill (Estrilda paludicola), but the real special was Black-collared Bulbul (Neolestes torquatus) which according to Pete Fisher I just couldn't miss - I did.
Driving out to Chitunta Plain, it is advisable to arrange with Pete to take an off-duty game guard to look after the vehicle, since a walk of several kilometres is required. There are three real specials here that cannot be found elsewhere in southern or eastern Africa. Black-and-Rufous Swallow (Hirundo nigrorufa) normally fly around the plain, but leave in November - they had. Bocage's Weaver (Ploceus teemporalis) nest approx 2 kilometres away near the confluence of the Chitunta and Luakela rivers. Their nests were still visible, but only a single Golden Weaver (Ploceus xanthops) was seen. Grimwood's Longclaw (Macronyx grimwoodi) is supposedly common right at the bridge, but while there were plenty of Fülleborn's Longclaws (Macronyx fuelleborni), no Grimwood's. However, there were still a variety of species to be found including Black Coucal (Centropus grillii), Half-collared Kingfisher (Alcedo semitorquata) looking very like the Shining-Blue Kingfisher (Alcedo quadribrachys) which could occur there but is more easily found elsewhere, Stout Cisticola (Cisticola robusta), and Short-tailed Pipit (Anthus brachyurus).
Between Hillwood and the Chitunta plain, the miombo woodland is supposedly a good area for the Bar-winged Weaver (Ploceus angolensis), another west African species - but again no luck.
Driving out to the Source of the Zambezi yielded nothing that was not found at Hillwood, but good sightings of Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo and Grey-winged Robin-chats were achieved.
Driving up to the Zambezi rapids requires arranging another off-duty game guard to direct you, since it involves a relatively minor track out of a village just north of Ikelenge. Birds were scarce here, but a solitary Forbes Plover (Charadrius forbesi) was seen - up to 1 000 pairs breed there earlier in the year. Also seen there were Ross's Turaco (Musophaga rossae), Broad-billed Roller (Eurystomus glaucurus), Little Greenbul (Andropadus virens), Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus), and Bannerman's Sunbird (Nectarinia bannermani). As always one fails on something, and it was Cassin's Grey Flycatcher (Muscicapa cassini) here.
Further to the north-west in less accessible areas, a few rare species used to be found, but the habitat seems to have been destroyed - White-bellied Kingfisher (Corythornis leucogaster), Spotted Thrush Babbler (Ptyrticus turdinus), Sooty Flycatcher (Muscicapa infuscata) and Orange-tufted Sunbird (Nectarinia bouvieri). I didn't even try for them.
It must be admitted that a week at Hillwood is too short a time. Both it and the Chimfunchi areas each have approx 400 species to be found. Birders on their first visit to Zambia could easily spend a three week holiday just at these two sites and never stop seeing new species. Remember that I was not birding full-time, so only positively identified (for atlassing purposes) 250 species. A serious birder should have found nearly double that number in the same period and on the same ground.
I was originally planning to drive south from Mwinilunga down to Zambezi town. This would have passed through mavunda, where Margaret's Batis and Perrin's Bush Shrike (Malaconotus viridis) are found. It is also the place where the single specimen of the White-chested Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus makawai) was collected. It has never been seen or collected since - a good challenge for the twitchers amonggst you!
From Zambezi town I was intending to travel north to Chavuma, and cross the Zambezi river there to drive across the Minyanya Plain where White-throated Francolin (Francolinus albogularis) can be heard in the early morning.
Continuing west to the Angolan border, south and then turning east back towards Zambezi town one crosses the South Kasiji river, a good site for the Shining-Blue Kingfisher (Alcedo quadribrachys), also in the early morning.
From there I was planning to zigzag south reaching Katima Mulilo in Namibia, or possibly turning east while still in Zambia and looking for the Black-cheeked Lovebirds (Agapornis nigrigenis).
However, all above plans were dropped due to the high rainfall, and the fact that an old problem with my leg was starting to trouble me. It just gives me the excuse to return again, although this time at a more sensible time, such as September well before the rains.