TUJERING (morning visit) – Farabanta
track (afternoon)
I love the open woodland habitat
that is found at Tujering, scattered trees tower of low scrub and it is easy to
see birds as they up into the trees. It is a good area to see raptors too as
there is far more open sky to view.
We arrived at 9am and quickly got
into our stride with sightings of Chiffchaff, Red-winged Warbler, Grey Headed
Sparrow and Village Weaver all in the same bush. Next we found a Cardinal
Woodpecker (male) which showed very well, as did a Whinchat. A Striped
Kingfisher was very noisy and a Lanner Falcon posed nicely for the cameras.
Black-crowned Tchagras called from all directions and we continued adding new
species as we found Silverbill, Firefinch. Cordon-bleu, Lavender Waxbill and
another Whinchat.
As we crossed some fields where
ground-nuts were growing we came across a White-fronted Black Chat, another
good bird for list. We then located a Lesser Honeyguide which called
incessantly form the canopy of a nearby tree. Yellow-fronted Canaries were nice
to see and a juvenile Diderik Cuckoo gave us the run around. A Grey Kestrel was
found as it sat on top of a tree and many Red-winged Warblers sang from all
directions. Birds flying around us included Black Kites (yellow-billed), Grasshopper
Buzzard, Pied-winged Swallows, Red-chested Swallow and Palm Swifts.
By 11 am it started to get hot,
we had logged over 40 species so we decided to head back to the hotel for a
siesta. A quick stop at the bridge at Tanji produced Caspian Tern, Pied
Kingfisher, Grey-headed Gull, Whimbrel, cattle Egret and Hooded Vultures.
Farabanta Track (pm)
At 3pm we set off for an
afternoon walk along the tracks adjacent to the forest at Farabanta, it was
still quite hot when we got there but it did cool off. Unfortunately there were
too many birds around and it took some effort to even find one! We spent some time
stalking a party of Stone Partridges without success and then a party of
White-crowned Helmet Shrikes showed briefly but failed to come back even when
lured by tape.
We finally found a new species, a
Black Wood-hoopoe called and then showed well for a brief period, this was a
good find and enjoyed by the group. We also watched a Variable Sunbird preening
and a very close Red-billed Firefinch. Our second new bird for the trip was an
African Hawk-eagle, this superb bird was perched high in a dead tree, the light
wasn’t good for photography but the bird was special.
The walk back to the bus produced
very little, a greater Honeyguide showed well but it was now beginning to get
dark and the wildlife was settling down for the night. We got back to the hotel
at 7:30pm in the dark, this was the end of our last full day of the tour.
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