The Shoebill, King of the Swamps.

If ever there was an enigmatic African bird, it has to be Balaeniceps rex, otherwise known as the Shoebill. One of the most sought-after bird species on the continent, the large blue-grey bird stands nearly four feet tall and is characterised by a giant, shoe-horn like bill with a wicked hook on the tip. This hook helps it to latch on to its preferred prey of African Lungfish and other slippery denizens of its swampy domain. It is a striking bird to behold, seeming to possess an aristocratic streak, as if considering itself to be somewhat superior to the other birds in its realm. This might sound a bit melodramatic, but bear in mind that the species name is rex or ‘King’.

It is sometimes referred to as a stork, yet its taxonomic status is not exactly clear. Current thinking is that it is related to the Pelicans. It is placed in its own Family, Balaenicipitidae, making it a monotypic species which, along with the Hamerkop, seem to be the missing links between Pelicans and Storks. It is not a widely distributed bird, only occurring in remote Papyrus swamps in Zambia, Uganda and Sudan, and is one bird that you definitely want to put on your life list…

Lawson’s are offering the chance to see the Shoebill in the Bangweulu Swamps in north-western Zambia on ‘The Quest for the Shoebill’ safari, 19^th – 31^st May 2012. The safari is based around an expedition to find the Shoebill from Shoebill Island Camp, the only accommodation venue in the swamps. In May the water levels should allow for views from canoe, though some walking may be required. In addition to the Shoebill the region offers game viewing, with up to 100 000 endemic Black Lechwe occupying the floodplains adjacent to the swamp, and plenty of other birds to be seen. Other destinations on the safari include Kasanka National Park, home to the semi-aquatic Sitatunga antelope; Mutinondo Wilderness, a superb Miombo birding venue; and South Luangwa National Park, Zambia’s flagship reserve and one of the great game parks of Africa.

This safari was designed by John Davies, our South-Central Africa specialist, who will also be the guide / leader. See more about John and the Quest for the Shoebill or take a peak at some of our other exciting offerings at www.lawsons-africa.co.za. For further information contact us at info@lawsons-africa.co.za.

John’s Top 10 Birds: Shoebill, Wattled Crane, Ross’s Turaco, Bar-winged Weaver, African Finfoot, Pel’s Fishing-Owl, African Skimmer, Böhm’s Bee-eater, Spotted Creeper and Bocage’s Akalat.

John’s Top 5 Mammals: Leopard, Four-toed Elephant Shrew, Black Lechwe, Honey Badger and Sitatunga.

Prices:

6 pax: US$ 6 850 per person sharing

5 pax: US$ 7 650 per person sharing

4 pax: US$ 7 995 per person sharing

3 pax: US$ 10 100 per person sharing

2 pax: US$ 11 000 per person sharing

Single Supplement: US$ 1 150

Traversing the vast Bangweulu Swamps in search of the Shoebill.

Season's Greetings and Merry Christmas from Lawson's.

]]> http://lawsonsafrica.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/seasons-greetings-from-lawsons/feed/ 0 lawsonsafrica IMG_1859_3layers http://lawsonsafrica.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/parc-nacional-da-gorongosa-ticking-off-a-dream/ http://lawsonsafrica.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/parc-nacional-da-gorongosa-ticking-off-a-dream/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:37:05 +0000 lawsonsafrica http://lawsonsafrica.wordpress.com/?p=474 ]]>

Casa dos Leoes.

The Antiga Casa dos Leões, or The Lion House, is nothing more than a small square concrete building, derelict and pock-marked with bullet holes, standing on the edge of a vast green plain. Animals such as Common Waterbuck, Common Reedbuck, Oribi, Warthog and Yellow Baboon dot the plain, while birds crowd the depressions where water lies leftover from the last rainy season, and untold numbers of swallows swarm overhead. It’s a great scene, classical Africa, and somehow the derelict building adds incredible weight to it all. It’s a testament to the history of the Park and the country as a whole, and actually seeing the concrete ruin brings it all home that I’m finally here, in Parc Nacional Da Gorongosa, Mozambique.

Ok, so there weren’t any Lions on the roof of the building, but I’d seen coverage of Gorongosa on television, complete with a pride of Lions on the roof of the Casa dos Leões, and something about the place appealed to me deeply. The building itself was in fact part of a restaurant and park headquarters, built by the Portuguese in the colonial days, but soon abandoned as it was built on a seasonal floodplain which renders much of the park off-limits during the summer wet season. We were at the Lion House on our first morning drive with Rob from Explore Gorongosa, a privately-run ‘eco-camp’ within the National Park. I was accompanied by three birders and wildlife enthusiasts from the United Kingdom, and our goal was to see some of the region’s special birds such as the Green-headed Oriole of Mount Gorongosa, and, on a more basic level, to be part of something new and exciting and to experience something of the pioneering spirit of the place. I’ve written a detailed trip report (you can download the report at http://lawsons-africa.co.za/trip-reports-a-25.html?osCsid=03669dce472c47db1decff58e361505b), including all the bird and animal records for our week-long stay, but I didn’t really have room there to say what I actually thought of Gorongosa.

In one short sentence, Gorongosa was mind-blowing. I’ve visited most of Southern Africa’s big name game parks – Etosha, Chobe, Mana Pools, the Kgalagadi, Kruger and the like – and Gorongosa is without a doubt the most scenic and breathtaking of them all. It’s classical Africa, with wide open vistas; flocks of snow-white Cattle Egrets floating down among herds of animals spread across the vast plains; seasonal pans teeming with water birds (in one view I counted at least 15 Saddle-billed Storks); forests of yellow-green Fever Trees under breath-taking afternoon cloudscapes; dense, jungle-like Borassus Palm savannah where herds of elephants hide… Gorongosa is aptly described as “Africa’s Lost Eden” by National Geographic and is a must for birders, photographers and general Africa aficionados alike.

Birding:

In terms of the birding, the speculifer race of the Green-headed Oriole, which is endemic to Mount Gorongosa, is the undisputed star of the list, and in fact many hard-core birding groups only visit the mountain, skipping out the National Park altogether. Well, we weren’t quite as hard-core as that, and actually spent enough time in the region to enjoy it for what it is while at the same time adding a few specials to our list. We were very lucky with the Oriole, getting some great views on the forest edge rather than in the forest itself, where the canopy is 60 feet above your head. Overall we recorded 211 bird species, which is not bad considering that 90% of our time was spent in one general location. I really enjoyed the ‘epic’ birding around the lagoons and pans, where one could sit for long periods of time observing the bird behaviour and scanning for new species. Some of our group were a little disappointed in not bagging a few of the other specials such as Black-and-White Flycatcher and Chestnut-fronted Helmet-Shrike, but overall everyone really enjoyed the birding experience. For me one thing was clear, and that was that I need to spend more time there to get an accurate picture of the birding scenario. I’m not qualified to make scientific statements, but to me it seems that the huge numbers of Baboons could be having an effect on the numbers of smaller birds, and that brings me to the mammals.

Game viewing:

I would describe the game viewing as good, but somewhat unbalanced. The most numerous species are Common Waterbuck, Common Reedbuck, Oribi, Warthog and Yellow Baboon, and these are abundant. I’m certainly not used to seeing Oribi in large numbers, and the Baboons seem unusually brazen due to the lack of medium-sized predators. Leopards are scarce to non-existent, probably hunted out for their skins, and without them the Baboons seem to have lost their ties to trees and other forms of cover, spending a lot of time right out in the open on the floodplain. They also seem to move around quite a bit at night, which is pretty much unheard of in the Kruger National Park. Warthogs have also benefited from the lack of medium-sized predators, as have Bushpigs, which are also to be seen feeding out in the open floodplain during the day. There are Lions in the reserve, though we didn’t see any, and without many large prey animals such as Buffalo, Zebra and Wildebeest, the Lions probably prey on Warthogs and other smaller species quite a bit, thus behaving more like Leopards than Lions. Cheetah have recently been reintroduced, though of the four original animals only two remain – we saw one of them – but it seems to be an ideal environment for Cheetah to hunt in, with plenty of small antelope feeding on the edge of the floodplain where there’s cover for the Cheetah to stalk and open space for them to run down their quarry. Without Leopards the smaller predators have been able to flourish, and we saw two Servals, Large Grey Mongoose (a lifer for me), Water Mongoose (only the second sighting for me) and had many sightings of Civet and Large-spotted Genet. We saw large herds of Elephants, but kept our distance as they can be very aggressive, which is understandable after years of war and heavy poaching. So overall the game viewing was good, but to me it seems that there are certain imbalances in the whole food chain, which again is not surprising when considering the poaching and mass commercial hunting of previous years. Many people are working hard on the restoration project, so hopefully balance will be restored in the future.

The Bitter-Sweet Nature of it all:

Where once there was forest.

It is very encouraging to see and learn about the transformation of Gorongosa, from battle ground and killing field to a functioning National Park which is attracting a lot of international attention. When people with vision and ability get involved, great things can happen – watch the National Geographic film entitled “Africa’s Lost Eden” and you’ll be left feeling very upbeat about conservation in Africa. However, there’s a yang to the yin of the reconstruction of Gorongosa. The National Park is obviously part of a greater ecosystem, one which is under increasing pressure from man. On the main road from Beira, a large town not too far away, every second or third truck is hauling huge logs for export. On the outskirts of the town large yards are stacked with thousands upon thousands of these logs, where they are cut into thick planks and exported, some say to China. I’m not sure where they are coming from, or where they are going, but somewhere there’s deforestation occurring on a large scale. I’m also not sure about regulations and sustainability, but to the tourist concerned about the environment, it leaves a sickening hollow in the guts. In addition, there’s the charcoal trade which is contributing to the deforestation. In between the heavy trucks hauling giant logs are smaller trucks hauling bags of charcoal to the towns and cities. Cleared areas become machambas, or subsistence agriculture plots, where the locals eke a living out of the now dry red earth. This cut and farm system is occurring high up on the slopes of Mount Gorongosa, which is the water source for the National Park, and thus the entire Lake Urema system is under threat. Throw in talk of a Chinese gold mine in the escarpment to the west of the park, and you have the same bag of threats facing Mapungubwe National Park, Selous, the Serengeti and many other ‘protected’ areas.

I’ll end off with a story told by Rob of Explore Gorongosa, and apologies if I don’t have it quite correct but the point is made: a lady who had lived in Beira during the Portuguese colonial days had the opportunity to revisit Gorongosa recently, having not been to the area since leaving when the troubles started in the early 1980’s. She knew someone who was part of the restoration project, and confided that she was looking forward to the drive up from Beira, where one had to turn on the vehicle headlights during the day as the road passed through a closed-canopy forest that cut off most of the daylight. When she actually got there however, she was struck silent. The road passes through nothing more than scrub and bush interspersed with fields of maize. There’s absolutely no sign that there was ever a forest there….

The photo below is of the Antigo Miradouro dos Hipopotomus, at one time a bustling little restaurant overlooking Lake Urema. Again this old ruin adds a forlorn element to the natural landscape. To see more photos from our Gorongosa trip have a look at the Latest Safari Gallery page on this blog.

Antigo Miradouro dos Hipopotomus.

Young male Leopard with Impala kill by spotlight.

Night drives are always popular while on safari. Many of the predators and smaller mammals are more active under the cover of darkness, especially during the hot and dry October / November period. Sometimes however night drives can be a bit boring. It’s generally frowned upon to shine spotlights on those animals which are active during the day, such as Giraffe, Elephant, Rhino and Cheetah, so the range of species to be seen at night is far smaller. Combine this with a field of view that is restricted to the reach of the spotlight, and you may have an experience that doesn’t quite live up to expectations. Sometimes however, a night drive can deliver the highlight of your safari. On a recent 10-day safari one of our highlights came at night when we encountered a young male Leopard with an Impala kill. He had in fact stolen the kill from a female Leopard and was quite unconcerned with our presence. We observed him resting, feeding and then hauling the carcass up into a tree, a fantastic viewing experience and something to be remembered for a long time to come. Night photography presents many challenges, but a bit of know-how can deliver great results. Most people switch to flash, but this harsh while light can destroy the mood. I prefer to keep the flash off to get the warmth and mood of the spotlight. Firstly, you need a bean bag for stability. In this case I rested a bean bag on the door of the vehicle to get a stable platform. I upped the ISO to 800 (some cameras can handle much higher ISO, but with my Canon 550D I need to keep it as low as possible to avoid excessive noise). I used Tv mode to generate as high a shutter speed as possible – you can also use Manual mode to do this. I zoomed in close, as this means that more light fills the frame (the further out you are the more darkness there is to cope with). Make sure to have your center-point on the brightest part of the subject, which with cats is often the white of the underparts. Take a steadying breath and shoot off some shots, and then review to make sure you are getting reasonable sharpness. Check out the ‘Leopard Hoisting Kill’ video on the Lawson’s Wildlife Channel on Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/lawsonswildlife.

Under a foggy sky we left the Namaqualand region early in the morning, heading eastwards towards Augrabies Falls National Park. The sky cleared as we entered the vast open plains of the Bushmanland region, with the perfectly straight black line of the road bisecting a huge basin of yellow grass plains,   merging with stark black mountains in the distance. Near a small spot on the map known as Aggenys we turned southwards off the main road and into the Koa Dune Field, a region of red sand dunes in the middle of nowhere and the precise habitat of the endemic Red Lark. This place brought back to me the words to one of U2’s greatest hits – “…high on a desert plain, where the streets have no name…”, Except there weren’t even any streets here. After some good Lark sightings we headed back to the main road, stopped in Poffadder for toasted ‘samies’ and then continued on to Augrabies, passing our first Sociable Weaver nest attached to a roadside telephone pole, which marked the south-western point in this iconic species’ distribution.

At Augrabies Falls National Park, some of the main viewing platforms had been destroyed by floods a few months previously, but we still got some good views of the Orange River (or Gariep River as it has been renamed) plunging through the narrow chasm in spectacular fashion (it must have been unbelievable during the floods!). We had two nights here, and on the second headed out with tripods and cameras for some awesome star photography, shooting a perfectly placed Quiver Tree lit up by the rising moon and set against an inky blue sky bursting with stars.

Moving on from Augrabies, we stopped for supplies in Upington and then ventured forth into the Kalahari, the Great Thirstland of north-western South Africa, south-eastern Namibia and south-western Botswana. The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park covers around 36 000 square kilometers in South Africa and Botswana. It’s a harsh landscape, with the south-western portion made up of mile upon mile of linear red sand dunes intersected by the perennially dry Aoub and Nossob Rivers, with hardy Camel Thorn trees lining the riverbeds and providing shade, shelter and nutrition for a host of animal and bird species. The larger mammals that live here are tough and hardy, some able to live without permanent surface water and others adapted to cover huge distances in search of it. For me it’s a spectacular place in itself, and it can also offer some spectacular game viewing, with lion, leopard and cheetah among the first-prize finds on any given day. It’s not easy though, with huge distances between camps, rough roads and not too many options in terms of routes. We had three lion sightings, two leopard and two cheetah sightings in 6 days, which was not too bad by any standards. The cheetah (three in one group and a female with four cubs in the other group) however were far from the road in both cases, and I think all of us were expecting more action around the waterholes, which are usually the center of all activity. Perhaps it was the time of year, with low temperatures overnight (though at a few degrees above zero on the coldest morning not quite as low as they could have been) and cool days for the most part. Still, with a lot of time out driving around we racked up some good sightings, as our photographs will show. The highlights for each person on a tour are always different, but for me they included the awesome remoteness we experienced at Kieliekrankie Wilderness Camp; the lioness and her three cubs on a Gemsbok kill near Nossob Rest Camp; the close-up leopard sighing on our first full day; and numerous spectacular birds such as Crimson-breasted Shrike, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Bateleur, Secretarybird, Kori Bustard and plenty of others seen and photographed.

All in all it was a great experience, with many highs and very few lows over the 3500 kilometer journey from Cape Point to the Kalahari. There’s no doubt that the great weather helped to skew the highs:lows ratio  in favour of the former, but it’s certainly a trip worth doing. Any takers out there?

Our fist stop was West Coast National Park, a large protected area surrounding the azure-hued Langebaan Lagoon. Even though it was a public holiday, we arrived before most other people, entering via the southern gate and birding our way to the Postberg Section of the reserve. This section is only open in the August and September ‘flower season’, when it is at it’s best, with vistas of green, yellow and white, set against the blue sky (ok, so we were lucky with the weather), with the Atlantic Ocean extending into the distance. This section has the most wildlife too, and we recorded Bat-eared Fox, Eland, Bontebok, Cape Mountain Zebra, Oryx, Red Hartebeest, Kudu, Springbok and Steenbok as new mammals for the trip. New bird species also began appearing on our list, including White-backed Mousebird, Black Harrier, Grey-winged Francolin and Southern Black Korhaan. Unfortunately we hit the tides wrong when it came to the bird hides on the lagoon, with not a single wader to be seen at Geelbek Hide. Seeberg Hide did have a few birds to be seen however, such as Greater Flamingo, Grey Plover, Common Whimberel, African Black Oystercatcher and others. After a night in the town of Langebaan we headed on to Lambert’s Bay, taking the less used route up along the coast. We had a wonderful stop on Bokkoms Laan in Velddrif, where we were entertained by two large and hungry Eastern White Pelicans. To put you in the picture, ‘bokkoms’ is the local word for a dried fish delicacy unique to the West Coast. On Bokkoms Laan several small factories dry their catches in racks on the edge of the Berg River estuary. The drying fish attract plenty of birds such as Kelp, Hartlaub’s and Grey-headed Gulls (Grey-headed is more an east coast bird, and thus relatively uncommon here), Grey Herons and Pelicans. One of the guys cleaning the fresh catch saw us photographing the birds, and was soon tossing fish to the waiting pelicans. Boy, that yellow throat sack is quite something! Moving on, the prime attraction (or perhaps only attraction…) of Lambert’s Bay is a spectacular Cape Gannet colony. Spectacular to see, and to smell, that is. At the time of our visit around 14 000 pairs were gathered, with a few thousand more due to arrive over the next few weeks as breeding time approached. We arrived in the afternoon, which is not the best time to photograph them as the sinking sun is on the wrong side. With fine ideas about getting great shots in the morning, when the rising sun would be behind us, we almost half-heartedly took some shots of the birds. Well, it pays not to have expectations as far as the weather goes, as the next day started off with a thick convection fog covering the land and sea. We headed down to the colony anyway, which was extra fragrant with the combined smell of a few hundred Cape Fur Seals and the gannets blowing straight into our faces, before leaving Lambert’s for Namaqualand. With a long drive northwards through the arid hinterlands, we arrived in the hamlet of Kamieskroon for some lunch before heading west into the Skilpad Section of Namaqua National Park, which was resplendent in a cloak of orange daisies. In the afternoon we arrived in Okiep, where we were booked into the Okiep Country Hotel (some venues are rather liberal with the term ‘country’). We had two nights here, exploring Goegab Nature Reserve on our full day. The morning started foggy, with the fog lifting to reveal a cold and windy day. Birding was tough, but we did see our only Ludwig’s Bustard and Black-headed Canary for the tour (there’s always something worth while, even when the birding is a bit slow). The following day we left Okiep early, heading across the vast and empty yellow-grass plains to the east of Springbok, headed for Augabies Falls, the ‘Place of Great Noise’…

As the safari covered a lot of ground I’m going to break the posts up into sections, starting with the Cape Peninsula. When the weather is good I think that the Cape is surely one of the most scenic places on earth. The peninsula of Table Mountain Sandstone and igneous intrusions is like the index finger on your right hand if you make a semi-circle with it and your thumb. The open space in the middle will be False Bay, and your thumb will form Cape Hangklip on the far side, with a steep and foreboding fold mountain range known as the Helderberg lying towards your wrist. We were staying on the inside of your index finger about three-quarters of the way down in the naval village of Simon’s Town, with views across False Bay from our hotel. Our birding experience began with a visit to the spectacular Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. While August is the best time for birds and flowers in the Cape, the weather is always a bit of a worry. A clear and calm day dawned however, much to our relief as my clients’ previous South African safari was dogged by torrential rain for days on end. Kirstenbosch was at its finest however, and with plenty of nectar-feeders such as Orange-breasted, Malachite and Southern Double-collared Sunbirds and Cape Sugarbirds visiting the flowering Proteas and Leucospermums we were soon filling up memory cards at an alarming rate. This continued after lunch at the Boulder’s Beach African Penguin colony, which was a stone’s throw (or a penguin’s waddle) away from Boulder’s Beach Lodge where we were staying. In fact the penguins are an integral part of Simon’s Town and we had several chicks which spent the day right outside our rooms and at night were visited by the adults, bringing food and braying like donkeys through the night. One literally had to side-step between penguins to get to the vehicle in the morning and if the noise of the first night hadn’t decreased significantly for the next two nights I’m sure that the penguins would have slipped way down on the popularity scale.

On our second day we headed on an incredibly scenic drive all the way around False Bay to Rooi Els, a small holiday hamlet where the endemic and highly sought-after Cape Rockjumper can be found. And find them we did, getting pretty good views as a pair of them flitted from rock to rock on the slopes above us. From there we visited the African Penguin colony at Stony Point, which is larger in size than the Boulders colony and in fact offers better viewing and photographic opportunities (with far fewer tourists to get in the way). Like we needed more penguin photos… We then returned via the Strandfontein Sewage Works, where we had some great photographic opportunities with water-associated birds such as Greater Flamingo, Little Egret, African Spoonbill, Cape Teal, Pied Avocet, Malachite Kingfisher and others. On our final day in the area we visited Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, again under idyllic weather conditions, and then returned to Simon’s Town via Kommetjie and the tern roost, where we failed to positively identify anything that wasn’t a large and yellow-billed Swift Tern.

All in all it was a fantastic three days birding, with the enjoyment due in a large part to the perfect weather, which in fact persisted for the rest of the tour (apart from a cold and windy day here and there). From the Cape our next stop was the West Coast, including Langebaan and Lambert’s Bay. Give me a chance to work on the photos and I’ll have the next section posted soon.

On Saturday I pick up Janet and Alan and the tour begins. We have three nights at Boulder’s Beach, home to a colony of endemic African Penguins; then head up to the West Coast National Park for some waders; on to Lambert’s Bay for the spectacular Cape Gannet colony; on to Springbok in the heart of the Namaqualand flower region; Augrabies Falls National Park where the mighty Orange River crashes through a narrow gorge; and finally six nights of game viewing and birding bliss in the awesome Kagalagadi Transfrontier Park. I’ll report back with a photographic record of the tour!

Many keen birders have been defeated by the elusive Pel’s Fishing-Owl. Some have launched several campaigns in the hopes of netting a Pel’s, as the bird is known (you just don’t need to mention the rest of the name). Some have repeatedly visited the prime spots such as Ndumo in KwaZulu-Natal, the Limpopo River Valley or the Okavango in the prime months and still come away empty handed. If that sounds like you, you’re not alone. Don’t count me among your ranks however. I’ve been lucky – extremely lucky – even though I’ve only seen it once by chance. But then again, I’ve only actually gone looking for it once, so I’m currently 1 – 1 vs. the mythical Pel’s.

In 2002 I was a guide at Kapama Game Reserve near Hoedspruit, doing the usual open-vehicle safaris, with the Big Five as the main quarry. One afternoon, I was driving down into a medium-sized dry river bed when something large and orange took flight from high up in a tree to my left and glided quietly across the riverbed, dissapearing out of sight on the other side. “No, it just can’t be”, I said to myself. But it could only be – there is no other large, orange bird, unless one of the big roosters from the neighbouring village suddenly decided to take to the skies, but in that case I’m sure there would have been more noise and flapping. My tracker was equally dumbfounded, and forgetting about Lions and Leopards for the moment I yanked the wheel to the left and engaged low-range as I turned into the riverbed. There was a dog-leg in the riverbed and I thought that we just may be able to locate the bird further downstream, with a bit of luck. Sure enough, as we came around the bend, we saw the bird sitting in a large, dry Jackalberry tree, like a big ginger tom cat up on a junk-shed roof. Unbelievable stuff, such a random sighting of the region’s most south-after bird. I put word out on the radio and soon managers and other guides where on their way to the sighting, eager to put a Pel’s on their lists. It was the first ever record for the reserve and as far as I know the last. I suspect it was a sub-adult bird dispersing from its area of birth and looking for suitable habitat. I don’t think it found the required habitat on Kapama either, as by the afternoon there was no sign of it. I must have been blessed with luck that afternoon however, as after the Pel’s we went on to see a Lioness come out second best to a Porcupine and a lucky Aardvark who just made it into his burrow ahead of a pride of hungry Lions. Three extraordinary sightings and a Pel’s on my list… No pressure on me!

The attached photograph shows a sub-adult Pel’s which for a while was hanging around the Explore Gorogosa Camp in Mozambique’s awesome Gorongosa National Park, and thanks to them for letting me use the photograph. If you keep scrolling down on this page you’ll come across details of our recce trip to Gorongosa in November 2011. We’re had a lot of interest but still have a few places left! Who knows, you might put a Pel’s on your list… If you do, I’ll buy you a Bell’s!

Big or small? Orange eye or black eye?
The first thing to look at is the eye. A brilliant and somewhat psycho looking orange eye means you’re either looking at a Cape Glossy or a Greater Blue-eared, as the other two have black eyes. The former are also smaller birds than the latter, with shorter tails.

Greater Blue-eared vs. Cape Glossy.
Once you’ve cast out Burchell’s and Meve’s because of the orange eye, smaller size and shorter tail, you’ve hit probably the biggest challenge in deciding whether it’s a Cape Glossy or a Greater Blue-eared. Good light helps immensely in this case, as does a good, close-up view. Luckily, in picnic sites such as Tshokwane and in the rest camps these birds are often right at your feet, and these are great places to get to grips with these two species. While the Cape Glossy is slightly larger, the most reliable method of identification I know of is to look at the belly. In the Cape Glossy it has a green sheen, while in Greater Blue-eared it is a deep blue. The Greater Blue-eared also has large non-iridescent patches behind the eye and is a lot shinier and more vibrant than the Cape Glossy. Use your ears too, especially if the birds are a bit further away, as the Greater Blue-eared has a distinctive nasal wail.

Burchell’s vs. Meves.
This is an easy call as it depends on your location, in the Kruger Park at least. Meve’s occurs right up in the north, and you’ll normally start to see them as you approach the Levuvhu River. Burchell’s are more common in the south, especially around Satara, and generally don’t occur north of the Shingwedzi River. In areas where they may co-occur, Burchell’s is larger and heavier in body, while Meve’s is slender and more compact. Of course the tail is distinctive in Meve’s, formerly known as Long-tailed Starling, being long and pointed.