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Newsflash
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Written by Dirk Human
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Thursday, 30 July 2009 |
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Want to learn more about birds and birding, but you don't know where or how to start? Then take part in our brand spanking new introductory birding course right away! |
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Birds and Birding news..
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Written by Jackie During
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Monday, 08 February 2010 |
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Appeal to all the wildlife conservationists and philanthropists
Dhartee Development Society, a non-government organization, in collaboration with the UNDP Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme has taken initiative to save worldwide threatened Vulture species in Sindh, Pakistan. In this regard, the DDS has launched a unique Vulture Restaurant project near Nangar Parkar, the only natural habitat found recently, and providing meat to birds. Trained staff with veterinary parishioners has been hired to take care of nests and breeding of the bird.  read further here.. .
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The Sociable Nest
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Written by Jason Anderson
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Monday, 08 February 2010 |
Finally, through a very knowledgeable moto driver, on Monday 1st February, I managed to find the now-almost (to me at least) mythical forest of Makera, which I had been told about when I was still in the UK by one of the ORTPN guides at Birdfair International: `There is a small patch of gallery forest in Kirihe District'. Since then, I have been wondering how such a forest could exist in the comparatively dry south-east of Rwanda, and this had fuelled my curiosity to find it. An early start and a 70 minute moto ride north from Nyakarambi, we finally arrived at the forest, and I was surprised. Very near the Tanzanian border, it is in a shallow valley in an area of low population, with quite a lot of degraded acacia woodland nearby. However, Makera itself is right on the edge of the papyrus swamps that run along the Akagera River south of the Akagera National Park (GPS probably about 2°11'9.61"S+ 30°50'13.74"E). The forest is small, but, as promised, probably due to the permanent water close beneath the surface, it is thick, dominated by primary growth, verdant broadleaf woodland, swamp palms and those green yukka-like plants in the understorey, as in Buhanga (Does anyone know what they are called?).
I got a good 7 hours' birding in and around the forest. Inside the forest, things were quite quiet. A good population of Blue Monkeys soon turned up, and I found several of the species that are common in woodland tracts here in the east of Rwanda: Yellow-whiskered Greenbul (very common), Yellow-throated Greenbul, Grey Apalis, Paradise Flycatcher, Collared Sunbird, Eastern Black-headed Oriole, Lesser Honeyguide, etc. Nothing too unusual. The local forest `guard' turned up and insisted on accompanying me. However, after a couple of locals with bits of trees waltzed past, I managed, in broken Kinyarwanda combined with mime and sign-language, to explain that perhaps he'd better do more guarding of the forest; I wasn't a threat to the trees. He disappeared. Later in the day, I did find evidence of systematic deforestation. More of that in a separate blog…
As often happens with very thick woodland, the birding was rather more productive around the forest, with Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, White-crested Helmet-Shrike and a pair of lovely Slate-coloured Boubous, who duetted beautifully and posed for very nice photos, which I'll upload to ABID when I get the chance.
The most interesting birds of the day were a pair of unidentified Greenbuls that were busy in the understorey in the thicker, swampier part of the forest, associating with G-b Camaropteras and Paradise Flycatchers. The first impression was of Yellow-streaked Greenbul, but they didn't match up to birds I've observed well in Nyungwe (indeed, the same subspecies would be very unlikely here). My field notes: `white-throat, pale belly, russet tail, browny-grey head, weak pale superilium, small bill same colour as head, white on wings – alula (only slight mark)'. I also noted the contact call, fairly frequent and similar in timbre and pitch to a Song Thrush in the UK. Looking through Stevenson and Fanshawe that evening, I did muse on the possibility of these birds being White-throated Greenbul, but that species has not yet been recorded in Rwanda, so much better views / photos would be necessary to confirm. I wonder if anyone (I suspect only Claudien has visited Makera?) has been there and seen a similar greenbul. Anyway, this definitely warrants a return visit to try to find out more. Next time I'll take my strongest mosquito repellent. On returning to Kibungo I counted 48 mosquito bites on my ankles from day flying (hades?) mosquitoes!!
Jason Anderson
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The Sociable Nest
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Written by globalbirdtrekkers.org
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Monday, 08 February 2010 |
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Congratulations to Eric Walker whose beautiful shot of nesting Osprey was elected as the January 2010 Theme of The Week Winner!
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The Sociable Nest
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Written by Charleen O'Donoghue
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Friday, 05 February 2010 |
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The Theme of The Week for this week is...Juvenile Bird! You can submit your photos in either the Trekkie's Forums or in the relevant GBT Flickr Group Discussion . Remember a winner is selected each month end and receives a prize for GBT. 
PHOTO BY C.O'DONOGHUE
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The Sociable Nest
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Written by Katja Soehngen
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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 |
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© by James Lagden Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus)
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Birds and Birding news..
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Written by globalbirdtrekkers.org
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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 |
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for any queries please see here. 
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The Sociable Nest
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Written by Jason Anderson
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Friday, 29 January 2010 |
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PHOTO BY JASON ANDERSON It's great having a zoologist and wildlife guide in the family! My cousin Jo came over from Tanzania with an adventurous client, and we had a ball in Nyungwe. As well as memorable encounters with chimpanzees, grey-cheeked mangabeys, and vicious safari ants at the campsite, we saw some amazing birds. First off, we stopped on the way into the forest at a small area of swamp with heather and other highland heath plants. A Rwenzori Double-collared Sunbird put in a good appearance and allowed me to get reasonable photos and recordings of the call. It's interesting that, as Marcell has said, the bill length and the call are the only surefire separators from Northern Double-collared, which is present throughout the forest. Rwenzori DC subspecies in Nyungwe is schubotzi according to Stevenson & Fanshawe.
The next day we were up early, hurtling down soggy hillsides in pursuit of man's closest relatives, which we observed well for an hour feeding in a fruiting fig tree. On the way back from visiting the Banda chimps we were lucky enough to spot at least two Kungwe Apalises (Buff-throated Apalis if not split) in a mixed apalis flock, also including Mountain Masked Apalis and Chestnut-throated Apalis along the Rukuzi Trail, where the guide Narcisse confirmed he had also seen Kungwe. I also got reasonable photos of the stunning Purple-breasted Sunbird, defending a tree (not Symphonia) from other sunbirds. Nearby, Jo spotted a tangled Blue-headed Sunbird nest in a tree about 10m above the ground. Later that afternoon, during a prolonged rainstorm we came across a male African Goshawk standing on the road, appearing to be staring at his own reflection in a puddle. We managed to walk down to the Kamiranzovu Swamp, but it was so wet that we recorded not a single bird at the swamp, although I got a Red-throated Alethe on the way back and Jo spotted a Grey-winged Robin-Chat....
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The Sociable Nest
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Written by Jean
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Tuesday, 26 January 2010 |
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It was one of those days on the dam where you, as a guide, breathe a big sigh of relief when the guests get on board displaying a bird book because there is not going to be much else (apart from great beauty) out there. Wind, waves (even the hippos sleep deep to avoid the rough) and cool means few of the big and hairys will be out on the shore. Anway the guest were enjoing just being out there and oohing and aahing over the featherd kind - although we did not see anything spectacular untill right near the end of the cruise. Suddenly the one guest shouts "Is that an Osprey? I have never seen one" with great excitement. Truly it was an Osprey trying to hunt in those conditions, poor thing. We watched it cruise past us diving and missing a catch every now and again. As it moved into the distance my guests went "That was so special. I whish we could do it again". In a moment of madness (probably due to my "empty nest syndrome" - the tawny chick has well and truly flown the nest) I decided to try and replicate the experience for them and turned the boat heading for deep water and picking up speed well away from shore to avoid disturbing anybody/thing. We belted back up the dam and got well ahead of the osprey, parked the boat and the bird obligingly repeated the experience once again for the guests.
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