A two week birding trip in July 2017, designed to search for a shortlist of 14 sort after species, resulted in 11 of these being observed and photographed. The birding highlight of the trip was finding the highly localised, Angolan Cave Chat in the remote Zebra Mountains of northern Namibia.
We where fortunate enough to veiw two individuals one morning. The sound these birds made resonated loudly across the basalt boulder strewn slope and the their striking appearance and interesting behaviour made them a very special sighting. We are thankful to Peter Morgan of Kunene River Lodge who helped us find this stunning and highly localised species.
Hereo Chat another block-buster of a bird was found in the Spitzkoppe in the Namib Desert, and two sightings of this near endemicspecies where had on consecutive mornings. Souza's Shrike was found with the help of Mark Paxton of Shamvura Lodge and we where fortunate to enjoy excellent views of this rare Southern African resident after a three hour search which had not been seen by other birders in many months, thankyou Mark, Charlie and Tunsi for your time and effort and a fun time!
Herero Chat
Souza's Shrike
Travelling to Katima Mulilo on the Zambezi River resulted in views of the only known pair of Yellow-throated Leafloves in the sub-region and while staying with Curt at Caprivi Houseboat Lodge we also had stunning views of African Finfoots and Schalow's Turacos. The pair of leafloves had been a bit scarce, and we had learnt that they hadnt been seen on a regular basis. We considered ourselves very lucky in seeing them as another group of birders who spent four days at the lodge after we had left did not see them.
Benguela Long-billed Lark
Chirping and Tinkling Cisticola where also well seen while birding in the Caprivi strip, along with a good diversity of typical moist savannah species which included stunners like the Racket-tailed Roller.
Racket-tailed Roller
Rockrunner was another trip favourite and after an extensive search in the Waterberg Plateau we where rewarded with lovely close interactions with of two very confiding individuals.
Rockrunner
Other sought after species seen included: Rüppels Parrot and Korhaan, Rosy-faced Lovebird, Benguela Long-billed Lark, Gray's Lark, Rufous-tailed Palm Thrush, the elusive Cinderella Waxbill, Barred Wren Warbler, Bare-cheeked and Hartlaub's Babbler, Violet-backed Woodhoepoe and Rufous-bellied Tit to mention some of them. Sharp-tailed Starling remained a bogey bird for us, despite concerted efforts to locate this species. A group had been seen in the area the day before we searched, but we where not lucky enough to see them, so next time!
Rosy-faced Lovebird
Read the full trip report here
