It was another 05:00 alarm call. We were a few minutes late leaving the hotel, due to Richard knocking on our door with an urgent request to make some coffee using our hotel room kettle. He had filled their kettle, only to find the water pouring out of a hole in the bottom. Another example of a posh-looking hotel not keeping to appearances. Still half of the hotels we stayed in didn't provide kettles at all.
We drove for about an hour to the Tombingo Forest. Another poor name given the forest had been heavily logged and we were Birding along a very wide dirt track, which was easily wide enough to create a UK dual carriageway with safety bars. The result was we were not close to any habitat and what habitat there was, had thick secondary cover which made it impossible to get off the dirt road. It proved to be a frustrating site to visit as the Birds we did see weren't close to the road. To add to the frustration, it was another morning with overcast conditions and poor light for photography. The Avian highlight for the day was seeing my first Grey Tit-flycatcher: a species I had missed on my South African trip back in 1990 & the only Tick of the day for me.
Niall, Phil & Richard on the dirt road
The very wide dirt road showing how trashed the habitat was
There were still a few large trees left, but not many
Great Blue Turaco: They occur in the lowland rainforests of West & Central Africa from Guinea to West Kenya & as far South as North Angola
Great Blue Turaco: It is always a good day when I see this two & a half foot long Turaco. I can still clearly remember the excitement when we saw our first ones in the Kenya's Kakamega Forest back in 1987
Bohm's Spinetail: We saw the first of a number of sightings of the bizarre Bohm's Spinetails. They have virtually no tail, just a few short fine spines and a very erratic Bat-like flight. They are one of my favourite Swifts
Bohm's Spinetail: This is the nominate boehmi subspecies which occurs from Angola to South Democratic Republic of the Congo, North Zambia & West Tanzania. Another subspecies occurs from South East Kenya to the North East of South Africa
Woodland Kingfisher: This is the cyanoleuca subspecies which occurs from Angola, Botswana & Natal to North West Tanzania. Two other subspecies occur across the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa
Yellow-crested Woodpecker: Another far too-silhouetted photo. This monotypic species occurs from South East Nigeria & Cameroon to the extreme South of South Sudan, Uganda, West Kenya, Central Democratic Republic of the Congo & North West Angola
Orange-veined Dropwing: This Dragonfly makes the Red-veined Darters that turn up & sometimes breed in Dorset, look very dull. Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify a number of the Dragonfly species from my published photos
We could heard several Gabon Coucals, but no matter how hard we looked, they remained hidden in the dense secondary cover. We also tried for two calling White-spotted Flufftails. Like the ones near Uige, they came close but they wouldn't show themselves. After about three hours we decided to give up on this site as the forest was just too far away. As we were leaving the area, we saw this Ayres's Hawk-eagle, that was sitting in a distant tree.
Ayres's Hawk-eagle: This is a widespread species that occurs in woodlands & savanna of Sub-Saharan Africa. Generally, they have streaking on the breast, but they can show clean breasts like this individual. It looks like it has caught some prey which it is holding in its right foot
Our next stop was a bridge over a river which we were visiting in the hope of seeing a White-throated Blue Swallow. We spent a fair bit of time looking, but we had not luck. Part of the problem with looking for some of the species in Angola is most Birders seem to visit between September and November, so there is no certainty that some of the species are present in June.
We drove past this this town on the way to the bridge
One of the Catholic churches in the centre of the town
Cassava: It was a fairly common sight to see these patches of Cassava drying on the roadside
This was a bad section of road for potholes: However, we encountered potholes this bad on quite a few other occasions. Angola is meant to be a rich country with its oil, gas & metals deposits, but the government just doesn't believe in using this money to provide roads, education, hospitals etc for the people
The bridge passed over a sizeable river with Angola Swallows and Wire-tailed Swallows present, but we couldn't find any White-throated Blue Swallows. We met the only Birder we saw in Angola here. He was a South African Birder who was carrying out survey work for a potential dam the government was thinking of building. He confirmed he hadn't seen any White-throated Blue Swallows in the area during his surveys.
Wire-tailed Swallow: The Sub-Saharan African subspecies is the nominate smithii subspecies
Bronze Mannikin: This is a female or immature of the scutata subspecies which occurs from Ethiopia & adjacent South East Sudan and Eastern South Sudan to Angola, North & East Botswana & East South Africa
Next to where we parked, I saw a sign saying there was a large patch of land for sale along the river bank. Then a few minutes later, I saw some other signs for a Testing Area and for Metal Collection. Then I noticed Vanessa, a mine clearance vehicle close to where we had parked. Perhaps this land wasn't a great place to buy if it had been mined during the civil war. It was the only time we saw clear evidence of the problems & the continuing risks of mines in Angola. One advantage of the large numbers of people we were seeing where we were Birding, was plenty of others had probably already walked on the same ground we were visiting & therefore, it was unlikely there were no mines in those areas. However, this site was a location where keeping on the road was the safer option.
The sign for the Testing Area
The sign for the Metal Collection area
I still find it amazing how the Angolan ladies were able to balance large objects on their heads and walk without any need to hold onto the object
Eventually, we gave up on the search for a White-throated Blue Swallow & headed back to the same valley we had visited the previous evening. We drove further into the valley in the hope of better forest, but we couldn't find any.
Yellow-crested Woodpecker: This Yellow-crested Woodpecker showed a lot better than the one in the morning
Yellow-crested Woodpecker
Collared Sunbird: This widespread small brightly-coloured Sunbird was one of my favourites in Angola
Trichonephila fenestrata: There were some impressive Spiders in the valley. Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify this species from my published photos
Trichonephila turneri: This female Spider was even better looking & she had lots of tiny Spiders in the web. Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify this species from my published photos
Finally, the light started to go & we returned to the hotel in N'dalatando. It had been another long day in the field. Sadly, it hadn't been very rewarding on this occasion.
