I've not been on many organised tours as I prefer to organise trips on my own or to travel with mates. However, I've had to book on a few tours where that is the only realistic option due to logistics. One of the things these tours over-hype is choosing the Bird of the Tour. It seems the majority of other punters feel this has to be a Tick and also an endemic or a rare species. Personally, I have no interest in this pointless task as the Bird of the Tour is subjective to the punter. When I've been asked to propose my choices, they generally involve totally different criteria to other punters and a number are not Ticks, endemic or rare.
I was pleased we weren't asked to go through this pointless activity in Angola. But had we been asked, then the species that stood out the most for me in Angola, wasn't a Tick, endemic or rare. It was a Western Green Tinkerbird that flew in after Niall played a recording & sat about four metres from us for the next few minutes. Tinkerbirds are one of the African Barbet family and like most members of the family and the two related families in Asia and Neotropical America, they are usually seen at the tops of tall trees. So, it was a joy to see one in a low tree and within a few metres of us.
