27 Jun 23 - Angola - Another Miombo Patch

The original plan was we were going to have a proper breakfast before heading off on the long drive to Huambo. It would be a driving day with a few roadside stops on the way. But we hadn't seen the endemic Gabela Bushshrike & this was our last chance of seeing one. This was even more frustrating for me as Niall left the site before it was dark the previous evening. After a discussion that evening, the plans were changed to a pre-dawn departure from the accommodation to return for another look for a Gabela Bushshrike at the site where Phil & Richard had managed to get poor untickable flight views & which I had missed completely from standing in a slightly different location. We had about ninety minutes that morning to try & see it, which felt tight. We did heard three start singing about thirty minutes after dawn, but again the first two were very skulky & refused to come out from deep cover. Finally, we tried to look for the third individual from the main track & were all very relieved when Richard said "I've got it": especially as there was only about fifteen minutes left before Niall wanted to leave. That was the last endemic that we needed to see at the Kumbira Forest. We had good views of it, but I failed to get any photographs before it too disappeared from view. Finally, we were happy to leave the forest. It was about an hour of driving to get back to the Fazenda Rio Uiri accommodation to collect our bags & enjoy a rare sit down proper breakfast.

On paper, we had a two hundred mile journey to get to Huambo which was to be our base for the following three nights & two days of Birding. Google Maps said it was about a five hour journey. But Google Maps doesn't allow the time for Birding stops.

The Dombi track crossed this small stream which was quite productive Birding

Phil & Richard (background) further along the track

Some of the Miombo woodland

That's more of the forest gone for firewood or charcoal

The road from Conda quickly left the remains of the Kumbira Forest and surrounding farmland and headed South East through grassland with very large rocks or kopjes. After a while, we turned onto a side track near Dombi which crossed a small river and continued through some light Miombo woodland. This was very productive and we saw at least one Western Miombo Sunbird, a single Anchieta's Sunbird, two African Spotted Creepers and a Miombo Tit, plus, we had better views of two Southern Hyliolas.

Angola Batis: Male. Males are hard to tell from the very similar Chinspot Batis. They can be separated by their short white supercilium, rather than long, white supercilium that a male Chinspot Batis shows. If they have a female with them, the identification is easier as a female Angola Batis does not have the orange chin spot that gives the Chinspot Batis their name. This monotypic species occurs from Forests of West Angola, to the adjacent Democratic Republic of the Congo & South East Gabon

Miombo Tit: This monotypic species occurs in Angola, Zambia, South East Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Zimbabwe & Mozambique

Miombo Tit

African Spotted Creeper: This was one of the species I was most keen to see, having failed to see it on my first trip to Kenya. Unfortunately, there was long grass in the foreground of this photo

African Spotted Creeper: This is the nominate salvadori subspecies which occurs in Angola, Zambia, Malawi to West Kenya, Tanzania & extreme East Uganda

Greencap Eremomela: This is the pulchra subspecies which occurs in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, West Malawi, North East Namibia & North Botswana

Southern Hyliota: This is the inornata subspecies which occurs from Angola to South Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Malawi & North Mozambique

Southern Hyliota: This is one of four species in the family of Hyliotas

Western Violet-backed Sunbird: This is the angolensis subspecies which occurs from Gabon, South Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola to West Tanzania & West Malawi

Western Violet-backed Sunbird

Yellow-throated Petronia: This is the rufitergum subspecies which occurs in South Democratic Republic of the Congo, South West Tanzania, North Malawi, Zambia, Angola & North West Botswana

Bronze Mannikin: Immature. This is the scutate subspecies which occurs from Ethiopia & adjacent South East Sudan and Eastern South Sudan to Angola, North & East Botswana & East South Africa

Broad-tailed Paradise Whydah: This monotypic species occurs from North Angola & Democratic Republic of the Congo to South West Uganda, Kenya & North East South Africa

Namib Rock Agama: Female. This Lizard quickly moved to the vertical side of the bridge. Information on Angolan Agamas & their taxonomy is limited. While this appears to be a too far North to be a Namib Rock Agama, it still appears to be the most likely species. Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who has helped to identify a number of the Lizard species from my published photos

Yellow Pansy: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify a number of the Butterfly species from my published photos

Blue Pansy: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify a number of the Butterfly species from my published photos

After a couple of hours, we had to leave. It was too short a time at this patch of Miombo woodland and we all wanted longer. But we had compromised our time for the day with the final attempt for the Gabela Bushshrike. We still had around two-thirds of the driving to do and some other sites we wanted to stop at. I will cover the rest of the day in the next Blog Post.

20 Jun 23 - Angola - Birding In The Mist

After the impressive views of the Calandula Waterfalls the previous evening, it was disappointing to be up before dawn on the following morning to find it was misty around the Pousada Calandula Lodge. I had hoped it would be a local problem as the Lodge was very close to the waterfalls, but it turned out to be a widespread problem affecting the whole area. It wasn't till mid-morning that the sun burnt the mist off. As a result, Birding & photography was hindered by the mist for the first two to three hours of the day.

The River Lucala in the mist

We stopped for about twenty minutes in the mist to check the Swallows and other riverside species on the bridge over the River Lucala, on the downriver side of the Calandula Waterfalls. It was good to see a Great Kingfisher perched on the bridge, but unfortunately, it flushed & didn't land until it had flown about eighty metres upriver. A Pied Kingfisher was equally distant. The other highlight was some Red-throated Cliff Swallows, but they weren't coming close: not that the light was great for photography anyway.

African Pied Wagtail: This is the vidua subspecies which occurs from Senegal & East Gambia to Sierra Leone & South Mali, South Chad, East Sudan, Ethiopia, South Somalia, the Nile Valley of South Egypt & North Sudan and as far South as Angola, North & East Botswana & East South Africa

Angolan Snake sp.: This large Snake was sitting in the reeds by the edge of the River Lucala. It was going to have a long wait for the sun to start warming it up

After a few more miles beyond Calandula, we pulled off the road onto a several mile long dirt track which lead to Kinjila Forest. There was one moderate sized village by the entrance to the forest. How long this forest survives is still in question in my mind, as we saw locals cutting trees & Bamboo in the forest. Additionally, there was a steady movement of people and motorbikes to the far side of the small patch of riverine forest. We spent some time stopping and Birding on the approach track. Despite being hampered by the mist, there were a good selection of Birds along this track through the grasslands, cultivations and patches of Miombo Forest. Fortunately, the sun started working its magic on clearing the mist. However, some of these photos were taken later in the day in the approach track.

Some of the approach track looked like this: When it hadn't been cut, cultivated or burnt

Another photo of the Miombo woodland along the approach track

Burning grassland seems to be national hobby for many of the population

Pale-billed Hornbill: This is the nominate pallidirostris subspecies which occurs from Angola, South Democratic Republic of the Congo to South Tanzania, Zambia & Mozambique

Cardinal Woodpecker: Female. Males would have red on their nape

Cardinal Woodpecker: Female. This is the sharpii subspecies which occurs from Cameroon & Central African Republic to West Democratic Republic of the Congo & North Angola

Brubru: Juvenile. Juvenile Brubrus have streaky underparts. This is the nigritemporalis subspecies which is a Miombo species. This subspecies lacks the orange flank stripes that most other subspecies show

African Golden Oriole: This is the notatus subspecies which occurs from Angola to Tanzania, Mozambique & the North East corner of South Africa. Another subspecies of this widespread Sub-Saharan species occurs from Senegambia to Sudan, Uganda, South Ethiopia & South Somalia

Rufous-bellied Tit: This is the nominate rufiventris subspecies which occurs in North Angola to West Democratic Republic of the Congo, North East Namibia & Central Zambia. Other subspecies occur in Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe & Mozambique

Sharp-tailed Glossy Starling: We saw our first Sharp-tailed Glossy Starlings in the mist where we had to rely on their long thin pointed faces and longer tails to identify them. Fortunately, we saw more when the sun broke through including this individual showing some colour

Sharp-tailed Glossy Starling: This is the nominate acuticaudus subspecies which occurs in Central Angola to Zambia & South West Tanzania. The other subspecies occurs in North Namibia & adjacent South Angola

Broad-tailed Paradise Whydah: This monotypic species occurs from North Angola & Democratic Republic of the Congo to South West Uganda, Kenya & North East South Africa

Angolan Bug sp.: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who confirmed this was a Bug & not a Beetle from my published photos